old lady
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: old ladies
Senses: examples: text: Near-synonym: LOL
text: The door was opened by a little old lady.
text: A dear old lady said she thought the ancient castle at Conway most picturesque, but that it was a pity they put it so close to the railway!
ref: 1946 March and April, R. A. H. Weight, “Euston to the North-West”, in Railway Magazine, page 71:
text: "Ninety per cent of our passengers will know where they are going. They'll come in and do the same journey every day. Therefore, I always base Waterloo not on the commuter, but on the little old lady who's lost in the middle of the station and just wants some help.
ref: 2025 January 25, Cem Davis tells Nick Brodrick, “A warm 'Waterloo family' welcome”, in RAIL, number 975, page 40:
synonyms: word: old woman
word: babushka
word: bag
word: bat
word: beldame
word: biddy
word: bluehair
word: bubbe
raw_tags: in Jewish contexts
word: carline
word: carlin
word: crone
word: gammer
word: geezer
word: gogo
word: grandam
word: granny
word: grimalkin
word: hag
word: maum
word: old lady
word: old maid
word: prune
word: spinster
word: tabby
word: trot
word: trout
word: witch
antonyms: old man
hypernyms: lady
woman
<
person
qualifier: literal
glosses: An elderly woman.
examples: text: My old lady was fond of corporal punishment.
text: ‘I use the same back-hand flip me old man useda use to knock me old lady arse-over-’ead an’ Stiffer than Mo.’
ref: 1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 97:
text: I swiped it from the old lady's liquor cabinet.
ref: 1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson):
synonyms: word: dam
word: mater
word: matriarch
word: mother
word: Mother
word: Colloquial or slang synonyms:
word: ma
word: mam
word: mama
word: mamaw
word: mamma
word: mammaw
word: mammy
word: mamsie
word: mamsy
word: meemaw
word: memaw
word: mom
word: Mom
word: moms
word: momma
word: mommy
word: Mommy
word: momsy
word: motherling
word: mum
word: Mum
word: mummy
word: Mummy
word: mumsy
word: mutha
word: old lady
antonyms: old man
hypernyms: lady
woman
<
person
glosses: One's mother.
examples: text: His wife was asking where their savings account balance had gone, but the way he put it was that his old lady was ragging him about his pay rate.
text: “[…] Now if that thing is balling—and your old lady or your old man is off somewhere flashing and doesn't want to be touched—well, you get put down on acid, you can be on a bummer for months.”
ref: 1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem:
text: But you know it could be a hassle / Trying to explain myself to a police officer / About how it was your old lady got herself stiffed
ref: 1978, Lou Reed, “Street Hassle”, in Street Hassle:
synonyms: word: girlfriend
word: ball and chain
word: better half
word: boss
word: bride
word: dutch
word: 'er indoors
word: frow
word: geezer
word: her indoors
word: lady
word: little woman
word: little lady
word: memsahib
word: missus
word: old lady
word: old woman
word: trouble
word: trouble and strife
word: wife
word: wifekin
word: wifelet
word: wifeling
word: wifey
antonyms: old man
hypernyms: lady
woman
<
person
glosses: One's girlfriend, wife or significant other.
glosses: The Bank of England, sometimes referred to as the “Old Lady of Threadneedle Street” or simply “The Old Lady”.
examples: text: Watch out for that old lady waiting for you.
topics: board-games
chess
games
hypernyms: chess piece#Noun
glosses: A queen.
Derived terms: Old Lady of Threadneedle Street
Related terms: old man