maiden aunt
Single elder kinswoman
A maiden aunt is an aunt who has never married.
The phrase is old-fashioned, reflecting an era when unmarried women were defined by that status.
It often carries connotations of a woman devoted to her extended family, helping raise nieces and nephews: His maiden aunt practically raised him after his mother died.
- spinsterUnmarried older woman
- old maidUnmarried woman, advanced years
- unmarriedNot legally wed
- VictorianOf a prim era
- governessPrivate household teacher
inheritance · eccentric · cats · parlor · sitting room · lace · prim · chaperone · family · family secret · proper · companion · needlework · lonely · devoted · respectable · old-fashioned · dowdy
- female relativesmother, daughter, sister, grandmother, niece
- femaleswoman, girl, lady, mother, daughter
- lonershermit, recluse, loner, lone wolf, introvert
- aunts and unclesmaternal uncle, paternal uncle, great-uncle, step-uncle
- Victorian fictionJane Eyre, gothic fiction, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist
- Literary Aunts
social/lifestyle stereotype
maiden auntman of the world
Experienced, urbane individual
rake · libertine · roué · playboy · bon vivant
maiden, aunt, maidens, maidenly, maidenhood, maidenhair, maidservant, aunts, auntie