Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ape-leader n.

an old maid.

1632		R. Brome Covent-Garden Weeded V i: His son irrecoverably lost, my daughter resolutely bent to be an Ape-leader in Limbo.
1641		R. Brome Jovial Crew II i: I will rather hazard my being one of the Devil’s Ape-leaders, than to marry while he is melancholly.
[1662		Jack Adams his perpetual almanack 6: If she died a maid she was to lead Apes in Hell].
1672		J. Phillips Maronides (1678) VI 50: The [...] wilfull Maid / With strings and collars Apes to lead.
1731		Glass Window, or, Bog-house Miscellany B: Old maids, in Vengeance to their slighted Beauty, / [...] / Thro' H—ll they drag ye on most aukward Shapes, / Yoak’d in their Apron-Strings, and led for Apes.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Ape leader, an old maid, their punishment after death, for neglecting to increase and multiply, will be it is said, leading apes in hell.
1781		‘Hobbies of the Times’ in Bullfinch 213: But our ladies stint their stomachs now, / For fear of leading apes. sir.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1826		Vulgarities of Speech Corrected.
1842		Flash (NY) 23 June n.p.: The ancient maiden, who has ‘lead apes’ for thirty years.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 312/1: ape leader [...] Ce mot [...] s’applique aux vieilles filles, qui, suivent une tradition populaire, sont punies de leur célibat invétéré en montrant des singes en enfer à défaut de progéniture directe.
1923		J. Manchon Le Slang.