old woman n.
1. a wife, a regular female partner.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Boucher’s Gloss. (1832–3) 1/1: Could my old woman, whilst I labour’d thus, At night reward me with a smouch, or buss [DN]. | |
| Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 130: Most fellows talk of their wives, as ‘my old woman at home’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Guy Rivers II 97: The old woman, by whom we mean [...] to indicate the spouse of the wayfarer, and mother of the two youths, was busied about the fire. | |
| ‘Slashing Costermonger’ in Cuckold’s Nest 11: Last year, my old woman washed my ass, / An’ I vent to Ascot races. | |
| Eight Months in Illinois 34: This is an occasion on which the old woman, as a wife [...] is familiarly termed, makes a display. | |
| Sam Sly 17 Feb. 2/2: He advises the Jerry-shopkeeper's ‘old woman,’ of Raven-street, Whitechapel, to be more circumspect respecting the physical incapacity of her husband. | |
| Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) I 23: I remember seeing you when I was a babby. How’s the old woman? | |
| Lost Will 5: They are all pretty well, except the old woman; she catched a bad cold. | |
| Luck of Roaring Camp (1873) 95: You see I’ve got to send money home to the old woman. | |
| Won in a Canter I 39: ‘What will my old woman say,’ he continued, ‘when I tells her o’ this? she as nussed him as a foal’. | |
| Macmillan’s Mag. (London) ‘Autobiog. of a Thief’ XL 503: I piped the fence that bested me go along with his old woman (wife) and his two kids (children). | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 30 Oct. 10/2: ‘Kiss me, Betsy,’ said the delighted bridegroom, ‘You’re my old woman now’. | |
| Leaves from a Prison Diary I 126: His chief support, however, is his ‘old woman,’ as he always terms the unfortunate creature who cohabits with him. | |
| Sporting Times 22 Mar. 1/5: I’ve ’ad to lumber the old woman’s boots to pay the ’earing fee, and the bally old bounder’s stone deaf! | |
 | Farmers’ Union (Memphis, MO) 24 Aug. 1/3: I want to come to the state Alliance meetin’ [...] and so does my old woman. | |
| Typhoon 174: ‘What? What is it?’ Jukes cried distressfully; and the other repeated, ‘What would my old woman say if she saw me now?’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Sun. Times (Perth) 17 Jan. 1/1: A Wellington-street drapery shop is providing for husbands hitherto compelled to hang about [...] a parlor is to be established wherein tile breadwinner may await the old woman. | |
| Sporting Times 1 Jan. 5/1: After she has taken two lessons she’ll be competent to boss the old woman all over the house. | |
| Gay-cat 22: He called the dog a ‘gay-cat’ [...] It was a species of mock-contempt. So a man calls his wife ‘old woman’. | |
| ‘Blood Pressure’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 85: Let us go to my joint and make my old woman cook us up some breakfast. | |
| Neon Wilderness (1986) 72: That’s the kind of old woman Banty had himself. | |
| Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: Who’s this then, eh? Your wife? Your missis? It’s his old woman! | |
| Night to Make the Angels Weep (1967) I i: When you built your house I said to my old woman, fancy building in the hollow. | |
| You Flash Bastard 175: A plaintive cry from Adam pierced the silence between them. Pauline heard it first; her husband reacted immeadiately afterwards. [...] She was a good mother. A good old woman. | |
| Day of the Dog 18: You like my new tattoo, Doug? It’s of my old woman in there. | |
| Keepers of Truth 22: You never did hear from the old woman. |
2. the vagina.
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |
3. as a term of address to a woman, age is irrelevant.
| Hillyars and Burtons (1870) 91: I say, Emma, old woman [...] I wish I was well out this here. |
4. one’s mother.
| Aristocracy in America II iv 86: a large, sumptuous party, which he hoped would at once open to his sons and daughters—‘the old man and woman’ are not so easily promoted—the road to the highest circles. | |
| Peter Ploddy and Other Oddities 177: What’s your situation when you do go home? There’s the old man, and there’s the old voman and the rest of them, hurtin’ you feelins as bad as if they were killin’ kittens with brickbats. | |
| Nature and Human Nature I 361: He’d vex them by calling mother, when he spoke to them of her, the ‘ould woman’. | |
| Clarence & Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW) 18 Jan. 4/6: It is grand ‘form’, however, to call [...] a mother or wife an ‘old woman’. | |
| Robbery Under Arms (1922) 19: I must go in and have a gossip with the old woman. | |
| Louisiana Democrat 14 Feb. 1/6: I’ll take you, but I draw the line at the old woman. | |
| ‘The Selector’s Daughter’ in Roderick (1972) ‘Cheer up, old woman!’ cried Tom, patting his mother on the back. | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 29 Dec. 207: Boys ‘who smoke cigarettes,’ and ‘term their mother the old woman,’ need not apply. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 16 Sept. 4/7: The ole woman, me mother, was fair ratty agin the stage. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Dec. 38/1: ‘Me old battle-axe says she wants’ — / ‘Yuss, an’ who is yer old battle-axe, me Billy the blob?’ inquires Mr. Tonks, playfully. / ‘Me mother – me ole woman, o’ course. Don’t yer know English?’. | |
| (con. 1900s–10s) 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 67: I want to stop by and say hello to the old woman. | |
| There Ain’t No Justice 12: ‘If my old woman was to talk to me this way ...’ ‘Pity your old woman don’t never talk to you this way. Might make you show some sense’. | |
| Redheap (1965) 249: ‘George, however, tells me that her old woman sneaked sheets from their place when doing the washing’ . | |
| ‘Feature Snatch!’ Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective Feb. 🌐 I’m a lady, I’ll have you know. And my old woman was a lady before me. | |
| We Were the Rats 5: What’s yer old woman call ya ‘Howard’ for? | |
| Jimmy Brockett 35: My old woman had always been drumming into me that you ought to dress like a gentleman. And Sadie was a toff. | |
| Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 160: The first time I went up to court I felt horrible, you know. I thought what my old woman would say about it. | |
| (con. 1959) Up the Cross 146: His old man was second generation Darlinghurst Irish while his old woman was third generation North Bondi Yiddish. | |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 277: old woman. A wife, mother. | |
| Twitter 16 Mar. 🌐 This isnt forever. Some day we'll be able to hug our niece, then hug our Old Vumman. | |
| Man-Eating Typewriter 41: [M]y Old Woman insisted it was laudanum that made the nun fade [...] I believe this now to be caca. |
5. (UK prison) a member of the stocking knitting gang in Dartmoor Prison.
| Five Years’ Penal Servitude 188: When the ‘old women,’ as the stocking-knitting gang were called, came to work there they brought their own assistant warder with them. |
6. the queen, in cards.
| Reminiscences 143: A fellow [...] showed me three cards. He says: ‘I’ll bet you ten dollars you can’t tell me which is the ‘old woman’.’. | |
| Forty Years a Gambler 109: I had $500 worth of confidence, thirty years ago, that no man could pick up the old woman. |
7. any fussy or complaining person.
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Leaven 71: Grattan was ‘an old woman,’ a ‘disgrace to the Magisterial Bench’ [...] he was the most aggravating stickler for finicking formality. | |
| Here’s Luck 119: [of men] ‘Bah!’ I exclaimed. ‘Old women! Do you think we could be any unluckier than we are now?’. | |
| Seven Poor Men of Sydney 95: Silly old woman, his mother ought to ’ve put him in petticoats. A Methody parson. | |
| Tomorrow’s Another Day 47: ‘Good thing Ray was here.’ ‘Ray’s a goddamn old woman,’ said Willy bitterly. | |
| Best Man To Die (1981) 8: Bloody old woman you are, George. | |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 277: old woman. A [...] timid, old-womanish fussbudget. | |
| The Weir 62: Ah stop being an old woman. |