maiden-auntish

maiden-auntish

English

Etymology

maiden aunt +‎ -ish

Adjective

maiden-auntish (comparative more maiden-auntish, superlative most maiden-auntish)

1. Having stereotypical characteristics of an elderly unmarried aunt; straight-laced, old-fashioned, etc.
   • 1962, Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook, New York: Bantam, 1979, p. 154,

     […] the literary world […] is a world so prissy, maiden-auntish; so class-bound;

   • 2009, Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, Chapter 9, p. 293,

     The smell was of camphor, maiden-auntish:

Derived terms

• maiden-auntishness