aunt n EDD ~ sb 1 Gl So D Co; DAE 1 (1801-61) for sense 1; cp UNCLE.
   1 Title of an older woman, used with first or full name; general term of respect used of an older woman in the community.
   1887 Telegram Christmas No 9 And Aunt Betsy, as the people called her, was a fitting match for her husband. [1915] 1972 GORDON 14 And here I ought to mention that such titles as Mr & Mrs are not favoured in Labrador, being replaced by the much more homely ones of Uncle and Aunt. 1930 Am Speech vi, 57 ~ Applied to elderly persons by those not related to them. 1949 FITZGERALD 93 ~ All old people are thus addressed by their neighbours regardless of relationship. 1977 RUSSELL 104 Aunt Sophy [is] not one of these women that you can see how to shoot gulls through. She's what you might call a comfortable armful.
   2 Phr his aunt had he/she: used in explanation of the appearance in a family of an illegitimate child (C 71-106).

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