| 1. | the sister of one's father or mother. |
| 2. | the wife of one's uncle. |
| 3. | Chiefly New England and South Midland U.S.. (used as a term of respectful address to an older woman who is not related to the speaker). |
| 4. | Slang. an aging male homosexual. |

of rant except in New England and eastern Virginia, where it is commonly the “New England broad a,” a vowel similar to French [a] and having a quality between the [a] of hat and the [ah] of car. The vowel [ah] itself is also used. In New England and eastern Virginia [ah] or the [a]-like sound occur in aunt in the speech of all social groups, even where a “broad a” is not used in words like dance and laugh. Elsewhere, the “broader” a is chiefly an educated pronunciation, fostered by the schools with only partial success (“Your relative isn't an insect, is she?”), and is sometimes regarded as an affectation. Aunt with the vowel of paint is chiefly South Midland United States and is limited to folk speech.