noun
A children's card game where players draw cards from each other and discard pairs; the player left with the unmatched 'old maid' (joker) loses.
子供の頃、よくババ抜きをして遊んだ。
When I was a child, I often played Old Maid.
ババ抜きで最後にジョーカーを持っていた人が負けです。
In Old Maid, the person left holding the joker at the end loses.
noun
living without one's mother-in-law
Slang expression referring to a situation where a married couple lives apart from the wife's mother, often implying relief from mother-in-law interference.
結婚してからずっとババ抜きだから、気が楽だよ。
Since we got married, we've been living without my mother-in-law, so it's a relief.
Rare kanji form using 婆 for ばば.
From ババ (old woman, joker) + 抜き (removing, drawing out), referring to the card game where the 'old maid' card is left at the end. The slang sense extends the idea of 'removing the old woman' to living without the mother-in-law.