spinster
[spin-ster]
- Disparaging and Offensive. a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age of marrying.
- Chiefly Law. a woman who has never married.
- a woman whose occupation is spinning.
Show More
Origin of spinster
Usage note
The meaning “a woman beyond the usual marriageable age” is used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting. It implies negative qualities such as being fussy or undesirable. See also old maid.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for spinsterhood
Historical Examples
Miss Priest was no "spin" lingering on in spinsterhood against her will.
Camps, Quarters and Casual PlacesArchibald Forbes
Or do you look forward to spinsterhood in a cottage with a canary?
Scarlet and HyssopE. F. Benson
There was no doubt his friendship had saved her from the worst perils of spinsterhood.
The Lure of Old LondonSophie Cole
She told me once that she was confident my nose was the cause of my spinsterhood.
Vacation with the Tucker TwinsNell Speed
And later on, when she came to be boss, she still kept to spinsterhood.
A Master of FortuneCutcliffe Hyne
spinster
- an unmarried woman regarded as being beyond the age of marriage
- law (in legal documents) a woman who has never marriedCompare feme sole
- (formerly) a woman who spins thread for her living
Show More
Word Origin
C14 (in the sense: a person, esp a woman, whose occupation is spinning; C17: a woman still unmarried): from spin + -ster
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for spinsterhood
spinster
n.
mid-14c., "female spinner of thread," from Middle English spinnen (see spin) + -stere, feminine suffix. Spinning commonly done by unmarried women, hence the word came to denote "an unmarried woman" in legal documents from 1600s to early 1900s, and by 1719 was being used generically for "woman still unmarried and beyond the usual age for it."
Spinster, a terme, or an addition in our Common Law, onely added in Obligations, Euidences, and Writings, vnto maids vnmarried. [John Minsheu, "Ductor in Linguas," 1617]
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper