Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A woman who has remained single beyond the conventional age for marrying.
- n. A single woman.
- n. A person whose occupation is spinning.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A woman who spins; by extension, any person who spins; a spinner.
- n. An unmarried woman (so called because she was supposed to occupy herself with spinning): the legal designation in England of all unmarried women from a viscount's daughter downward; popularly, an elderly unmarried woman; an “old maid”: sometimes used adjectively.
- n. A woman of an evil life or character: so called from being forced to spin in the house of correction. See spin-house.
Wiktionary
- n. A woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age according to social traditions.
- n. One who spins (puts a spin on) a political media story so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance; a spin doctor, spin merchant or spin master.
- n. obsolete Someone whose occupation was spinning thread.
- n. obsolete A woman of evil life and character; so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A woman who spins, or whose occupation is to spin.
- n. obsolete A man who spins.
- n. (Law) An unmarried or single woman; -- used in legal proceedings as a title, or addition to the surname.
- n. obsolete A woman of evil life and character; -- so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an elderly unmarried woman
- n. someone who spins (who twists fibers into threads)
Etymologies
- From spin + -ster, from a historical notion of unmarried women spinning thread for a living. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English spinnestere, female spinner of thread : spinnen, to spin; see spin + -estere, -ster, -ster. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term spinster — used today to refer to a woman who remains unmarried — originated with women who spent their adult years at the spinning wheel rather than raising a family.”
“Women spun for their own households, and the term spinster was introduced.”
“The headline's use of the term spinster is clearly a pejorative term that connotes an attempt to avoid degradation and disapproval by society by maintaining single-status beyond the time that society believes is appropriate.”
“She was tall for a woman and still rather young to live under the weight of the title spinster.”
“The age-old term "spinster," for example, continues to be used to deride unmarried women -- past their prime, and left spinning in the tower.”
“Alexia, a spinster, is outspoken, intelligent, witty and — an aspect I liked (even if I thought it was mentioned a little too often) — not conventionally pretty for her time.”
“The oldest spinster is the self-appointed cook in this house.”
“These days, I rarely if ever respond to the bitter, cynical “observations†of a certain spinster, atheist schoolmarm.”
“And she might, had she realised it, have pointed out that the modern spinster is a product of peace in a double sense – of the peace which allowed the industrial revolution to establish both”
“Ok so perhaps I substituted the word "individual" from "woman" but hey, if right wing conspiracy theorists can change the definition of marriage, then I can change the definition of spinster.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spinster’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
Steroids
Nouns that end in "ster". The -er suffix (as in blaster) doesn't count.
hamster, filibuster, aster, master, mister, baluster, banister, barrister, monster, plaster, semester, bister and 56 more...
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Spinning
This list is basically an excuse for me to list the word wool four times in a row.
wool, spin, spinning, cotton, scribble, scribbler, scribbling, spindle whorl, spindlewhorl, card, card-clothing, carding-machine and 68 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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GCI
spinster, maiden, happy-go-lucky, homonym, ill-at-ease, saw red, out of sorts, hot under the collar, taken aback, pen-names, alias, shoelaces and 378 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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Miss Sunshine
she's such a joy.
bereaved, bitter, cheerless, dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, downcast and 405 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
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Ptolemy's Gate
Words and phrases from Jonathan Stroud's book, Ptolemy's Gate.
fall afoul, fleet, tamarisk, krait, inkstone, hotted up, down-market, have a truck with, brio, fatalistic, knock-kneed, conserve and 210 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL S
saccharine, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, saga, sagacity, salacious, salient, saline, salivate, salutary, salvo, sanctimonious and 156 more...
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Wrapped up in books
I'm reading books. And there are words and phrases I come upon for the first time, or that are used with usages that are new to me.
So, this is just a plain list of those words. Don't expect ...hobble, mackerel, crone, cavort, hoyden, rheumy, scatter, hiss, recoil, trundle, shatter, flaxen and 200 more...
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Archaic Occupations
Some of these professions still exist today but the word for them has changed; some (mason or boatswain, for example), are still in use but are included for their rich historical associations. Som...
yeoman, summoner, chandler, ostler, carter, chapman, slaver, mason, cordwainer, cooper, glazier, dyer and 187 more...
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Sat Vocabulary List
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 2155 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for spinster.
dailyword Meg called herself this when she was worried she wouldn't be able to get a husband. Jul 12, 2012