Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A man who has never been married.
  • noun A person who has completed the undergraduate curriculum of a college or university and holds a bachelor's degree.
  • noun A male animal that does not mate during the breeding season.
  • noun A young knight in the service of another knight in feudal times.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Formerly, a person in the first or probationary stage of knighthood; a knight not powerful enough to display his banner in the field, and who therefore followed the banner of another; a knight of low rank. See knight bachelor, under knight.
  • noun In universities and colleges: Before the fifteenth century, a young man in apprenticeship for the degree of master in one of the higher faculties, that is, of theology, law, or medicine. In modern use, a person who has taken the first degree (baccalaureate) in the liberal arts and sciences, or in divinity, law, medicine, etc., at a college or university: as, a bachelor of arts; a bachelor of science. See baccalaureate.
  • noun A man of any age who has not been married.
  • noun A woman who has not been married.
  • noun In London livery companies, a person not yet admitted to the livery. A local name in the United States of a fish, Pomoxis annularis, of the Mississippi valley; a crappie.
  • noun Sometimes incorrectly spelled batchelor.
  • noun One of the young male furseals which are forced, through fear of the adult bulls, to herd by themselves at a distance from the breeding-grounds.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A man of any age who has not been married.
  • noun obsolete An unmarried woman.
  • noun A person who has taken the first or lowest degree in the liberal arts, or in some branch of science, at a college or university.
  • noun A knight who had no standard of his own, but fought under the standard of another in the field; often, a young knight.
  • noun obsolete In the companies of London tradesmen, one not yet admitted to wear the livery; a junior member.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A kind of bass, an edible fresh-water fish (Pomoxys annularis) of the southern United States.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A man who is socially regarded as able to marry, but has not yet.
  • noun The first or lowest academical degree conferred by universities and colleges; a bachelor's degree.
  • noun Someone who has achieved a bachelor's degree.
  • noun Canada An apartment consisting mainly of one large room which is the living, dining, and bedroom combined. A bachelor apartment.
  • noun obsolete An unmarried woman.
  • noun obsolete A knight who had no standard of his own, but fought under the standard of another in the field.
  • noun obsolete Among London tradesmen, a junior member not yet admitted to wear the livery.
  • noun A kind of bass, an edible freshwater fish (Pomoxys annularis) of the southern United States.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a knight of the lowest order; could display only a pennon
  • noun a man who has never been married
  • verb lead a bachelor's existence

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bacheler, squire, youth, bachelor, from Old French, from Medieval Latin baccalārius, tenant farmer, perhaps of Celtic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English bacheler, from Anglo-Norman bacheler (modern French bachelier), from Medieval Latin baccalāris (compare Tuscan bacalaro ‘squire’), of unknown origin.

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