spinster
pronunciation
How to pronounce spinster in British English:
UK [ˈspɪnstə(r)]
How to pronounce spinster in American English:
US [ˈspɪnstɚ]
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- Noun:
- an elderly unmarried woman
- someone who spins (who twists fibers into threads)
Word Origin
- spinster
- spinster: see spin
- spinster (n.)
- mid-14c., "female spinner of thread," from Middle English spinnen (see spin) + -stere, feminine suffix (see -ster). Unmarried women were supposed to occupy themselves with spinning, hence the word came to be "the legal designation in England of all unmarried women from a viscount's daughter downward" [Century Dictionary] in documents from 1600s to early 1900s, and by 1719 the word 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] Strictly in reference to those who spin, spinster also was used of both sexes (compare webster, baxter, brewster) and so a double-feminine form emerged, spinstress "a female spinner" (1640s), which by 1716 also was being used for "maiden lady." Related: Spinsterhood.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Maybe I am destined to be a sad old spinster .
- 2. When a man has two sons and a rich spinster sister .
- 3. The spinster is very sad .
- 4. Mary is s real spinster .
- 5. Seeing like a spinster like her sister .