spinster
UK /ˈspɪnstə/ · US /ˈspɪnstɚ/ noun
Forms spinsters
- noun (sometimes derogatory) A woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age according to social traditions.
- noun 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 spinmeister.
- noun (obsolete) Someone whose occupation was spinning thread.
- noun (obsolete) A woman of evil life and character; so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
- noun (rare, dialectal) A spider; an insect (such as a silkworm) which spins thread.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English spynnestere (“woman who spins fibre”), from c. 1350; equivalent to spin + -ster. The semantic development is from a historical notion of unmarried women spinning thread for a living.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [Spin + -ster.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “spinster”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details