spinster

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spin·ster

(spĭn′stər)

1. Often Offensive A woman, especially an older one, who has not married.

2. Archaic A person, especially a woman, whose occupation is spinning thread.

[Middle English spinnestere, female spinner of thread : spinnen, to spin; see spin + -estere, -ster, -ster.]

spin′ster·hood′ n.

spin′ster·ish, spin′ster·ly adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spinster

(ˈspɪnstə)

1. an unmarried woman regarded as being beyond the age of marriage

2. (Law) law (in legal documents) a woman who has never married. Compare feme sole

3. (Textiles) (formerly) a woman who spins thread for her living

[C14 (in the sense: a person, esp a woman, whose occupation is spinning; C17: a woman still unmarried): from spin + -ster]

ˈspinsterˌhood n

ˈspinsterish adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

spin•ster

(ˈspɪn stər)

n.

1. Usually Disparaging. a woman who has remained unmarried beyond the conventional age for marriage in her culture or society.

2. Chiefly Law. a woman who has never married.

3. a woman whose occupation is spinning.

[1325–75; Middle English spinnestere a woman who spins. See spin, -ster]

spin′ster•hood`, n.

spin′ster•ish, adj.

spin′ster•ish•ly, adv.

spin′ster•like`, adj.

usage: Definition 1 is usually used with disparaging intent.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	spinster - an elderly unmarried woman old maid unmarried woman - a woman who is not married
	2.	spinster - someone who spins (who twists fibers into threads) spinner, thread maker maker, shaper - a person who makes things

Translations

عَانِسعانِس

stará panna

gammeljomfru

alte Jungfer

γεροντοκόρη

solterona

vanhapiikakehrääjä

vieille fille célibataire

usidjelica

kézifonónővénkisasszonyvénlány

ógift kona

zitella

独身女性

미혼여성

vecmeita

stara devica

gammal ungmö

สตรีที่ไม่ได้แต่งงาน

evde kalmış kızkız kurusu

bà cô

未婚女子老处女

spinster

[ˈspɪnstəʳ] N → soltera f (pej) → solterona f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

spinster

[ˈspɪnstə^r] n (old-fashioned) → vieille fille f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

spinster

n → Unverheiratete f, → Ledige f; (pej) → alte Jungfer (pej); Mary Jones, spinster → die ledige Mary Jones; to be a spinster → unverheiratet or ledig or eine alte Jungfer (pej) → sein

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

spinster

[ˈspɪnstəʳ] n (old) → zitella

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

spinster

(ˈspinstə) noun

a woman who is not married.

spinster

→ عَانِس stará panna gammeljomfru alte Jungfer γεροντοκόρη solterona vanhapiika vieille fille usidjelica zitella 独身女性 미혼여성 oude vrijster peppermø stara panna solteirona старая дева gammal ungmö สตรีที่ไม่ได้แต่งงาน kız kurusu bà cô 老处女

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References in classic literature ?

Fraulein Anna, foredoomed to a spinster's life, with her high cheek-bones and large misshapen nose, laid great stress upon character.

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'How dear Emily is flirting with the strange gentleman,' whispered the spinster aunt, with true spinster-aunt-like envy, to her brother, Mr.

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If Rawdon Crawley had been then and there present, instead of being at the club nervously drinking claret, the pair might have gone down on their knees before the old spinster, avowed all, and been forgiven in a twinkling.

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Here a pair of lovers met to quarrel and make up; there a dark-eyed nursery-maid had better eyes for Templars than her charge; on this hand an ancient spinster, with her lapdog in a string, regarded both enormities with scornful sidelong looks; on that a weazen old gentleman, ogling the nursery-maid, looked with like scorn upon the spinster, and wondered she didn't know she was no longer young.

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"I am the other lady," added the spinster relative.

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This last suggestion was so much in accordance with the timid girl's own feelings and wishes, that she readily promised implicit reliance on the excellent spinster's advice: without questioning, or indeed bestowing a moment's reflection upon, the motives that dictated it.

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I think it was the flowers that won my suit, for I afterward found that Miss Tita (for such the name of this high tremulous spinster proved somewhat incongruously to be) had an insatiable appetite for them.

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They were spinsters; but Aurelia, the youngest, had made what she called a romantic marriage and what her sisters termed a mighty poor speculation.

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I have a recollection of large, unbending women with great noses and rapacious eyes, who wore their clothes as though they were armour; and of little, mouse-like spinsters, with soft voices and a shrewd glance.

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All the most individual and humane of his friends were bachelors and spinsters; indeed he was surprised to find that the women he most admired and knew best were unmarried women.

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"All the married people take hands and dance round the new-made husband and wife, as the Germans do, while we bachelors and spinsters prance in couples outside!" cried Laurie, promenading down the path with Amy, with such infectious spirit and skill that everyone else followed their example without a murmur.

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van der Luyden; but he found her gentle bending sweetness less approachable than the grimness of some of his mother's old aunts, fierce spinsters who said "No" on principle before they knew what they were going to be asked.