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noun
1.
a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age of marrying.
2.
Chiefly Law. a woman who has never married.
3.
a woman whose occupation is spinning.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Spinsterish
is always a great word to know.
So is slumgullion. Does it mean:
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
| spinster (ˈspɪnstə) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | an unmarried woman regarded as being beyond the age of marriage |
| 2. | law Compare feme sole (in legal documents) a woman who has never married |
| 3. | (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 | |
| 'spinsterhood | |
| —n | |
| 'spinsterish | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
spinster
mid-14c., "female spinner of thread," from M.E. spinnen (see spin) + -stere, feminine suffix. Spinning commonly done by unmarried women, hence the word came to denote "an unmarried woman" in legal documents from 1600s to early 1900s, and by 1719 was being used generically for
EXPAND"woman still unmarried and beyond the usual age for it."
COLLAPSE
"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]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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