spinster
nounEtymology
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.
Definitions
A woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age…
A woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age according to social traditions.
- If […] a woman be named spinster, she may abate […]the same [writ].
- Iola Boylen is Mama's longtime friend and neighbor, a spinster who lives with her never-seen domineering mother.
One who spins (puts a spin on) a political media story so as to give something a…
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.
Someone whose occupation was spinning thread.
- The spinsters and the knitters in the sun.
›+ 2 more definitionsshow fewer
A woman of evil life and character
A woman of evil life and character; so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
A spider
A spider; an insect (such as a silkworm) which spins thread.
The neighborhood
- neighborbachelor
- neighborbachelorette
- neighbordivorcee
- neighborthornback
- neighborwidow
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for spinster. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA