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spinster Definition

spin·ster (spin′stər)

noun

  1. a woman who spins thread or yarn
    1. a woman who is not married, divorced, or widowed (used esp. in legal documents)
    2. a middle-aged or older woman who has never married

Etymology: ME < spinnen, to spin + -ster

spinster Related Forms
spin′·ster·hood′ noun spin′·ster·ish adjective
spinster Synonyms

spinster

n.

unmarried woman, virgin, single woman, old maid*, bachelor girl*, spin*; see also woman 1.

spinster Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • age: She was described as Mary Preen, a spinster aged 20, the daughter of Richard Preen grocer, living at Leebotwood.
  • become: The two elder sisters came to terms with their situation but the youngest one never did and became a dissatisfied spinster.
  • remain: For her to inherit the house, she must remain a spinster!
  • die: If she dies a spinster, the money goes to a cousin.
  • call: Unmarried women were called spinsters, as they spent a lot of their time spinning, rather than bringing up children.

Adjective modifier

  • middle-aged: Heller's surprising ability to get into the mind of a middle-aged spinster also illustrates her strong talent for imaginative empathy.
  • lonely: I fear she's going to end up a lonely spinster with only a cat by her side for company.
  • elderly: Cash heard of one ambitious property developer who approached an ' elderly spinster ' .
  • old: The thought of ending up an old spinster leaves my blood running cold.
  • reclusive: The other day the papers reported the will of a reclusive spinster.
  • frail: We are but four frail spinsters, and unschooled in the harsh arts of survival out here on the steppe.

Modifies a noun

  • aunt: Becky wins over the children, and the Crawley family's rich spinster aunt Matilda ( Eileen Atkins ) as well.
  • sister: He lived with spinster sister, Mary Jane, who died in 1926.
  • daughter: His two spinster daughters later gave Sewell Park to the corporation of Norwich.
  • lady: Three spinster ladies lived in the house next door to us.
  • sleuth: Coming Soon POCKET FULL OF RYE By: AGATHA CHRISTIE BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatization starring June Whitfield as the deceptively mild spinster sleuth.

Noun used with modifier

  • septuagenarian: On the way she visits Southampton, where a septuagenarian spinster relative of her late husband lives - Aunt Margaret Albany.
  • term: For centuries this was the work of every woman, hence the term spinster for an unmarried girl.

Preposition: of

  • parish: And the lady in question was an eighty year old spinster of the parish!

Preposition: with

  • cat: If it wasn't for the fact I get married in a month I'd happily be a spinster with cats.
spinster Quotes

[To] have an unmannerly fat clerk ask the consent of every butcher in the parish to join John Absolute and Lydia Languish, spinster.Oh that I should live to hear myself called spinster!

—Sheridan, Richard Brinsley

Many a housewife staring at the back of her husband's newspaper, or listening to his breathing in bed is lonelier than any spinster in a rented room.

—Greer, Germaine

'Always be civil to the girls, you never know who they may marry' is an aphorism which has saved manyan English spinster from being treated like an Indian widow.

—Mitford, Nancy Freeman

My first impression is of a slightly bearded spinster: my second isof Willie King madeup like Philip II: my thirdof some thin little bird, peeking, crooked, reserved, violent and timid. 614

—Nicolson, Sir Harold