spinstern.
/ˈspɪnstə/, U.S. /ˈspɪnstər/ 1. figurative.1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. C4v Let the three huswifely spinsters of Destiny rather curtall the threed of thy life.1699 G. Farquhar Love & Bottle iii. i. 28 Are my Cloathes so course, as if they were spun by those lazy Spinsters the Muses?
a. A woman (or, rarely, a man) who spins, esp. one who practises spinning as a regular occupation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture of thread or yarn > [noun] > spinning > one who > female
spinster1362
spinstress1661
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. v. 130 And my wyf at Westmunstre þat wollene cloþ made, Spak to þe spinsters for to spinne hit softe.
14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 583 Filatrix, a spynnester.
1543 in I. S. Leadam Select Cases Star Chamber (1911) II. 254 Ther were..ther dwelling..dyuers good spynsters & carders.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball 617 Spinsters use the stemmes..to winde yarne upon.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. ii. 103 Their women are excellent spinsters, whereby they are saide to gaine more then the men of the towne.
1647 R. Stapleton tr. Juvenal Sixteen Satyrs 231 Destinies that spin the thred of life; Juvenal calls them spinsters. The distaffe bearer is Clotho, the spinster Lachesis.
1705 T. Hearne Ductor Historicus (ed. 2) I. iii. 296 This monstrous Sight..that Soldiers that bore Arms should be commanded by a Spinster.
1758 S. Johnson Idler 22 Apr. 17 I should be unwilling to find that, for the sake of corresponding with the Idler, the Smith's iron had cooled on the anvil, or the Spinster's distaff stood unemployed.
1836 C. P. Traill Backwoods of Canada 47 The spinster does not sit, but walks to and fro.
1910 Contemp. Rev. July 31 She would be a famous spinster and needlewoman.
b. A spider, or other insect that spins. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Aranea > member of (spider)
lopc888
attercopc1000
lobc1000
spinnerc1220
araina1300
spider1340
yraync1384
copa1400
spincop1474
copspin1484
ettercapa1525
web-weaver1534
spinster1636
cob1657
weaver1825
araneidan1835
Meggie-lickie-spinnie1849
silk-spinner1868
orbitele1890
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [noun] > member of > defined by habits or actions > that spins
spinster1636
1636 Brideoake Poem (Bodl. 22 f. 10) The little Spinster's Lawne [sc. web].
1718 J. Gardiner tr. R. Rapin Of Gardens (ed. 2) iv. 197 Other Plagues your Fruit-trees will deform. The Gnat, the buzzing Drone, the Palmer-worm, The wily Spinster, and the creeping Snail.
2.
a. Appended to names of women, originally in order to denote their occupation, but subsequently (from the 17th century) as the proper legal designation of one still unmarried.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture of thread or yarn > [noun] > spinning > one who > female > as designation of occupation
spinster1380
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > appended to name
spinster1617
1380 in T. Rogers Oxf. City Documents (1891) 10 De Alicia Moris Spynnestere, vjd.
1496 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1885) III. 48 Johanna Hunt,..spynster.
1545 in F. Collins Wills & Admin. Knaresborough Court Rolls (1902) I. 49 Elizabeth Lethom, spynstarre.
1564–5 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) 27 Joan Lambe, widow of London, spynster.
1580–1 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) 27 Margaretta Tirrell spinster, alias dicta Margaretta Tirrell uxor Thome Tirrell.
1617 J. Minsheu Ἡγεμὼν είς τὰς γλῶσσας: Ductor in Linguas A Spinster, a terme, or an addition in our Common Law, onely added in Obligations, Euidences, and Writings, vnto maids vnmarried.
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Spinster;..this is the onely addition for all unmarried women, from the Viscounts Daughter downward.
1711 London Gaz. No. 4865/4 Elizabeth Harris of London, Spinster.
1719 R. Steele Spinster 135 I write myself spinster, because the laws of my country call me so.
1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer v. 106 Constantia Neville, spinster, of no place at all.
1817 W. Scott Rob Roy III. xii. 330 Diana Vernon, spinster.
b. A woman still unmarried; esp. one beyond the usual age for marriage, an old maid.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > elderly
old maid1530
old maiden1566
pussock1622
ape-leader1652
thornback1694
spinster1719
tabby1748
virgin1759
tea-bottle1909
1719 R. Steele Spinster 349 As for us poor Spinsters, we must certainly go away to France also.
1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 140 The vigilant Fredegonda was one of the most wary of ancient spinsters.
1859 W. M. Thackeray Virginians xxii Your sweet mistress, your spotless spinster, your blank maiden just out of the school-room.
1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal I. vi. 183 Providence is wonderfully kind to plain little spinsters with a knack of making themselves useful.
Compounds
attributive and in other combinations, as (sense 1a, 1b) spinster-caterpillar, spinster-slave; (sense 2b) spinster aunt, spinster-baiting, spinster-like adj., spinster sex.
ΚΠ
1743 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Odes II. iii. xxvii. 133 A Spinster-Slave,..Some rude barbarian's Concubine.
1800 J. Hurdis Favorite Village iv. 169 The spinster caterpillar ties aloft, Fine as the gossamer, his slender cord.
1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham II. xii. 112 A solitary candle, whose long, spinster-like wick was flirting away with an east wind.
1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) vi. 54 Tupman and the spinster aunt, established a joint-stock company of fish and flattery.
1891 G. Meredith One of our Conquerors II. viii. 195 The little dog had qualities to entrance the spinster sex.
1938 L. MacNeice Mod. Poetry 191 Merely a piece of rather cruel spinster-baiting.
Derivatives
ˈspinsterdom n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > condition of
virginityship1741
spinstry1784
spinstership1816
spinsterism1818
spinsterhood1823
singlehood1840
spinsterdom1879
1879 T. H. S. Escott England I. vii. 178 Where there is enough of leisure, idleness, and spinsterdom.
1883 Sat. Rev. 21 July 82 A single..thunder-shower may..doom maidens by the dozen to the sorrows of spinsterdom.
spinsterism n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > condition of
virginityship1741
spinstry1784
spinstership1816
spinsterism1818
spinsterhood1823
singlehood1840
spinsterdom1879
1818 La Belle Assemblée Feb. 75/1 The full terrors of spinsterism took hold of all her faculties.
1874 in J. W. Howe Sex & Educ. 52 The respectable ranks of spinsterism.
spinstership n. = spinsterhood n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > condition of
virginityship1741
spinstry1784
spinstership1816
spinsterism1818
spinsterhood1823
singlehood1840
spinsterdom1879
1816 R. Southey in Q. Rev. 15 8 If the bride has an elder sister still in her state of spinstership.
spinˈsterial adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [adjective] > like or relating to elderly unmarried woman
tabby1748
old-maidish1766
old-maidenly1784
spinsterian1819
old-maidenish1835
spinsterial1849
old-maidy1884
spinsterish1892
spinsterous1899
spinsterly1902
1849 A. R. Smith Pottleton Legacy xxxv. 415 His sisters..annoyed him with their spinsterial propensities.
1874 J. Hatton Clytie xiii The landlord's sister, a spinsterial Scotchwoman.
spinsterian adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [adjective] > like or relating to elderly unmarried woman
tabby1748
old-maidish1766
old-maidenly1784
spinsterian1819
old-maidenish1835
spinsterial1849
old-maidy1884
spinsterish1892
spinsterous1899
spinsterly1902
1819 Sporting Mag. 5 60 With all the finicality of spinsterian consequence.
1881 Graphic XXIII. 146/3 The naval, military, clerical, or spinsterian would-be-investor.
ˈspinsterish adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [adjective] > like or relating to elderly unmarried woman
tabby1748
old-maidish1766
old-maidenly1784
spinsterian1819
old-maidenish1835
spinsterial1849
old-maidy1884
spinsterish1892
spinsterous1899
spinsterly1902
1892 Academy 5 Mar. 237/3 His little spinsterish ways at times grew rather tiresome.
spinsterous adj. having the characteristics of a spinster; old-maidish.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [adjective] > like or relating to elderly unmarried woman
tabby1748
old-maidish1766
old-maidenly1784
spinsterian1819
old-maidenish1835
spinsterial1849
old-maidy1884
spinsterish1892
spinsterous1899
spinsterly1902
1899 Illustr. London News 11 Mar. 328 I take the liberty of calling them maiden ladies because their style is, so to speak, spinsterous.
ˈspinsterishness n.
ΚΠ
1913 R. West Let. June in G. N. Ray H. G. Wells & Rebecca West (1974) 23 Your spinsterishness makes you feel that a woman desperately and hopelessly in love with a man is an indecent spectacle.
1930 R. Macaulay Staying with Relations iii. 44 The elegant spinsterishness of Claudia and Benet had turned, in Julia,..to something more sensuous.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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