SPINSTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spinster mean? 

• SPINSTER (noun)
  The noun SPINSTER has 2 senses:

1. an elderly unmarried woman

2. someone who spins (who twists fibers into threads)

  Familiarity information: SPINSTER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPINSTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An elderly unmarried woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

old maid; spinster

Hypernyms ("spinster" is a kind of...):

unmarried woman (a woman who is not married)

Derivation:

spinsterhood (the state of being a spinster (usually an elderly unmarried woman))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who spins (who twists fibers into threads)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

spinner; spinster; thread maker

Hypernyms ("spinster" is a kind of...):

maker; shaper (a person who makes things)

 Context examples 

Now this lady was a thin, yellow spinster, with a sharp nose and inquisitive eyes, who saw everything and gossiped about all she saw.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You are a spinster?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Don't laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender, tragic romances are hidden away in the hearts that beat so quietly under the sober gowns, and many silent sacrifices of youth, health, ambition, love itself, make the faded faces beautiful in God's sight.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A literary spinster, with a pen for a spouse, a family of stories for children, and twenty years hence a morsel of fame, perhaps, when, like poor Johnson, I'm old and can't enjoy it, solitary, and can't share it, independent, and don't need it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

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.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Beyond sat a pair of humble lovers, artlessly holding each other by the hand, a somber spinster eating peppermints out of a paper bag, and an old gentleman taking his preparatory nap behind a yellow bandanna.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)