Hypertext Webster Gateway: "spinster"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Spinster \Spin"ster\, n. [Spin + -ster.]
1. A woman who spins, or whose occupation is to spin.

She spake to spinster to spin it out. --Piers
Plowman.

The spinsters and the knitters in the sun. --Shak.

2. A man who spins. [Obs.] --Shak.

3. (Law) An unmarried or single woman; -- used in legal
proceedings as a title, or addition to the surname.

If a gentlewoman be termed a spinster, she may abate
the writ. --Coke.

4. A woman of evil life and character; -- so called from
being forced to spin in a house of correction. [Obs.]

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

spinster
n 1: an elderly unmarried woman [syn: {old maid}]
2: someone who spins (who twists fibers into threads) [syn: {spinner},
{thread maker}]

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