spinster

英['sp?nst?] 美['sp?nst?]

反義詞bachelor

復數:?spinsters;

spinster 老處女，老姑娘

來自 spin,紡織，編織，-ster,表陰性。即紡紗者，后代指老處女，老姑娘，含強烈的暗示意味。

spinster: spinster: see spin
spinster (n.): mid-14c., "female spinner of thread," from Middle English spinnen (see spin) + -stere, feminine suffix (see -ster). Unmarried women were supposed to occupy themselves with spinning, hence the word came to be "the legal designation in England of all unmarried women from a viscount's daughter downward" [Century Dictionary] in documents from 1600s to early 1900s, and by 1719 the word was being used generically for "woman still unmarried and beyond the usual age for it."
Spinster, a terme, or an addition in our Common Law, onely added in Obligations, Euidences, and Writings, vnto maids vnmarried. [John Minsheu, "Ductor in Linguas," 1617]
Strictly in reference to those who spin, spinster also was used of both sexes (compare webster, baxter, brewster) and so a double-feminine form emerged, spinstress "a female spinner" (1640s), which by 1716 also was being used for "maiden lady." Related: Spinsterhood.

1. He left his Montana ranch to his spinster sister.: 他把他在蒙大拿州的大牧場留給了他未婚的妹妹.

3. It'sounds like some old spinster with a pleated skirt and frilly blouse.: 它聽起來就像一個穿著鑲褶邊的襯衫和百褶裙的老處女.

5. However, some of college's crisis are originated her menopause chaos -- she is an old spinster.: 但是, 某些學園危機是因為她的更年期混亂引發的 —— 順便說下她是老處女.