spinster是什么意思（spinster的用法）

大家好，知识小编来为大家讲解下。spinster是什么意思，spinster的用法很多人还不知道，现在让我们一起来看看吧！

一、spinster是什么意思

1、spinster 老处女，老姑娘

2、来自 spin,纺织，编织，-ster,表阴性。即纺纱者，后代指老处女，老姑娘，含强烈的暗示意 味。

二、spinster的用法

1、spinster

2、spinster: see spin

3、spinster (n.)

4、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.

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