different between unwed vs spinster

English

Etymology

From un- +? wed.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?d

Adjective

unwed (not comparable)

1. Not married.

Translations

Noun

unwed (plural unweds)

1. One who is not married; a bachelor or a spinster.
   • 1944, Emily Carr, The House of All Sorts, “Unmarried,”^[1]

     Perhaps the most awkward situation for the inexperienced young landlady was how to deal with “unweds.”

   Should unweds living together receive the same social benefits as married couples?

Translations

Verb

unwed (third-person singular simple present unweds, present participle unwedding, simple past and past participle unwed or unwedded)

1. (transitive) To annul the marriage of.
   • 1918, All the World (volume 39, page 304)

     At last it was determined to unwed the unhappy pair, during the arrangements for which the husband was arrested and put into jail for six months for rioting.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To separate.
   • 2008, Arthur Quiller-Couch, Studies in Literature: Third Series (page 206)

     A singer must be a fool indeed if you do not hear through Sullivan's notes the exact language of any song. Take, for example, the well-known Sentry song in Iolanthe and attempt to unwed the wit of the air from the wit of the thought and words; […]

English

Etymology

From Middle English spynnester (“woman who spins fibre”), from c. 1350; equivalent to spin +? -ster. The semantic development is from a historical notion of unmarried women spinning thread for a living.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sp?nst?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sp?nst?/

Noun

spinster (plural spinsters)

1. (sometimes derogatory) A woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age according to social traditions.

   Synonym: old maid

   • 1628, Edward Coke, Institutes of the Lawes of England

     If […] a woman be named spinster, she may abate […] the same [writ].

2. One who spins (puts a spin on) a political media story so as to give something a favorable or advantageous appearance; a spin doctor, spin merchant or spin master.
3. (obsolete) Someone whose occupation was spinning thread.
   • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act II, scene IV:

     The spinsters and the knitters in the sun.

4. (obsolete) A woman of evil life and character; so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
5. (rare, dialectal) A spider; an insect (such as a silkworm) which spins thread.

Translations

See also

• bachelor
• bachelorette
• widow
• divorcee
• thornback

Further reading

• spinster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Prentiss, prestins

Dutch

Etymology

From spinnen (“to spin”) +? -ster

Pronunciation

Noun

spinster f (plural spinsters, diminutive spinstertje n)

1. a female spinner