spinster

• n. 未婚の老女

spin（紡ぐ、織る）、-ster（女性）から。"spinster "は紡績女、老メード、老女を指し、強い意味合いを持つ。

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.

彼は彼をモンタナ州の大牧場で未婚の妹に残した。

2.There 's nothing shameful in being a spinster .

オールドミスでも恥をかかない、ピッティおばさんを見て。

3.It 'sounds like some old spinster with a pleated skirt and frilly blouse.

フリルの付いたシャツとプリーツスカートを着たオールドミスのように聞こえる。

4.A spinster is a bachelor 's wife.

怨婦は無夫の妻である。

5.However，some of college 's crisis are originated her menopause chaos--she is an old spinster .

しかし、ある学園危機は彼女の更年期混乱によるものだった——ちなみに彼女はオールドミスだった。