spinsterhoodn.
1. The condition of being an unmarried woman or old maid.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > condition of
virginityship1741
spinstry1784
spinstership1816
spinsterism1818
spinsterhood1823
singlehood1840
spinsterdom1879
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > elderly > condition of
old-maidenism1783
old-maidenship1784
tabbyhood1797
old-maidship1804
old-maidenhood1845
spinsterhood1863
old-maiddom1871
old-maidhood1871
1823 J. G. Lockhart Reginald Dalton I. i. vi. 61 It must have required the tact of a very Beau Nash to detect in her appearance the smallest symptom of spinsterhood.
1863 B. Taylor Hannah Thurston ii. 28 He married..a tall, staid, self-reliant creature, verging on spinsterhood.
1879 H. Phillips Addit. Notes upon Coins 6 In antiquity these coins were known as Maidens, referring to the spinsterhood of the goddess represented upon them.
2. The collective body of unmarried women.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > unmarried person(s) > unmarried woman > [noun] > collectively
spinsterhood1844
1844 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 55 201 Is this a reason..for leaving, like an uncultivated waste,..the spinsterhood of Great Britain?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.1823