spinster Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an elderly unmarried woman
    old maid.
  2. noun someone who spins (who twists fibers into threads)
    spinner; thread maker.

WordNet

Spin"ster noun
Etymology
Spin + -ster.
Definitions
  1. A woman who spins, or whose occupation is to spin.
    She spake to spinster to spin it out. Piers Plowman.
    The spinsters and the knitters in the sun. Shak.
  2. A man who spins. Obs. Shak.
  3. (Law) An unmarried or single woman; -- used in legal proceedings as a title, or addition to the surname.
    If a gentlewoman be termed a spinster, she may abate the writ. Coke.
  4. A woman of evil life and character; -- so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction. Obs.

Webster 1913