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Spinster vs Spinsterly - What's the difference?

spinster | spinsterly |

As a noun spinster

is a woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age according to social traditions.

As an adjective spinsterly is

of or relating to a spinster or spinsterhood.

spinster

English

(wikipedia spinster)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A woman who has never been married, especially one past the typical marrying age according to social traditions.
  • * Coke
    • If a gentlewoman be termed a spinster , she may abate the writ.
  • 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.
  • (obsolete) Someone whose occupation was spinning thread.
  • * ~1601 , William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night , act II, scene IV:
    • The spinsters and the knitters in the sun.
  • (obsolete) A woman of evil life and character; so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
  • (rare) A spider; an insect (such as a silkworm) which spins thread.
    • (Webster 1913)

    Synonyms

    * old maid

    See also

    * bachelor * widow * divorcee ----

    spinsterly

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • of or relating to a spinster or spinsterhood
  • *{{quote-book, year=1916, author=Mary Roberts Rinehart, title=Tish, The Chronicle of Her Escapades and Excursions, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=We had seen Tish's apartment change from a sedate and spinsterly retreat to a riot of lace covers on the mantel, on the backs of chairs, on the stands, on the pillows--everywhere. }}
  • * {{quote-news, year=1998, date=February 20, author=Mary Shen Barnidge, title=Strange Snow, work=Chicago Reader citation
    • , passage=By now most theater audiences can sing along with the post-Vietnam GI blues, but Steve Metcalfe's 1982 tale of a veteran and his sister and the war comrade who rescues them has lost none of its compassion, either for the men unwilling to confront choices they made in the heat of battle or for the tarnished knight and spinsterly lady who find themselves drawn to each other. }}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2008, date=February 10, author=Liesl Schillinger, title=Child of the Revolution, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=On the day the book begins, Che’s sheltered life of doormen, museum visits, country house retreats and spinsterly games of ludo comes to an end. }}