Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being a spinster; unmarried life or state.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The condition of being a spinster.
  • noun The time during which one is a spinster.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the state of being a spinster (usually an elderly unmarried woman)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

spinster +‎ -hood

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Examples

  • From that point on we begin to understand that spinsterhood is the condition she desires for Emily, as well as for herself, and that the years of quiet isolation together have formed a bond that is unhealthy as well as profoundly loving.

    On Emily Dickinson « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

  • Fans will discover in January if The Sun was right and Patty's spinsterhood is due to more than her raspy voice, incessant smoking, and plentiful body hair.

    Who's the Gay Simpson? 2004

  • Fans will discover in January if The Sun was right and Patty's spinsterhood is due to more than her raspy voice, incessant smoking, and plentiful body hair.

    Who's the Gay Simpson? 2004

  • Fans will discover in January if The Sun was right and Patty's spinsterhood is due to more than her raspy voice, incessant smoking, and plentiful body hair.

    Who's the Gay Simpson? 2004

  • In one story, the last, "Tannis of the Flats," the secret of Elinor Blair's spinsterhood is revealed

    Further Chronicles of Avonlea Lucy Maud 1920

  • Today, the near-bride, Adele Dobbin, and her two sisters, Lois and Kathleen, blame Harvey for what unkind relatives call their spinsterhood, and what potential beaus might characterize as a leery, united front.

    Archive 2007-07-01 2007

  • Today, the near-bride, Adele Dobbin, and her two sisters, Lois and Kathleen, blame Harvey for what unkind relatives call their spinsterhood, and what potential beaus might characterize as a leery, united front.

    7/28: New at the library this week 2007

  • The 1921 census revealed that over two million women in Britain alone would never marry or have children, instead facing a life of spinsterhood alone.

    Jacqueline Winspear: Gertrude Bell Jacqueline Winspear 2011

  • The 1921 census revealed that over two million women in Britain alone would never marry or have children, instead facing a life of spinsterhood alone.

    Jacqueline Winspear: Gertrude Bell Jacqueline Winspear 2011

  • The last thing she needed right now was her own private version of Rockton mucking with her determined spinsterhood.

    How to Woo a Reluctant Lady Deborah Gonzales 2011

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