According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, spinning was 'commonly done by unmarried women, hence the word came to denote' an unmarried woman in legal documents from the 1600s to the early 1900s, and 'by 1719 was being used generically for 'woman still unmarried and beyond the usual age for it''.

Long before the Industrial Age, 'the art & calling of being a spinster' denoted girls and women who spun wool.

Monument to Peg Woffington (1720-1760) in St Mary's church, Teddington which describes her marital status Fibers to be spun are bound to a distaff held in her left hand. The closest equivalent term for males is ' bachelor' or 'confirmed bachelor', but this generally does not carry the same connotations in reference to age and perceived desirability in marriage.Įtymology and history The Spinner by William-Adolphe Bouguereau shows a woman hand-spinning using a drop spindle. The term originally denoted a woman whose occupation was to spin. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. Spinster is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. For other uses, see Old maid (disambiguation).Ī poem entitled 'It won't be my fault if I die an Old Maid', containing the lines 'Remember no thought to a girl is so dread / As the terrible one-She may die an Old Maid.'

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