spinster

plural spinsters

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

   If […] a woman be named spinster, she may abate […]the same [writ].

   1628–1644, Edw[ard] Coke, (please specify |part=1 to 4), London

   2 more examples

   Iola Boylen is Mama's longtime friend and neighbor, a spinster who lives with her never-seen domineering mother.

   1993, Vincent Terrace, Television Character and Story Facts, Over 110,000 Details from 1,008 Shows, 1945-1992, page 282

   […]as a young woman she created a scandal by pursuing a passionate affair with a married opera singer, and she has spent the rest of her life as a spinster daydreaming of her long-lost love.

   1999 November 2, Michiko Kakutani, “Books of The Times: A Single Girl Takes On the California Frontier”, in The New York Times (E section), New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7

   Synonyms: old maid

2. 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 spinmeister.
3. obsoleteSomeone whose occupation was spinning thread.

   The spinsters and the knitters in the sun.

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]

4. obsoleteA woman of evil life and character; so called from being forced to spin in a house of correction.
5. dialectalrareA spider; an insect (such as a silkworm) which spins thread.