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23-409: An old maid is an older woman who has never married. Old maid or Old Maid may also refer to: Old maid Spinster or old maid 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. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally denoted a woman whose occupation

46-467: A committed relationship leading to marriage) and a desire for isolation (i.e., fear of commitment ). Other reasons women may choose not to marry include a focus on career, a desire for an independent life, economic considerations, or an unwillingness to make the compromises expected in a marriage. Some writers have suggested that to understand why women do not marry, one should examine reasons women do marry and why it may be assumed they should marry in

69-410: A generation of women from experiencing romance and marriage or having children. In modern peacetime societies with wide opportunities for romance, marriage and children, there are other reasons that women remain single as they approach old age. Psychologist Erik Erikson postulated that during young adulthood (ages 18 to 39), individuals experience an inner conflict between a desire for intimacy (i.e.,

92-449: A more derogatory term was " old maid ". Typically, a young person (male or female) who has never been married is said to be "single" or "never married". The term "bachelorette" may indicate a woman who is unmarried by choice, the counterpart to the term " bachelor ". 1935, American English, from bachelor with French ending -ette. Replaced earlier bachelor- girl (1895) . Middle French had bachelette "young girl; "Modern French bachelière

115-463: A stereotype of an older woman who is unmarried, childless, prissy, and repressed." Currently, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines the "unmarried woman" sense of the term in three ways: (1) an archaic usage meaning "an unmarried woman of gentle family", (2) a meaning related to (1) but not tagged as archaic: "an unmarried woman and especially one past the common age for marrying" and (3) "a woman who seems unlikely to marry". Dictionary.com describes

138-410: A variety (and/or combination) of reasons, including personal inclination, a dearth of eligible men (whose numbers can decrease dramatically during war conflicts), and socio-economic conditions (that is, the availability of livelihoods for women). Writer and spinster Louisa May Alcott famously wrote that "liberty is a better husband than love to many of us". Social status issues could also arise where it

161-513: Is a crucial part of the definition, according to Robin Lakoff 's explanation in Language and Woman's Place : "If someone is a spinster, by implication she is not eligible [to marry]; she has had her chance, and been passed by. Hence, a girl of twenty cannot be properly called a spinster: she still has a chance to be married". Yet other sources on terms describing a never-married woman indicate that

184-536: Is also slowly falling into disuse in the English language due to attempts to neutralize professional terms; it is therefore less commonly applied to new terms nowadays. An archaic English term for a woman who has never married is a spinster , while a woman who is divorced is a divorcée, and a woman whose spouse has died is a widow . "Spinster" often implied that the woman was older than the age when most women traditionally marry and that she would probably never marry;

207-431: Is still often used when the banns of marriage are read by Church of England parish churches. A 2009 University of Missouri study of 32 women found that modern "spinsters" feel a social stigma attached to their status and a sense of both heightened visibility and invisibility. "Heightened visibility came from feelings of exposure and invisibility came from assumptions made by others". Women may not have married for

230-528: Is the standard English suffix denoting a female subject, while -ette is a French-origin diminutive suffix, mainly used to denote something is smaller in size. However, in American English the -ess suffix is only marginally morphologically productive, and the -ette suffix can indicate a feminine version of a noun without a change in size (though many such words in -ette were intended to be jocular when they were first coined). The -ess suffix

253-457: The "woman still unmarried beyond the usual age of marrying" sense of the term as "Disparaging and Offensive". A usage note goes on to say that this sense "is ... perceived as insulting. It implies negative qualities such as being fussy or undesirable". Also included is a sense of the word used specifically in a legal context: "a woman who has never married". Wordreference.com describes the "woman still unmarried" sense of spinster as "dated". Age

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276-407: The 1800s, the term had evolved to include women who chose not to marry. During that century middle-class spinsters, as well as their married peers, took ideals of love and marriage very seriously, and spinsterhood was indeed often a consequence of their adherence to those ideals. They remained unmarried not because of individual shortcomings but because they didn't find a man "who could be all things to

299-470: The Almighty, by becoming the wife of a man for whom you can feel no emotions of love, or respect even?" The Oxford American English Dictionary defines spinster as "an unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage". It adds: "In modern everyday English, however, spinster cannot be used to mean simply 'unmarried woman'; as such, it is a derogatory term, referring or alluding to

322-424: The first place. According to Adrienne Rich : Women have married because it was necessary, in order to survive economically, in order to have children who would not suffer economic deprivation or social ostracism, in order to remain respectable, in order to do what was expected of women, because coming out of ‘abnormal’ childhoods they wanted to feel ‘normal’ and because heterosexual romance has been represented as

345-403: The great female adventure, duty, and fulfillment In Law, a 'spinster' refers to an unmarried woman who had reached her majority. This was, in part, to reinforce the right to own property outside of marriage. Bachelorette In older English, the female counterpart term to "bachelor" was " spinster ". However, this has acquired negative connotations and, when used now, tends to imply that

368-400: The heart". One 19th-century editorial in the fashion publication Peterson's Magazine encouraged women to remain choosy in selecting a mate — even at the price of never marrying. The editorial, titled "Honorable Often to Be an Old Maid", advised women: "Marry for a home! Marry to escape the ridicule of being called an old maid? How dare you, then, pervert the most sacred institution of

391-466: The prospective bride was described as a "spinster of this parish". The Oxford American Dictionary tags "spinster" (meaning "...unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage") as "derogatory" and "a good example of the way in which a word acquires strong connotations to the extent that it can no longer be used in a neutral sense." The 1828 and 1913 editions of Merriam Webster's Dictionary defined spinster in two ways: By

414-485: The spinster is self-reliant and inscrutable. We think we know what the wife is up to and what the mother is up to but the single woman is mysterious. I like that mystery. So the term is a useful way to hold onto the idea of autonomy that can get so easily lost inside of marriage or motherhood". In 2005, in England and Wales, the term was abolished in favour of "single" for the purpose of marriage registration. However, it

437-423: The term applies to a woman as soon as she is of legal age or age of majority (see bachelorette , single ). The title "spinster" has been embraced by feminists like Sheila Jeffreys , whose book The Spinster and Her Enemies (1985) defines spinsters simply as women who have chosen to reject sexual relationships with men. In her 2015 book, Spinster, Making a Life of One's Own, Kate Bolick has written, "To me,

460-418: The unmarried woman is too old to find a husband and have children. A bachelorette may have previously been in a relationship. In Canada , the term bachelorette also refers to a small bachelor apartment (an apartment with only one large room serving as a bedroom and living room plus a separate bathroom—i.e. a studio apartment ). The more proper neologism would be bacheloress , since the -ess suffix

483-470: 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'". As a denotation for unmarried women in a legal context, the term dates back to at least 1699, and was commonly used in banns of marriage of the Church of England where

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506-592: Was to spin . The closest equivalent term for males is " bachelor " or "confirmed bachelor" (or, in cases of homosexuality, " he never married "), but this generally does not carry the same connotations in reference to age and perceived desirability in marriage. Long before the Industrial Age , "the art & calling of being a spinster" denoted girls and women who spun wool . According to the Online Etymological Dictionary , spinning

529-438: Was unacceptable for a woman to marry below her social rank but her parents lacked the funds to support a marriage within their social rank. In the early 19th century, particularly in England, women would fall under coverture , stating that all property and contracts in their name would be ceded to their husbands. This was particularly common in women who owned businesses. The First World War (1914–1918) prevented many within

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