Spinster 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: "1. A woman who spins, or whose occupation is to spin. 2. Law: An unmarried or single woman." By the 1800s, the term had evolved to include women who chose not to marry. During that century middle-class spinsters, as well as
Bachelor Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is socially regarded as able to marry, but has not yet. It is also the title of anyone of any gender or marital status who holds a bachelor's degree. The word is first attested as the 12th-century "bacheler", a knight bachelor, a knight too young or poor to gather vassals under his own banner. The Old French ' presumably derives from Provençal ' and Italian ', but the ultimate source of the word is uncertain. The proposed Medieval Latin *' ("vassal", "field hand") is only attested late enough that it may have derived