a. and adv. [f. SPINSTER.]
A. adj. 1. Appertaining to a spinner.
1827. Lamb, Lett. to B. Barton, in Final Mem., xvi. 151. I feel most thankful for the spinsterly attentions of your sister. Thank the kind knitter in the sun!
2. Old-maidish.
1902. Daily Chron., 17 Nov., 5/2. New England … is not really spinsterly, but only so by comparison.
B. adv. In the manner of a spinster.
1894. Sketch, 4 July, 522/1. Miss Wilkins is handling the life too delicately, too spinsterly, too much, in fact, as a New England Nun.
