Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

thornback

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: thorn-back
IPA

20

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:

noun

Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:

noun

Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:

noun

A woman over a certain age (variously 26 or 30) who has never married, older than a spinster.

Archaic

Example Sentences

"[A] society of honest gentlemen [is holding a lottery] for the benefit of all single ladies, widows, maids, or thornbacks […]"
"Spinsters. — In a society where marriages were formed very early, girls often wedding at sixteen or under, […] At the age of thirty a spinster was called a "thornback ,” but bachelors and thornbacks were not the only people who […]"
""And I'll be a thornback spinster! Oh, I'd rather die of the pox than that!" She bolted away to spill her bitter tears out of doors in a place where no one could observe her. Her bold adventure had suddenly turned against her."

Etymology

From Middle English thornbak; equivalent to thorn + back.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: thornbak

Usage

Archaic

Inflected Forms

thornbacks (plural)

Questions

What does thornback mean?: Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:
Where does thornback come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce thornback

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