Meaning of thornback | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:
2. The thornback guitarfish (Platyrhinoidis triseriata), a species of ray in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean.
3. The thornback ray or thornback skate (Raja clavata), a species of ray in the Atlantic Ocean.
4. The thornback skate (Dentiraja lemprieri), a fish endemic to Australia.
5. A woman over a certain age (variously 26 or 30) who has never married, older than a spinster.
   archaic

Examples

“[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.”

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