thornback

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the thornback ray or skate, Raja clavata, a ray with rough skin and rows of thornlike spines along its back and tail

   The survey recorded a thornback resting on the sandy seabed.

2. 2
   noun

   historical and derogatory: an unmarried woman considered older than a spinster

   The satire used thornback as a contemptuous label for an unmarried older woman.

A compound of thorn + back. The fish was named for the thornlike spines on its upper surface. The later social sense extended the image of prickliness into a disparaging label for an unmarried woman and is now only historical.

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