A bachelor is an unmarried but marriageable man; some restrict the usage to men who have never been married. The female equivalent term is spinster. In literature during the Victorian era, the term was sometimes used as a euphemism for a homosexual man (particularly in the phrase "confirmed bachelor").
Bachelor - Etymology and historical meanings.
The word is from from Old French bacheler "knight bachelor," a young squire in training, ultimately from Latin baccalarius, a vassal fa ...
Bachelors, in the sense of unmarried men, have in many countries been subjected to penal laws. At Sparta, citizens who remained unmarried after a certain age suffered various penalties. They were not allowed to witness the gymnastic exercises of the maidens; and during winter they were compelled to march naked round the market-place, singing a song composed against themselves and expressing the justice of their punishment. The usual respect ...
