bachelor

Dictionary: bach·e·lor (băch'ə-lər, băch'lər) pronunciation

An unmarried man.
A person who has completed the undergraduate curriculum of a college or university and holds a bachelor's degree.
A male animal that does not mate during the breeding season, especially a young male fur seal kept from the breeding territory by older males.
A young knight in the service of another knight in feudal times.

[Middle English bacheler, squire, youth, bachelor, from Old French, from Medieval Latin baccalārius, tenant farmer, perhaps of Celtic origin.]

bachelordom bach'e·lor·dom or bach'e·lor·hood' or bach'e·lor·ship' n.

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Antonyms: bachelor

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Definition: unmarried man
Antonyms: groom, husband, spouse

Word Tutor: bachelor

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IN BRIEF: An unmarried man.

The bachelor lived in an apartment.

Quotes About: Bachelor

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Quotes:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man is in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." - Jane Austen

"Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men." - Francis Bacon

"A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner." - Jean De La Bruyere

"Show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually clean kitchen, and 8 times out of 9 I'll show you a man with detestable spiritual qualities." - Charles Bukowski

"I would be married, but I'd have no wife, I would be married to a single life." - Richard Crashaw

"The only good husbands stay bachelors: They're too considerate to get married." - Finley Peter Dunne

See more famous quotes about Bachelor

Dream Symbol: Bachelor

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Bachelors can represent being alone; the feeling of loneliness. Could indicate a desire for freedom, particularly if the dreamer is married.

Wikipedia: Bachelor

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For other uses, see Bachelor (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

A bachelor is a man above the age of majority who has never been married (see single), the terms origin in this sense dates from 1385, Middle English.^[1]

The term is sometimes restricted to men who do not have and are not actively seeking a spouse or other personal partner.^[2] For example, men who are in a committed relationship with a personal partner (female or male) to whom they are not married are no longer generally considered "bachelors,"^{[citation needed]} but neither are they considered married. Thus, a broad grey, unnamed status has emerged between the concepts of "bachelor" and "married man." ^[2]

Research done by sociologists Richard Pitt and Elizabeth Borland sharpens the definition of bachelor to mean "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating" for just this reason. They discovered that these bachelors were more liberal in their attitudes towards women's roles in society; this was not the case for those men who were only "unmarried".^[3]

During the Victorian Era, the term "confirmed bachelor" was used for showing a man's unmarried status, but today is often used as a euphemism for a gay man in the United States and the United Kingdom.^[4]^[5] In spite of the wider acceptance of gay people and same-sex relationships in recent years there are only little changes in this historic usage. Meanwhile, the term "confirmed bachelor" can also refer to heterosexual men who show no interest in marriage or classes of committed relationships.

The term "lifelong bachelor" has commonly replaced "confirmed bachelor", especially in reference to middle aged or older men who have never married and especially if they are not known to be in a relationship.^{[citation needed]}

"Most eligible bachelor" is a generic term for a published listing of bachelors considered to be desirable marriage candidates. Usually "most eligible bachelor" lists are published on an annual basis and present listed men in a ranked order.

Etymology and historical meanings

The word is from Old French bacheler "knight bachelor", a young squire in training, ultimately from Latin baccalarius, a vassal farmer. The Old French term crossed into English around 1300, referring to one belonging to the lowest stage of knighthood. Knights bachelor were either poor vassals who could not afford to take the field under their own banner, or knights too young to support the responsibility and dignity of knights banneret. From the 14th century, the term was also used for a junior member of a guild, otherwise known as "yeomen", or university; hence, an ecclesiastic of an inferior grade, e.g. a young monk or even recently appointed canon (Severtius, de episcopis Lugdunen-sibus, p. 377, in du Cange).

"Bachelor" can also refer to those holding a "bachelor's degree" from a university (or a four-year college, in the American system of higher education). In this sense the word baccalarius or baccalaureus first appears at the University of Paris in the 13th century, in the system of degrees established under the auspices of Pope Gregory IX, as applied to scholars still in statu pupillari. Thus there were two classes of baccalarii: the baccalarii cursores, theological candidates passed for admission to the divinity course; and the baccalarii dispositi, who, having completed this course, were entitled to proceed to the higher degrees. The term baccalaureus is a pun combining the prosaic baccalarius with bacca lauri "laurel berry" — according to the American Heritage Dictionary, "bacca" is the Old Irish word for "farmer" + laureus, "laurel berry," the idea being that a "baccalaureate" had farmed (cultivated) his mind.^{[citation needed]}

The sense of "unmarried man" dates to 1385. The feminine bachelorette is from 1935, replacing earlier bachelor-girl. In 19th century American slang to bach was used as a verb meaning "to live as an unmarried man".^{[citation needed]}

Footnotes

^ Dictionary search of Bachelor.
^ ^a ^b Cole, David. "Note on Analyticity and the Definability of 'Bachelor'." Philosophy Department of the University of Minnesota Duluth. 1 February 1999. Accessed 14 February 2008.
^ Pitt, Richard and Elizabeth Borland. 2008. "Bachelorhood and Men's Attitudes about Gender Roles" The Journal of Men's Studies 16:140-158
^ biology - List of sexual slurs
^ Peter Wilby on the Lord Browne saga | Media | The Guardian

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Translations: Bachelor

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - ungkarl, person med BA-grad, væbner, ung hansæl

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts universitetsgrad i humaniora, BA i humanistiske fag
Bachelor of Science universitetsgrad i matematisk-naturvidenskabelige fag, BA i matematisk-naturvidenskabelige fag

Nederlands (Dutch)
vrijgezel, baccalaureus, afstuderen, afgestudeerde, enkel, alleenstaand

Français (French)
n. - célibataire, (Univ) licencié, (Zool) bébé phoque, (Hist) bachelier (aspirant à la chevalerie), chevalier

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts (Univ) licencié ès lettres
Bachelor of Science (Univ) licencié ès sciences

Deutsch (German)
n. - Bakkalaureus, Graduierter, Junggeselle, Single

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts Bakkalaureus der philosophischen Fakultät
Bachelor of Science Bakkalaureus der Naturwissenschaften

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - εργένης, γεροντοπαλίκαρο, απόφοιτος/πτυχιούχος ανώτατης σχολής, πτυχίο ανώτατης σχολής

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts πτυχιούχος θεωρητικών επιστημών
Bachelor of Science πτυχιούχος θετικών επιστημών

Italiano (Italian)
laureato, celibe

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts laurea in materie umanistiche
Bachelor of Science laurea in scienze

Português (Portuguese)
n. - solteiro (m), bacharel (m)

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts bacharel (m) em Letras, bacharel (m) em Ciências Sociais
Bachelor of Science bacharel (m) em Ciências

Русский (Russian)
бакалавр, холостяк

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts бакалавр гуманитарных наук
Bachelor of Science бакалавр естественных наук

Español (Spanish)
n. - bachiller, soltero, bachiller en armas (joven jinete que se ponía bajo bandera de un ejército), oso marino austral macho sin pareja durante el período de celo

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts licenciado en letras
Bachelor of Science licenciado en ciencias

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - ungkarl, kandidat

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
单身男子, 单身汉, 学士, 鳏夫, 小雄兽

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts 文学士
Bachelor of Science 理学士

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 單身男子, 單身漢, 學士, 鰥夫, 小雄獸

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts 文學士
Bachelor of Science 理學士

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 미혼 남자, 학사, 어린 숫물개, 젊은 기사

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 独身男性, 学士

idioms:

Bachelor of Arts 文学士
Bachelor of Science 理学士

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أعزب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רווק, בעל תואר ב"א, לא נשוי‬

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	BS, BSc
	BL (abbreviation)
	BE (abbreviation)

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		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more
		Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial. Read more
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		Dream Symbol. The Dreams Encyclopedia. 1995 ©Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bachelor". Read more
		Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more

bachelor

Etymology and historical meanings

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Footnotes