bachelor

Noun

bachelor (plural bachelors)

1. A person, especially a man, who is socially regarded as able to marry but has not yet.
   • As merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound.1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC
   • I shall die a bachelor.1933, S. N. Behrman, Queen Christina

   Synonyms:

   single

   Antonyms:

   husband, wedder

   1. (Canada) A bachelor apartment.
   2. A male animal without a mate during breeding season.
   3. (obsolete) An unmarried woman.
      • A bachelor still, by keeping of your portion :
        And keep you not alone without a husband1632 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio)...
2. The first or lowest academic degree conferred by colleges and universities; a bachelor's degree.

   Synonyms:

   baccalaureate, bachelor's

   1. Someone who has achieved a bachelor's degree.
3. (obsolete) A knight who had no standard of his own but fought under the standard of another in the field.
4. (obsolete) Among London tradesmen, a junior member not yet admitted to wear the livery.
5. A kind of bass, an edible freshwater fish (Pomoxis annularis) of the southern United States.