spinnets

Updated: May 4, 2025

And thus we may explain many of the variations of English and of American speech. A simple word crosses the ocean and takes new tasks upon itself. The word "parlour," for instance, is dying in our midst, while "parlor" gains a fresh vigour from an increasing and illegitimate employment. Two centuries ago an air of elegance hung about it. It suggested spinnets and powdered wigs.

Charles Whibley - American Sketches

But the Prince appreciated us, and wished to do more for us than our father permitted. We had books always when we wished them; and my sister Marie learned to play on a spinnet that they had up there, and had belonged, they said, to the Leczinski themselves. "I wasn't interested in spinnets. That castle held something better for me.

Margaret Horton Potter - The Genius