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Webster 1913 Edition


Husband

Hus′band

,
Noun.
[OE.
hosebonde
,
husbonde
, a husband, the master of the house or family, AS.
h[GREEK]sbonda
master of the house;
h[GREEK]s
house +
bunda
,
bonda
, householder, husband; prob. fr. Icel.
h[GREEK]sbōndi
house master, husband;
h[GREEK]s
house +
b[GREEK]andi
dwelling, inhabiting, p. pr. of
b[GREEK]a
to dwell; akin to AS.
b[GREEK]an
, Goth.
bauan
. See
House Be
, and cf.
Bond
a slave,
Boor
.]
1.
The male head of a household; one who orders the economy of a family.
[Obs.]
2.
A cultivator; a tiller; a husbandman.
[Obs.]
Shak.
The painful
husband
, plowing up his ground.
Hakewill.
He is the neatest
husband
for curious ordering his domestic and field accommodations.
Evelyn.
3.
One who manages or directs with prudence and economy; a frugal person; an economist.
[R.]
God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a good
husband
, to improve the short remnant left me.
Fuller.
4.
A married man; a man who has a wife; – the correlative to wife.
The
husband
and wife are one person in law.
Blackstone.
5.
The male of a pair of animals.
[R.]
Dryden.
A ship’s husband
(Naut.)
,
an agent representing the owners of a ship, who manages its expenses and receipts.

Hus′band

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Husbanded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Husbanding
.]
1.
To direct and manage with frugality; to use or employ to good purpose and the best advantage; to spend, apply, or use, with economy.
For my means, I'll
husband
them so well,
They shall go far.
Shakespeare
2.
To cultivate, as land; to till.
[R.]
Land so trim and rarely
husbanded
.
Evelyn.
3.
To furnish with a husband.
[R.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition


Husband

HUS'BAND

,
Noun.
s as z.
1.
A man contracted or joined to a woman by marriage. A man to whom a woman is betrothed, as well as one actually united by marriage, is called a husband. Lev.19. Deut.22.
2.
In seaman's language, the owner of a ship who manages its concerns in person.
3.
The male of animals of a lower order.
4.
An economist; a good manager; a man who knows and practices the methods of frugality and profit. In this sense, the word is modified by an epithet; as a good husband; a bad husband. [But in America, this application of the word is little or not at all used.]
5.
A farmer; a cultivator; a tiller of the ground. [In this sense, it is not used in America. We always use husbandman.]

HUS'BAND

,
Verb.
T.
To direct and manage with frugality in expending any thing; to use or employ in the manner best suited to produce the greatest effect; to use with economy. We say, a man husbands his estate,his means or his time.
He is conscious how ill he has husbanded the great deposit of his Creator.
1.
To till; to cultivate with good management.
2.
To supply with a husband. [Little used.]

Definition 2024


husband

husband

English

Noun

husband (plural husbands)

  1. (obsolete) The master of a house; the head of a family; a householder.
  2. (obsolete) A tiller of the ground; a husbandman.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.3:
      a withered tree, through husbands toyle, / Is often seene full freshly to have florisht []
    • (Can we date this quote?) George Hakewill (1578-1649)
      the painful husband, ploughing up his ground
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Evelyn (1620-1706)
      He is the neatest husband for curious ordering his domestick and field accommodations.
  3. (archaic) A prudent or frugal manager.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Fuller (1606-1661)
      God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a good husband, to improve the short remnant left me.
  4. A man in a marriage or marital relationship, especially in relation to his spouse.
    You should start dating so you can find a suitable husband.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Blackstone (1723-1780)
      The husband and wife are one person in law.
    • 1915, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger, chapter I:
      A great bargain also had been [] the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.
  5. The male of a pair of animals.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
  6. (Britain) A manager of property; one who has the care of another's belongings, owndom, or interests; a steward; an economist.
  7. A large cushion with arms meant to support a person in the sitting position.
    While reading her book, Sally leaned back against her husband, wishing it were the human kind.
  8. (Britain dialectal) A polled tree; a pollard.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:husband

Antonyms

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

husband (third-person singular simple present husbands, present participle husbanding, simple past and past participle husbanded)

  1. (transitive) To manage or administer carefully and frugally; use to the best advantage; economise.
    For my means, I'll husband them so well, / They shall go far. Shakespeare.
  2. (transitive) To conserve.
    • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
      ...I found pens, ink, and paper, and I husbanded them to the utmost; and I shall show that while my ink lasted, I kept things very exact, but after that was gone I could not, for I could not make any ink by any means that I could devise.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To till; cultivate; farm; nurture.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Evelyn
      Land so trim and rarely husbanded.
  4. (transitive) To provide with a husband.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  5. (transitive) To engage or act as a husband to; assume the care of or responsibility for; accept as one's own.

Derived terms

Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: certainly · big · road · #550: husband · blockquote · effect · wanted

Swedish

Etymology

hus (house) + band (band)

Noun

husband n

  1. a group of musicians who regularly play live in a TV show

Declension

Inflection of husband 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative husband husbandet husband husbanden
Genitive husbands husbandets husbands husbandens