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Webster 1913 Edition

Concubinage

Con-cu′bi-nage

,
Noun.
1.
The cohabiting of a man and a woman who are not legally married; the state of being a concubine.
☞ In some countries, concubinage is marriage of an inferior kind, or performed with less solemnity than a true or formal marriage; or marriage with a woman of inferior condition, to whom the husband does not convey his rank or quality. Under Roman law, it was the living of a man and woman in sexual relations without marriage, but in conformity with local law.
2.
(Law)
A plea, in which it is alleged that the woman suing for dower was not lawfully married to the man in whose lands she seeks to be endowed, but that she was his concubine.

Webster 1828 Edition

Concubinage

CONCUBINAGE

,
Noun.
[See Concubine.] The act or practice of cohabiting, as man and woman, in sexual commerce, without the authority of law, or a legal marriage. In a more general sense, this word is used to express any criminal or prohibited sexual commerce, including adultery, incest, and fornication. In some countries, concubinage is a marriage of an inferior kind, or performed with less solemnity than a true or formal marriage; or marriage with a woman of inferior condition, to whom the husband does not convey his rank or quality. This is said to be still in use in Germany.
In law, concubinage is used as an exception against her that sueth for dower; in which it is alledged that she was not lawfully married to the man in whose lands she seeks to be endowed, but that she was his concubine.

Definition 2024

concubinage

concubinage

English

Noun

concubinage ‎(countable and uncountable, plural concubinages)

  1. The state of cohabiting or living together as man and wife while not married.
  2. The state of being a concubine.
    • 1902 Websters International Dictionary. "In some countries, concubinage is marriage of an inferior kind, or performed with less solemnity than a true or formal marriage; or marriage with a woman of inferior condition to whom the husband does not convey his rank or quality. Under Roman Law, it was the living together of a man and a woman in sexual relations without marriage but in conformity with local law."

Translations

Etymology

Borrowing from French concubinage

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