Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Wife

Wife

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Wives
(#)
.
[OE.
wif
, AS.
wif
; akin to OFries. & OS.
wif
, D.
wijf
, G.
weib
, OHG.
wīb
, Icel.
vīf
, Dan.
viv
; and perhaps to Skr.
vip
excited, agitated, inspired,
vip
to tremble, L.
vibrare
to vibrate, E.
vibrate
. Cf. Tacitus, [“ Germania” 8]: Inesse quin etiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant, nec aut consilia earum aspernantur aut responsa neglegunt. Cf.
Hussy
a jade,
Woman
.]
1.
A woman; an adult female; – now used in literature only in certain compounds and phrases, as alewife, fishwife, goodwife, and the like.
“ Both men and wives.”
Piers Plowman.
On the green he saw sitting a
wife
.
Chaucer.
2.
The lawful consort of a man; a woman who is united to a man in wedlock; a woman who has a husband; a married woman; – correlative of husband.
“ The husband of one wife.”
1 Tin. iii. 2.
Let every one you . . . so love his
wife
even as himself, and the
wife
see that she reverence her husband.
Eph. v. 33.
To give to wife
,
To take to wife
,
to give or take (a woman) in marriage.
–
Wife’s equity
(Law)
,
the equitable right or claim of a married woman to a reasonable and adequate provision, by way of settlement or otherwise, out of her choses in action, or out of any property of hers which is under the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, for the support of herself and her children.
Burrill.

Webster 1828 Edition

Wife

WIFE

,
Noun.
plu.
Wives. [G., a woman.]
1.
The lawful consort of man; a woman who is united to man in the lawful bonds of wedlock; the correlative of husband.
The husband of one wife. 1 Timothy 3.
Let every one of you in particular, so love his wife even as himself, and let the wife see that she reverence her husband. Ephesians 5.
2.
A woman of low employment; as strawberry wives. [Not in use.]

Definition 2024

wife

wife

English

Noun

wife ‎(plural wives)

  1. A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.
    • The Fisherman and His Wife
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
    • 1952, P. G. Wodehouse, Big Business, in 'A Few Quick Ones', Everyman, London: 2009, p 127-8.
      All through Reginald's deeply moving performance she had sat breathless, her mind in a whirl and her soul stirred to her very depths. With each low note that he pulled up from the soles of his shoes she could feel the old affection and esteem surging back into her with a whoosh, and long before he had taken his sixth bow she knew ... that it would be madness to try to seek happiness elsewhere, particularly as the wife of a man with large ears and no chin, who looked as if he were about to start in the two-thirty race at Kempton Park.
  2. The female of a pair of mated animals.
    A new wife for the gander is introduced into the pen.‎

Usage notes

Although mostly used only humorously, wife can be used with the to indicate one's own wife. For instance, "I'd like to go, but the wife wants me home." More commonly, "my wife".

Synonyms

Antonyms

See also

Derived terms

Look at pages starting with wife.

Translations

See also

References

  • The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, ISBN 0946928118
  1. ↑ Adams, Douglas Q. (1999) A dictionary of Tocharian B (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, page 238
  2. ↑ Klaus Totila Schmit and Klaus Strunk, “Toch. B kwī̆pe ‘Schaum, Schande’, A kip ‘Schaum’ und germ. *wīƀa ‘Weib’”, Indogermanica Europaea: Festschrift für Wolfgang Meid (Graz: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Graz, 1989), pages 251-284

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: perhaps · state · says · #308: wife · hear · least · person

Scots

Etymology

From Old English wīf ‎(“woman”).

Noun

wife ‎(plural wifes)

  1. woman
  2. wife

Derived terms

Etymology

From Middle English wif, wiif, wyf, from Old English wīf ‎(“woman, female, lady, wife”), from Proto-Germanic *wībą ‎(“woman, wife”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰwíh₂bʰ- ‎(“shame, pudenda”) (compare Tocharian A/B kip/kwīpe ‎(“shame, genitals, female pudenda”)).[1][2] Cognate with Scots wife ‎(“wife”), West Frisian wiif ‎(“wife, woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuw ‎(“woman, lady, female”), North Frisian wüf ‎(“wife, woman”), Dutch wijf ‎(“woman, female”), Low German Wief ‎(“woman, female”), German Weib ‎(“woman, wife, female”), Danish viv ‎(“woman”), Swedish viv ‎(“woman”), Faroese vív ‎(“wife, woman”), Icelandic víf ‎(“woman”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /waɪf/
  • Rhymes: -aɪf

Similar Results