Wife

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Wife, n. [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.].

•  A woman; an adult female; -- now used in literature only in certain compounds and phrases, as alewife, fishwife, goodwife, and the like.  Piers Plowman.  [1913 Webster]

  "On the green he saw sitting a wife."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  1 Tin. iii. 2.  [1913 Webster]

  "Let every one you . . . so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband."  [1913 Webster]

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.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Wife, n. (pl. wives)
1 a married woman esp. in relation to her husband.
2 archaic a woman, esp. an old or uneducated one.
3 (in comb.) a woman engaged in a specified activity (fishwife; housewife; midwife).

Idiom

have (or take) to wife archaic marry (a woman). wife-swapping colloq. exchanging wives for sexual relations.

Derivative

wifehood n. wifeless adj. wifelike adj. wifely adj. wifeliness n. wifish adj.

Etymology

OE wif woman: ult. orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

Wife

better half, bride, common-law wife, concubine, consort, dowager, feme, feme covert, goodwife, goody, helpmate, helpmeet, lady, married woman, mate, matron, old lady, old woman, other half, rib, spouse, squaw, wedded wife, woman

ROGET THESAURUS

Wife

Woman

N woman, she, her, female, petticoat, feminality, muliebrity, womanhood, womankind, the sex, the fair, fair sex, softer sex, weaker vessel, dame, madam, madame, mistress, Mrs, lady, donna belle, matron, dowager, goody, gammer, Frau, frow, Vrouw, rani, good woman, good wife, squaw, wife, matronage, matronhood, bachelor girl, new woman, feminist, suffragette, suffragist, nymph, wench, grisette, girl, sissy, betty, cot betty, cotquean, henhussy, mollycoddle, muff, old woman, hen, bitch, sow, doe, roe, mare, she goat, Nanny goat, tabita, ewe, cow, lioness, tigress, vixen, gynecaeum, estrogen, oestrogen, consanguinity &c, paternity, lesbian, dyke, female, she-, feminine, womanly, ladylike, matronly, maidenly, wifely, womanish, effeminate, unmanly, gynecic, gynaecic, Pron, she, her, hers, ', a perfect woman nobly planned, a lovely lady garmented in white, das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan, earth's noblest thing, a woman perfected, es de vidrio la mujer, she moves a goddess and she looks a queen, the beauty of a lovely woman is like music, varium et mutabile semper femina, woman is the lesser man.