wife
Audio Help [wahyf] Pronunciation Key noun, plural wives
Audio Help [wahyvz] Pronunciation Key, verb, wifed, wif·ing.
—Related forms
Audio Help [wahyf] Pronunciation Key noun, plural wives
Audio Help [wahyvz] Pronunciation Key, verb, wifed, wif·ing. –noun
–verb (used without object), verb (used with object)
—Idiom
| 1. | a woman joined in marriage to a man; a woman considered in relation to her husband; spouse. |
| 2. | a woman (archaic or dial., except in idioms): old wives' tale. |
| 3. | Rare. wive. |
| 4. | take to wife, to marry (a particular woman): He took an heiress to wife. |
[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE wīf woman; c. D wijf, G Weib, ON vīf
]
] —Related forms
wifedom, noun
wifeless, adjective
wife·less·ness, noun
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
Wife
To learn more about Wife visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| wife
Audio Help (wīf) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. wives (wīvz) A woman joined to a man in marriage; a female spouse. [Middle English wif, from Old English wīf; see ghwībh- in Indo-European roots.] wife'hood' n. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
wife
O.E. wif "woman," from P.Gmc. *wiban (cf. O.S., O.Fris. wif, O.N. vif, Dan., Swed. viv, M.Du., Du. wijf, O.H.G. wib, Ger. Weib), of unknown origin. The modern sense of "female spouse" began as a specialized sense in O.E.; the general sense of "woman" is preserved in midwife, old wives' tale, etc. M.E. sense of "mistress of a household" survives in housewife; and later restricted sense of "tradeswoman of humble rank" in fishwife. Du. wijf now means, in slang, "girl, babe," having softened somewhat from earlier sense of "bitch." Wife-swapping is attested from 1959.
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| wife | |
noun | |
| a married woman; a man's partner in marriage [ant: hubby] |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
wife
see under wives.
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. |
wife [waif] noun — plural wives [waivz]
the woman to whom one is married
Example: Come and meet my wife; He is looking for a wife.
See also: wife-battering, old wives' taleExample: Come and meet my wife; He is looking for a wife.
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
Wife
Mid"wife`\, n.; pl. Midwives. [OE. midwif, fr. AS. mid with (akin to Gr. ?) + ? woman, wife. Properly, the woman or wife who is attendant upon a woman in childbirth. See Meta-, and Wife.] A woman who assists other women in childbirth; a female practitioner of the obstetric art.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
WIFE
WIFE: in Acronym Finder
| Acronym Finder, © 1988-2007 Mountain Data Systems |
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