coverture

[ kuhv-er-cher ]

noun
  1. a cover or covering; shelter; concealment.

  2. Law. the status of a married woman considered as under the protection and authority of her husband.

Origin of coverture

1
1175–1225; Middle English <Anglo-French, Old French. See covert, -ure

Words Nearby coverture

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use coverture in a sentence

  • Leaving the bilious and mathematical exactitude, the preposterous peace of that backwater, he thought suddenly: 'During coverture!

  • One cannot get over the fact that a wife during coverture had practically no legal status at all.

    A Complete Guide to Heraldry | Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
  • Sholto felt nervously for his sword and cleared it instinctively of the coverture in which he was wrapped.

    The Black Douglas | S. R. Crockett
  • A woman needed protection, or as the law of England has it, coverture.

    Judges and Ruth | Robert A. Watson
  • The counterpane, or "coverture de parade," was of the curtain material.

British Dictionary definitions for coverture

coverture

/ (ˈkʌvətʃə) /


noun
  1. law the condition or status of a married woman considered as being under the protection and influence of her husband

  2. rare shelter, concealment, or disguise

Origin of coverture

1
C13: from Old French, from covert covered; see covert

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012