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husband
- 6 dictionary resultshus⋅band
[huhz-buh
nd] 
–noun
| 1. | a married man, esp. when considered in relation to his wife. |
| 2. | British. a manager. |
| 3. | Archaic. a prudent or frugal manager. |
–verb (used with object)
| 4. | to manage, esp. with prudent economy. |
| 5. | to use frugally; conserve: to husband one's resources. |
| 6. | Archaic.
|
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To husband
| hus·band (hŭz'bənd) n.
[Middle English huseband, from Old English hūsbōnda, from Old Norse hūsbōndi : hūs, house + bōndi, būandi, householder, present participle of būa, to dwell; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots.] Word History: The English word husband, even though it is a basic kinship term, is not a native English word. It comes ultimately from the Old Norse word hūsbōndi, meaning "master of a house," which was borrowed into Old English as hūsbōnda. The second element in hūsbōndi, bōndi, means "a man who has land and stock" and comes from the Old Norse verb būa, meaning "to live, dwell, have a household." The master of the house was usually a spouse as well, of course, and it would seem that the main modern sense of husband arises from this overlap. When the Norsemen settled in Anglo-Saxon England, they would often take Anglo-Saxon women as their wives; it was then natural to refer to the husband using the Norse word for the concept, and to refer to the wife with her Anglo-Saxon (Old English) designation, wīf, "woman, wife" (Modern English wife). Interestingly, Old English did have a feminine word related to Old Norse hūsbōndi that meant "mistress of a house," namely, hūsbonde. Had this word survived into Modern English, it would have sounded identical to husband—surely leading to ambiguities. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Husband
Hus"band\, n. [OE. hosebonde, husbonde, a husband, the master of the house or family, AS. h?sbonda master of the house; h?s house + bunda, bonda, householder, husband; prob. fr. Icel. h?sb[=o]ndi house master, husband; h?s house + b?andi dwelling, inhabiting, p. pr. of b?a to dwell; akin to AS. b?an, Goth. bauan. See House Be, and cf. Bond a slave, Boor.]1. The male head of a household; one who orders the economy of a family. [Obs.] 2. A cultivator; a tiller; a husbandman. [Obs.] --Shak. The painful husband, plowing up his ground. --Hakewill. He is the neatest husband for curious ordering his domestic and field accommodations. --Evelyn. 3. One who manages or directs with prudence and economy; a frugal person; an economist. [R.] God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a good husband, to improve the short remnant left me. --Fuller. 4. A married man; a man who has a wife; -- the correlative to wife. The husband and wife are one person in law. --Blackstone. 5. The male of a pair of animals. [R.] --Dryden. A ship's husband (Naut.), an agent representing the owners of a ship, who manages its expenses and receipts.Husband
Hus"band\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Husbanded; p. pr. & vb. n. Husbanding.]1. To direct and manage with frugality; to use or employ to good purpose and the best advantage; to spend, apply, or use, with economy. For my means, I'll husband them so well, They shall go far. --Shak. 2. To cultivate, as land; to till. [R.] Land so trim and rarely husbanded. --Evelyn. 3. To furnish with a husband. [R.] --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : husband
Spanish:
marido, esposo,
German:
der Ehemann,
Japanese:
夫
husband
O.E. husbonda "male head of a household," probably from O.N. husbondi "master of the house," from hus "house" + bondi "householder, dweller, freeholder, peasant," from buandi, prp. of bua "to dwell" The sense of "peasant farmer" (c.1220) is preserved in husbandry (first attested c.1380 in this sense). Beginning c.1290, replaced O.E. wer as "married man," companion of wif, a sad loss for Eng. poetry. The verb "manage thriftily" is 1440, from the noun in the obsolete sense of "steward" (c.1450). Slang shortening hubby first attested 1688.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Husband
i.e., the "house-band," connecting and keeping together the whole family. A man when betrothed was esteemed from that time a husband (Matt. 1:16, 20; Luke 2:5). A recently married man was exempt from going to war for "one year" (Deut. 20:7; 24:5).
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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