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wedlock

7 dictionary results for: wedlock

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

wed·lock

[wed-lok] Pronunciation Key

–noun

the state of marriage; matrimony.

[Origin: bef. 1100; ME wedlok, OE wedlāc lit., a pledging, equiv. to wed pledge (see wed) + -lāc verbal n. suffix

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

wed·lock (wěd'lŏk') Pronunciation Key
n. The state of being married; matrimony.

[Middle English wedlocke, from Old English wedlāc : wedd, pledge + -lāc, n. suff. expressing activity.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
wedlock

O.E. wedlac "pledge-giving, marriage vow," from wed + -lac, noun suffix meaning "actions or proceedings, practice," attested in about a dozen O.E. compounds (cf. feohtlac "warfare"), but this is the only surviving example. Suffix altered by folk etymology through association with lock. Meaning "condition of being married" is recorded from c.1225.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

wedlock
noun
the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce); "a long and happy marriage"; "God bless this union" [syn: marriage]

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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

wedlock

see out of wedlock.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wedlock

Wed"lock\, n. [AS. wedl[=a]c a pledge, be trothal; wedd a pledge + l[=a]c a gift, an offering. See Wed, n., and cf. Lake, v. i., Knowledge.]

1. The ceremony, or the state, of marriage; matrimony. "That blissful yoke . . . that men clepeth [call] spousal, or wedlock." --Chaucer.

For what is wedlock forced but a hell, An age of discord or continual strife? --Shak.

2. A wife; a married woman. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.

Syn: See Marriage.