[wahyf] 
noun, plural wives [wahyvz] , verb, wifed, wif⋅ing.| 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. |
| a combining form of wife, now unproductive, occurring in compound words that in general designate traditional roles or occupations of women: fishwife; goodwife; housewife; midwife. |
| wife (wīf) n. pl. wives (wīvz) A woman joined to another person in marriage; a female spouse. [Middle English wif, from Old English wīf; see ghwībh- in Indo-European roots.] wife'hood' n. |
wife
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Wife
The ordinance of marriage was sanctioned in Paradise (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:4-6). Monogamy was the original law under which man lived, but polygamy early commenced (Gen. 4:19), and continued to prevail all down through Jewish history. The law of Moses regulated but did not prohibit polygamy. A man might have a plurality of wives, but a wife could have only one husband. A wife's legal rights (Ex. 21:10) and her duties (Prov. 31:10-31; 1 Tim. 5:14) are specified. She could be divorced in special cases (Deut. 22:13-21), but could not divorce her husband. Divorce was restricted by our Lord to the single case of adultery (Matt. 19:3-9). The duties of husbands and wives in their relations to each other are distinctly set forth in the New Testament (1 Cor. 7:2-5; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18, 19; 1 Pet. 3:1-7).