Wives

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wife \Wife\, n.; pl. {Wives}. [OE. wif, AS. wif; akin to OFries.
     & OS. wif, D. wijf, G. weib, OHG. w[imac]b, Icel. v[imac]f,
     Dan. viv; and perhaps to Skr. vip excited, agitated,
     inspired, vip to tremble, L. vibrare to vibrate, E. vibrate.
     Cf. Tacitus, [" Germania" 8]: Inesse quin etiam sanctum
     aliquid et providum putant, nec aut consilia earum


     aspernantur aut responsa neglegunt. Cf. {Hussy} a jade,
     {Woman}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A woman; an adult female; -- now used in literature only
        in certain compounds and phrases, as alewife, fishwife,
        goodwife, and the like. " Both men and wives." --Piers
        Plowman.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              On the green he saw sitting a wife.   --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The lawful consort of a man; a woman who is united to a
        man in wedlock; a woman who has a husband; a married
        woman; -- correlative of husband. " The husband of one
        wife." --1 Tin. iii. 2.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Let every one you . . . so love his wife even as
              himself, and the wife see that she reverence her
              husband.                              --Eph. v. 33.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {To give to wife}, {To take to wife}, to give or take (a
        woman) in marriage.
  
     {Wife's equity} (Law), the equitable right or claim of a
        married woman to a reasonable and adequate provision, by
        way of settlement or otherwise, out of her choses in
        action, or out of any property of hers which is under the
        jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, for the support of
        herself and her children. --Burrill.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wives \Wives\, n.,
     pl. of {Wife}.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  wife
       n : a married woman; a man's partner in marriage [syn: {married
           woman}] [ant: {husband}]
       [also: {wives} (pl)]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  wives
       See {wife}