wife


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Related to wife: WFIE

wife

 (wīf)
n. pl. wives (wīvz)
A woman joined to another person in marriage; a female spouse.

[Middle English wif, woman, wife, from Old English wīf.]

wife′hood′ n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

wife

(waɪf)
n, pl wives (waɪvz)
1. (Law) one's (female) partner in marriage; a married woman.
2. an archaic or dialect word for woman
3. take to wife to marry (a woman)
[Old English wīf; related to Old Norse vīf (perhaps from vīfathr veiled), Old High German wīb (German Weib)]
ˈwifehood n
ˈwifeless adj
ˈwifeˌlike adj
ˈwifeliness n
ˈwifely adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

wife

(waɪf)

n., pl. wives (waɪvz)
1. a woman joined in marriage to a man and considered as his spouse.
2. a woman (archaic or dial., except in idioms): old wives' tales.
Idioms:
take to wife, to marry (a particular woman): And he took to wife a woman of the next village.
[before 900; Middle English, Old English wīf woman, c. Old Frisian, Old Saxon wīf, Old High German wīp, Old Norse vīf]

-wife

a combining form of wife, now unproductive, occurring in words that designate traditional roles or occupations of women: fishwife; goodwife; housewife; midwife.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wife

See also marriage.

1. the murder of a wife by a husband.
2. a husband who murders his wife. — uxoricidal, adj.
Obsolete, the condition of widowhood. Also viduity. — vidual, adj.
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.wife - a married womanwife - a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
battle-axe, battle-ax - a sharp-tongued domineering wife
crown princess - the wife of a crown prince
first lady - the wife of a chief executive
golf widow - a wife who is left alone much of the time because her husband is playing golf
honest woman - a wife who has married a man with whom she has been living for some time (especially if she is pregnant at the time); "he made an honest woman of her"
homemaker, housewife, lady of the house, woman of the house - a wife who manages a household while her husband earns the family income
marchioness - the wife or widow of a marquis
matron - a married woman (usually middle-aged with children) who is staid and dignified
mayoress - the wife of a mayor
missis, missus - informal term of address for someone's wife
old lady - your own wife; "meet my old lady"
sheika, sheikha - the wife of a sheik
signora - an Italian title of address equivalent to Mrs. when used before a name
better half, married person, partner, spouse, mate - a person's partner in marriage
trophy wife - a wife who is an attractive young woman; seldom the first wife of an affluent older man; "his trophy wife was an asset to his business"
ux., uxor - (legal terminology) the Latin word for wife
vicereine - wife of a viceroy
viscountess - a wife or widow of a viscount
adult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted"
hubby, husband, married man - a married man; a woman's partner in marriage
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

wife

noun spouse, woman (informal), partner, mate, squeeze (informal), bride, old woman (informal), old lady (informal), little woman (informal), significant other (U.S. informal), better half (humorous), her indoors (Brit. slang), helpmate, helpmeet, (the) missis or missus (informal), vrou (S. African), bidie-in (Scot.) He married his wife Jane 37 years ago.
Related words
adjective uxorial
Quotations
"If you get a good wife you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher" [Socrates]
"Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses" [Francis Bacon]
"An ideal wife is any woman who has an ideal husband" [Booth Tarkington]
"I... chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but such qualities as would wear well" [Oliver Goldsmith The Vicar of Wakefield]
"My fairest, my espoused, my latest found,"
"Heaven's last best gift, my ever new delight" [John Milton Paradise Lost]
"best image of myself and dearer half" [John Milton Paradise Lost]
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
زَوْجَةزَوْجَه
женасъпруга
manželkažena
konefruhustru
edzino
naine
زن
vaimoaviovaimo
supruga
feleségasszony
istri
eiginkonakona
아내
uxor
bobučių pasakapatismurto panaudojimas prieš žmonąžmonažmonos sumušimas
sieva
nevastăsoţie
manželkažena
soproga
fruhustrumaka
ภรรยา
vợ

wife

[ˈwaɪf] [wives] (pl) nfemme f, épouse f
She's his wife → C'est sa femme.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

wife

n pl <wives> → Frau f, → Gattin f (form), → Gemahlin f (liter, form); the wife (inf)die Frau; a woman whom he would never make his wifeeine Person, die er niemals zu seiner Frau machen würde; businessmen who take their wives with them on their tripsGeschäftsleute, die ihre (Ehe)frauen or Damen mit auf Geschäftsreise nehmen; to take a wife (old)sich (dat)eine Frau or ein Weib (old)nehmen; to take somebody to wife (old)jdn zum Weibe nehmen (old)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

wife

[waɪf] n (wives (pl)) → moglie f
the wife (fam) → la padrona
it's just an old wives' tale → è solo una superstizione
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

wife

(waif) plural wives (waivz) noun
the woman to whom one is married. Come and meet my wife; He is looking for a wife.
old wives' tale
a superstitious and misleading story.
ˈwife-battering noun
the crime of beating one's own wife.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

wife

زَوْجَة manželka kone Ehefrau σύζυγος esposa vaimo épouse supruga moglie 아내 vrouw kone żona esposa жена fru ภรรยา karı vợ 妻子
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

wife

n. esposa.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
Collins Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

wife

n (pl wives) esposa
English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
"But, Monsieur Porthos," murmured the procurator's wife, who began to feel that, to judge by the conduct of the great ladies of the time, she was wrong.
So painfully acute was my sense of female imperfection, and such varied excellence did I require in the woman whom I could love, that there was an awful risk of my getting no wife at all, or of being driven to perpetrate matrimony with my own image in the looking-glass.
It was just then that he received a letter from his wife, who implored him to see her, telling him how grieved she was about him and how she wished to devote her whole life to him.
Knowing all the circumstances, I can positively assert that the wife's death has deprived the husband of two-thirds of his income.
He left Aldborough the same day, taking his wife with him to some place of retreat which was kept a secret from everybody except his lawyer, Mr.
This hind that you see with me is my wife. We have no children of our own, therefore I adopted the son of a favorite slave, and determined to make him my heir.
The pattering of the rain had long ago announced nightfall; and I was sitting in the company of my wife, musing on the events of the past and the prospects of the coming year, the coming century, the coming Millennium.
There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a pigsty, close by the seaside.
MANY years have passed since my wife and I left the United States to pay our first visit to England.
The wife had discovered that the husband was carrying on an intrigue with a French girl, who had been a governess in their family, and she had announced to her husband that she could not go on living in the same house with him.
On the threshold he was greeted by a servant with the news that his wife had just given birth to a boy.
Well, as Will Atkins and his wife were gone, our business there was over, so we went back our own way; and when we came back, we found them waiting to be called in.