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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



308 words match “WIFE”

BED v.
To go to bed; to cohabit. If he be married, and bed with his wife. Wiseman.
BETROTH v.
e (as a future spouse); to plight one's troth to. What man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her Deut. xx. 7.
BETTER a.
ll the better. See under All, adv. -- Better half, an expression used to designate one's wife. My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee. Sir P. Sidney. -- To be better off, to be in a better condition. -- Had better. (See under Had).
BILL n.
s or money. -- Bill of divorce, in the Jewish law, a writing given by the husband to the wife, by which the marriage relation was dissolved. Jer. iii. 8. -- Bill of entry, a written account of goods entered at the customhouse, whether imported or intended for exportation. -- Bill of exceptions. See under Exception.…
BIND v.
t court, to keep the peace, etc. -- To bind to, to contract; as, to bind one's self to a wife. -- To bind up in, to cause to be wholly engrossed with; to absorb in.
BLUEBACK n.
An American river herring (Clupea æstivalis), closely allied to the alewife.
BLUEBEARD n.
The hero of a mediæval French nursery legend, who, leaving home, enjoined his young wife not to open a certain room in his castle. She entered it, and found the murdered bodies of his former wives. -- Also used adjectively of a subject which it is forbidden to investigate. The Bluebeard chamber of his mind, into which…
BOB v.
To mock or delude; to cheat. To play her pranks, and bob the fool, The shrewish wife began. Turbervile.
BRANCH n.
bent iron, which bear the bit, the cross chains, and the curb. -- Branch herring. See Alewife. -- Root and branch , totally, wholly.
BRAWL v.
geously. Let a man that is a man consider that he is a fool that brawleth openly with his wife. Golden Boke.
BREECHES n.
allclothes. -- To wear the breeches, to usurp the authority of the husband; -- said of a wife. [Colloq.]
BRIDE n.
woman newly married, or about to be married. Has by his own experience tried How much the wife is dearer than the bride. Lyttleton. I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. Rev. xxi. 9.
BROTHER-IN-LAW n.
The brother of one's husband or wife; also, the husband of one's sister; sometimes, the husband of one's wife's sister.
BUILDING n.
fabric or edifice constructed, as a house, a church, etc. Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife's attire Have cost a mass of public treasury. Shak.
BUTTER n.
(B. Parkii). See Shea tree. -- Butter trier, a tool used in sampling butter. -- Butter wife, a woman who makes or sells butter; -- called also butter woman. [Obs. or Archaic]
CAPITULATE v.
n chapters or articles; to agree. [Obs.] There capitulates with the king . . . to take to wife his daughter Mary. Heylin. There is no reason why the reducing of any agreement to certain heads or capitula should not be called to capitulate. Trench.
CASE n.
thou shalt deliver him the pledge. Deut. xxiv. 13. If the case of the man be so with his wife. Matt. xix. 10. And when a lady's in the case. You know all other things give place. Gay. You think this madness but a common case. Pope. I am in case to justle a constable, Shak.
CASSIOPEIA n.
e northern hemisphere, situated between Capheus and Perseus; -- so called in honor of the wife of Cepheus, a fabuolous king of Ethiopia. Cassiopeia's Chair, a group of six stars, in Cassiopeia, somewhat resembling a chair.
CATCH n.
Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife in matrimony. [Colloq.] Marryat.
CHAR; CHARE v.
To perform; to do; to finish. [Obs.] Nores. Thet char is chared, as the good wife said when she had hanged her husband. Old Proverb.
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