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rolific; fertile; liberal; bountiful; as, a fruitful tree, or season, or soil; a fruitful wife. -- Fruit"ful*ly, adv. -- Fruit"ful*ness, n. Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Gen. i. 28. [Nature] By disburdening grows More fruitful. Milton. The great fruitfulness of the poet's fancy. Addison.…

An old wife; an old woman; -- correlative of gaffer, an old man.

rols the title and disposition of the property acquired during marriage by the husband or wife.

The alewife. [Local, Canada]

Brilliant in colors; splendid; fine; richly dressed. Why is my neighbor's wife so gay Chaucer. A bevy of fair women, richly gay In gems and wanton dressMilton.

Goodwife; -- a low term of civility or sport.

The state or quality of a goody or goodwife [Jocose] Hudibraus.

ptist's, and All Saints' Days); called also Dies non juridici. -- Grand duchess. (a) The wife or widow of a grand duke. (b) A lady having the sovereignty of a duchy in her own right. (c) In Russia, a daughter of the Czar. -- Grand duke. (a) A sovereign duke, inferior in rank to a king; as, the Grand Duke of Tuscany.…

In a happy manner or state; in happy circumstances; as, he lived happily with his wife.

Harborous. [Obs.] A bishop must be faultless, the husband of one wife, honestly appareled, harberous. Tyndale (1 Tim. iii. 2)

pain, disappointment. The heavy [sorrowing] nobles all in council were. Chapman. A light wife doth make a heavy husband. Shak.

A helper; a companion; specifically, a wife. In Minorca the ass and the hog are common helpmates, and are yoked together in order to turn up the land. Pennant. A waiting woman was generally considered as the most suitable helpmate for a parson. Macaulay.

A wife; a helpmate. The Lord God created Adam, . . . and afterwards, on his finding the want of a helpmeet, caused him to sleep, and took one of his ribs and thence made woman. J. H. Newman.

To subject to petty authority; -- said of a wife who thus treats her husband. Commonly used in the past participle (often adjectively).

Domesticity; care of home. [Obs.] "Wifely homeliness." Chaucer.

Chastity; modesty. Chaucer. To lay . . . siege to the honesty of this Ford's wife. Shak.

ostages I have, so have you mine; And we shall talk before we fight. Shak. He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune. Bacon.

One who does, or oversees, the work of keeping house; as, his wife is a good housekeeper; often, a woman hired to superintend the servants of a household and manage the ordinary domestic affairs.

A midwife. [Prov. Eng.]

A married man; a man who has a wife; -- the correlative to wife. The husband and wife are one person in law. Blackstone.