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A lively song or dance; a cheerful tune. The housewife went about her work, or spun at her wheel, with a lilt upon her lips. J. C. Shairp.

According to the primary and natural import of words; not figuratively; as, a man and his wife can not be literally one flesh.

ligatory or burdensome; to disengage; hence, to absolve; to remit. Art thou loosed from a wife seek not a wife. 1 Cor. vii. 27. Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Matt. xvi. 19.

A husband. "My lord being old also." Gen. xviii. 12. Thou worthy lord Of that unworthy wife that greeteth thee. Shak.

To cause to part with; to deprive of. [R.] How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much passion Sir W. Temple.

Affectionate. The fairest and most loving wife in Greece. Tennyson.

True to any person or persons to whom one owes fidelity, especially as a wife to her husband, lovers to each other, and friend to friend; constant; faithful to a cause or a principle. Your true and loyal wife. Shak. Unhappy both, but loyaltheir loves. Dryden.

A companion; a mate; often, a husband or a wife. [Obs.] For in this world no woman is Worthy to be my make. Chaucer.

hout just cause or excuse; as, a malicious act. Malicious abandonment, the desertion of a wife or husband without just cause. Burrill. -- Malicious mischief (Law), malicious injury to the property of another; -- an offense at common law. Wharton. -- Malicious prosecution or arrest (Law), a wanton prosecution or arres…

A married man; a husband; -- correlative to wife. I pronounce that they are man and wife. Book of Com. Prayer. every wife ought to answer for her man. Addison.

re women grown so mankind Must they be wooing Beau. & Fl. Be not too mankind against your wife. Chapman.

The wife or the widow of a marquis; a woman who has the rank and dignity of a marquis. Spelman.

The wife of a margrave.

The wife of a marquis; a marchioness.

or the state of being married; legal union of a man and a woman for life, as husband and wife; wedlock; matrimony. Marriage is honorable in all. Heb. xiii. 4.

of joining, as a man and a woman, for life; to constitute (a man and a woman) husband and wife according to the laws or customs of the place. Tell him that he shall marry the couple himself. Gay.

Hence, specifically, a husband or wife; and among the lower animals, one of a pair associated for propagation and the care of their young.

The union of man and woman as husband and wife; the nuptial state; marriage; wedlock. If either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony, ye do now confessit. Book of Com. Prayer (Eng. Ed. )

A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children; a woman of staid or motherly manners. Your wives, your daughters, Your matrons, and your maids. Shak. Grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a matron before she was a mother. Fuller.

assage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife. Milton.