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; 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. On the green he saw sitting a wife. Chaucer.

The state of being a wife; the character of a wife.

Without a wife; unmarried. Chaucer.

Of, pertaining to, or like, a wife or a woman. " Wifelike government." Shak.

Becoming or life; of or pertaining to a wife. "Wifely patience." Chaucer. With all the tenderness of wifely love. Dryden.

A North American fish (Clupea vernalis) of the Herring family. It is called also ellwife, ellwhop, branch herring. The name is locally applied to other related species.

A big, masculine wife. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A fishwoman.

The mistress of a house. [Archaic] Robynson (More's Utopia).

The wife of a householder; the mistress of a family; the female head of a household. Shak. He a good husband, a good housewife she. Dryden.

To manage with skill and economy, as a housewife or other female manager; to economize. Conferred those moneys on the nuns, which since they have well housewived. Fuller.

Pertaining or appropriate to a housewife; domestic; economical; prudent. A good sort of woman, ladylike and housewifely. Sir W. Scott.

The business of the mistress of a family; female management of domestic concerns.

ale housekeeper; a woman who manages domestic affairs; a thirfty woman. "The bounteous huswife Nature." Shak. The huswife is she that do labor doth fall. Tusser.

Like a huswife; capable; economical; prudent. -- adv.

The business of a housewife; female domestic economy and skill. Tusser.

To perform the office of midwife.

The art or practice of assisting women in childbirth; obstetrics.

A large, handsomely colored, blue and bronze, labroid fish (Iridio, syn. Platyglossus, radiatus) of Florida, Bermuda, and the West Indies. Called also pudiano, doncella, and, at Bermuda, bluefish.

A European wrasse (Labrus vetula).