WIFE

wife, married woman

(noun) a married woman; a man’s partner in marriage

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

wife (plural wives)

A married woman, especially in relation to her spouse.

• The Fisherman and His Wife

The female of a pair of mated animals.

(Scotland) synonym of woman.

Usage notes

Although mostly used only humorously, wife can be used with the to indicate one's own wife, as in "I'd like to go, but the wife wants me home".

Synonyms

• (married woman): little woman (slang)

• See also wife

Antonyms

• (married woman): husband, were (obsolete)

Hypernyms

• better half, life partner, partner, significant other, spouse, wedder

Verb

wife

(slang, African-American Vernacular, said of men) to marry

Anagrams

• fiew

Source: Wiktionary

Wife, n.; pl; Wives. Etym: [OE. wif, AS. wif; akin to OFries. & OS. wif, D. wijf, G. weib, OHG. wib, Icel. vif, Dan. viv; and perhaps to Skr. vip excited, agitated, inspired, vip to tremble, L. vibrare to vibrate, E. vibrate. Cf. Tacitus, [" Germania" 8]: Inesse quin etiam sanctum aliquid et providum putant, nec aut consilia earum aspernantur aut responsa neglegunt. Cf. Hussy a jade, Woman.]

1. A woman; 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.

2. The lawful consort of a man; a woman who is united to a man in wedlock; a woman who has a husband; a married woman; -- correlative of husband. " The husband of one wife." 1 Tin. iii. 2. Let every one you . . . so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Eph. v. 33. To give to wife, To take to wife, to give or take (a woman) in marriage.

– Wife's equity (Law), the equitable right or claim of a married woman to a reasonable and adequate provision, by way of settlement or otherwise, out of her choses in action, or out of any property of hers which is under the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, for the support of herself and her children. Burrill.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition