▪ I. jointure, n.
(ˈdʒɔɪntjʊə(r))
Forms: 4–7 ioynt-, ioint-, ioynct-, (4 ioyngt-, 5 ioyntt-), -ure, -er, (4–6 -our, 5–6 -or(e, 6 -yre, -ur; 5 iuntor, yonture, 6 ionctour, gintur); 7 joinct-, 7–8 joynt-, 7– jointure.
[a. F. jointure:—L. junctūra, f. junct-, ppl. stem of jungĕre to join; see -ure.]
† 1. Joining, junction, conjunction, union. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. v. 32 (Camb. MS.) Ioyngture of sowle and body. 1550 Veron Godly Sayings (1846) 47 Lette hym notte goo from the joynture and compage of the members. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 326 That place where the ioincture is of the shoulders to the nape of the neck. 1606 Ford Fame's Memorial x, To..sympathize in ioincture with thy courage. |
2. concr. A joining, a junction, a joint. Now rare.
| 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xxxvii. 7, I prophecied..and loo! a styryng to gydre, and bones wenten to boones, eche to his ioynture. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 109 Þei ben bounde togidere bi oon ioynture, þe which þat strecchiþ from bifore to bihynde to þe lenkþe of þe heed, þe which is clepid sagittales. Ibid. 157 Alle þese boonys..þat ben in ioynturis, as þe schuldris, elbowis [etc.]. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxxi. 80 The necke..is the ioynture of the hede and the body and maketh them bothe one. 1594 Daniel Cleopatra iii. ii, Her disioyned Iointures as undone, Let fall her weak dissolved Limbs Support. 1609 Bible (Douay) 1 Chron. xxii. 3 Yron for the nayles of the gates, and for the ioyninges and ioynctures. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. III. 30/1 The jointures and commissures of both halves shou'd perfectly tally to each other. 1888 Harper's Mag. Aug. 332 A wall whose every jointure is being attacked by vigorous little weeds. |
† 3. The holding of an estate by two or more persons in joint-tenancy. Obs.
| [1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 13 §7 Euerie personne..which..shall haue iuncture in vse or in possession..of or in any manours.] 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 57 b, He that surviveth shal have onely the whole tenancy after such estate as he hath if y⊇ iointure bee continued. 1601–2 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 30 If lands be giuen to two, and the heirs of one of them, this is a good iointure, & the one hath freehold & the other fee simple, and if hee which hath the fee die, he that hath the frehold shal haue the entierty. 1660 C. Bonde Scut. Reg. 223 If Lands are given to the King and a subject, or if there be two jointenants and the Crown descend to one of them, the Jointure is severed, and they are Tenants in Common. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. xii. 180 Such..an estate is called an estate in joint-tenancy, and sometimes an estate in jointure. |
4. spec. a. orig. The holding of property to the joint use of a husband and wife for life or in tail, as a provision for the latter, in the event of her widowhood. Hence, by extension, b. A sole estate limited to the wife, being ‘a competent livelihood of freehold for the wife of lands and tenements, to take effect upon the death of the husband for the life of the wife at least’ (Coke upon Littleton, 36 b).
| 1451 Rolls Parlt. V. 218/1 This Acte shall not extende to the prejudice of..the Quene of hir Dower, joyntour or freeholder, to hir by you graunted. a 1466 Paston Lett. II. 79 The maner of Estlexham, the qwych is parte of my juntor. 1513 More Rich. III, Wks. (1557) 58 Y{supt} she might be restored vnto such smal landes as her late husband had giuen her in iointure. 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. x. §4 In every suche case every woman maryed havyng such Ioynter..shal not clayme to have eny Dower of the residue of the Landes..that..were her said husbondes. 1556 R. Arden's Will in French Shaks. Geneal. (1869) 470, I will that my wyfe shall have butt iij.li. vjs. viij.d. and her gintur in Snytterfylde. 1684 Wood Life 11 May (O.H.S.) III. 95 He had married a widdow of 700 li. per annum joynter. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. viii. 137 A jointure..strictly speaking, signifies a joint estate, limited to both husband and wife, but in common acceptation extends also to a sole estate, limited to the wife only. 1876 Digby Real Prop. vi. 295 It became a common practice for a man upon his marriage to convey lands to feoffees to the joint use of himself and his wife for life or in tail, by which means a provision for the remainder of her life was secured to the wife. This was called a jointure. |
† c. Used as equivalent to dowry: see dowry 2.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxix. 259 For the withholdyng of the dowre, or ioyntoure, of his firste doughter, maryed vnto Wyllyam y⊇ Kynges sone. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 280, I am perswaded yat my faire daughter shal be wel maryed, for there is none, that will or can demaund a greater ioynter then Beautie. 1598 Florio, Indotato, without a dowrie or iointer. 1615 J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. 364 She would make likewise a thousand pound Joyncture of her behaviour only, and Court-carriage. |
5. Comb., as jointure-castle, -house, one settled upon a woman as a jointure (sense 4); † jointure-water = joint-water, synovia (see joint n. 15).
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 324/2 We must not to suddaynly restrayne the Synnue, or Ioyncture-water. 1773 Johnson in Boswell 18 Sept., Most of the great families of England have a secondary residence, which is called a jointure-house. 1830 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. (1863) 273 Leaving the great town in which she had hitherto resided, and coming to occupy the family jointure-house at Oakhampstead. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) III. ix. 73 Within this castle lay the little King, who was thus conveyed to her jointure castle at Stirling. |
▪ II. ˈjointure, v.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To settle a jointure upon; to provide with a jointure: see prec. 4.
| a 1634 Randolph Poems (1638) 6 But what fond virgin will my love preferre, That only in Parnassus joynture her? 1667–8 Pepys Diary 10 Feb., She to have {pstlg}600 presently, and..to be joyntured in {pstlg}60 per annum. 1762 Foote Lyar iii. Wks. 1799 I. 313 She'll be easily jointur'd. 1885 Law Rep. 28 Chanc. Div. 205 Trusts which gave A. and B. respectively..powers of jointuring their wives. |