▪ I. wife, n.
(waɪf)
Pl. wives (waɪvz). Forms: sing. α. 1–5 (6 Sc.) wif, 3–5 wijf, 3–6 wyf, 4–6 wyff(e, wyfe, (chiefly Sc.) vif, vyf(e, 5–6 wiff(e, 6 Sc. vyff, (1, 4 wiif, 4 vijfe, whife, wieffe, wyefe, weyffe, 4–5 weife, wiue, wyue, 5 wyif, wyyfe, wyȝffe, whyf(f)e, 5–7 wiefe, 6 wieff, 6–7 wief), 4– wife. gen. 1–7 wifes, 3–7 wiues, (4 wiuis, wyuys), 4–5 wijfes, wyues, 4–6 wyfes, 5–6 Sc. wyf(f)is, 7 wives, 8 wive's, 8– wife's; uninflected 4 wijf, 4–5 wife. pl. 1–3 wif; 2–7 wifes, 3–7 wiues, 4–5 Sc. wyffis, 4–6 wyfes, wyues, wifis, Sc. wiffis, 5–6 Sc. wyfis, (4 wijf(e)s, vijfes, wiuis, wiuus, wiwes, vyuez, Sc. vifis, 5 wifs, wifys, wyuys, 5–6 -is, 6 Sc. vyffis, vyfues, vyuis, 7 wiefs), 7– wives. gen. 1 wi(i)fa, 3 wife, wiue; 3 wiuene; 4–7 wives, 8– wives'.
[OE. w{iacu}f str. n. = OFris., OS. wîf, (LG. wief, Du. wijf), OHG., MHG. wîp (G. weib), ON. v{iacu}f (Sw. vif, Da. viv); not in Gothic (which uses qinô ‘mulier’ quean and qêns ‘uxor’ queen n.); of obscure origin.]
1. a. A woman: formerly in general sense; in later use restricted to a woman of humble rank or ‘of low employment’ (J.), esp. one engaged in the sale of some commodity. Now dial., exc. with prefixed descriptive word, esp. in compounds such as ale-wife1, apple-wife, fishwife, old wife, oyster-wife, etc.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. A 646 Anus, alduuif. c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. xxiii, Seo ærest wiifa [L. feminarum]. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John iv. 7 Cuom uif of ðær byriᵹ to ladanne uæter. 971 Blickl. Hom. 5 For þære synne þæs ærestan wifes. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 111 Wisdom biriseð weran and clenesse birisað wifan. c 1205 Lay. 1507 Þa scipen todraȝen & þa wif drenchen. a 1225 Ancr. R. 158 Seint Johan baptiste, bi hwam ure Louerd seið, þet among wiuene sunes ne aros neuer betere. a 1300 Cursor M. 12904 Amang all wiue [13.. Gött. wiues] suns,..A heier barn was neuer nan. c 1300 Havelok 1713 Hw god helpen kan O mani wise wif and man. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xviii. (Egipciane) 1067, I coniure þe, Þat it, þat þu has hard of me,..Þat þu tel nothyre to man na vyf. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 155 The wyues of the parisshe. ― Doctor's T. 71 Whan she woxen is a wyf. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. xviii. 2235 Þat man is noucht born of wiff Off powar to reff me my lif. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 94 Eduuard..gert sla..Off man and wiff, vij thousand and fyfty. 1488 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 91 The wyfis of Dunbar. 1526 Tindale Rev. xvii. 6, I sawe the wyfe dronke with the bloud of saynctes. c 1563 Jack Juggler C iij, Then came I by a wife that did costerds sell. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xii. 118 The wyfis that fostred ȝow. 1625 Bacon Apophthegms §54 [19] Strawberrie wiues, that laid two or three great strawberries at the mouth of their pot, and all the rest were little ones. 1635 in Daily Chron. (1908) 11 Mar. 6/7 Oyster wives, herb wives, tripe wives. 1818 Keats Dawlish Fair 3 Where ginger-bread wives have a scanty sale. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Wife, a woman, whether married or not. ‘An apple wife’,—‘a fish wife’,—‘A tripe wife’. 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 55 She..shuddered, as the village wife who cries ‘I shudder, some one steps across my grave.’ |
b. Qualified by
old,
esp. in the
phr. old wives' fable,
story,
tale: see
old wife 1.
| c 725 [see above]. 1340, etc. [see old wife 1]. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 220 An old wiues request. 1656 Mennis & J. Smith Mus. Delic. (ed. 2) 2 An old wifes-Tale. |
c. Wife of Bath, one of the pilgrims in Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales; used allusively (
usu. attrib.), chiefly with reference to sexual appetite and outspokenness.
| 1926 A. Huxley Essays New & Old 178 Her comments on the connubial state were so very Juliet's Nurse, so positively Wife-of-Bath, that we were made to feel quite early Victorian. 1946 ‘J. Tey’ Miss Pym Disposes xviii. 185 The wide flat hat planked slightly to the back of her head on top of her wimple—Wife of Bath fashion—gave her an air of innocent astonishment. 1974 K. Millett Flying (1975) ii. 183 Alison sings, a great lusty Wife of Bath woman. 1978 R. Rendell Sleeping Life iii. 23 Horrifyingly, she added, with a Wife of Bath look, remembering the old dance, ‘Wouldn't be for sex, not so likely.’ |
2. a. A woman joined to a man by marriage; a married woman. Correlative of
husband n. 2. (The ordinary current sense.)
| c 888 ælfred Boeth. x, Hu ne liofað þin wif eac, þæs ilcan Simaches dohtor? c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. i. 24 Accepit coniugem suam, feng wiue his. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xviii. 25 Hyne het hys hlaford ᵹesyllan, & hys wif & hys cild. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 225 Sem cham iafet and hare þreo wif. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 49 Riche men..þe habbeð..feire wifes and feire children. Ibid. 129 He forseh his scuppend þurh his wifes red. c 1205 Lay. 25 Noe & Sem Japhet & Cham & heore four wiues [c 1275 wifes]. Ibid. 14142 Ich wulle..senden after mine wiue. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1219 God him bad is wiues tale Listen. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 30/26 To take is broþer wijf. a 1300 Cursor M. 918 Þou, man,..has vnder⁓taken Þi wijf red [Gött. þi wiues rede]. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 785 Þe lambes vyuez in blysse we bene. c 1350 Will. Palerne 242 My menskful moder is his meke wiue. 1422 Yonge tr. Secr. Secr. xxxvi. 192 The loue that a vif shold haue to hir spous. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. iii. (1885) 114 Thair wyfes and childeren. 1483 Cath. Angl. 417/1 A Wife modir, socrus. 1549 Compl. Scot. ii. 24 Thou sal spouse ane vyfe, bot ane vthir sal tak hyr fra the. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 72 A good wife makth a good husbande, (they saie). 1580 in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.) 58 Ane of Jacobs vyfues. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 16 Slaves unto their wives goods. 1628 Coke On. Litt. i. 112 A man may not grant nor giue his tenements to his Wife during the couerture, for that his Wife and hee bee but one person in the Law. 1628 in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.) 273 Their wifes and bairnes. c 1635 Sir W. Pole Descr. Devon iii. (1791) 166 S{supr}. Thomas Beamont..maried 2 wiefs. 1637 Sc. Prayer Bk., Vis. Sick, Visit him, O Lord, as thou didst Peters wives mother. 1722 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) VII. 382 His Wive's first Husband. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones ix. vii, She passed for that Gentleman's Wife,..and yet..there were some Doubts concerning the Reality of their Marriage. 1834 Dickens Sk. Boz, Boarding-ho. i, He had never been married; but he was still on the look-out for a wife with money. |
b. Phrases. (
a)
to wife (
to prep. 11 b), for a wife, to be one's wife: in such phrases as
to take to wife, to marry (somewhat
arch.);
† to give (grant) to wife, to bestow in marriage;
† to have (hold) to wife, to have as one's wife, be the husband of;
† to will to wife, to desire to marry.
† (
b)
wife's light, a light (in a church) maintained by married women (
cf. maiden's light,
maiden n. 10). (
c)
all the world and his wife (
humorous colloq.), all men and women, everybody: usually hyperbolically for a large and miscellaneous body or company of people of both sexes. (
d)
wife and mother, a conventional epithet describing a woman who shows a zealous devotion to her family (now also somewhat
joc.). (
e) preceded by an
adj. or
n. denoting the husband's occupation (
freq. of a
Mil. character, as
navy wife,
service wife), and
esp. connoting a wife who fulfils official expectations of this role.
Also in various other phrases, as
bachelor's wife (
bachelor 4 b),
wife of one's bosom (
bosom n. 1 c),
wife of the left hand (
left hand 2),
man and wife (
man n.1 8).
| (a) c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiv. 4 Nys þe alyfed hi to wife to hæbbenne. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2147 Iosep to wiue his dowter nam. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8926 Þe emperour of alimayne willede to wiue [v.rr. to his wyfe, to his wyff] Mold þe kinges doȝter. a 1300 Cursor M. 7482, I suld..giue mi doghter him to wijf. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 106 Ȝif he wilne þe to wyf, wolt þou him haue? c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1304 Dido, Haue ȝe nat sworn to wyue me to take? 1390 Gower Conf. II. 217 This Steward..A lusti ladi hath to wyve. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3575 He has weddyde Waynore, and hyr to wyefe holdes. 1415 in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1430, 39/1 Huchon Fraser..God grantand, sal lede into wyf Jonet of Fentoun the systir. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. viii. 61 Bot he the grant to wyf his child Lavine. 1526 Tindale Mark xii. 23 In the resurrecion then..whose wyfe shall she be of them? For seven had her to wyfe. 1588 Greene Pandosto Wks. (Grosart) IV. 234 This Pandosto had to Wife a Ladie called Bellaria. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 80 ¶3 She..was taken to Wife by a Gentleman. 1726 Pope Odyss. xxi. 73 If I the prize, if me you seek to wife. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 231 James had..taken to wife the princess Mary of Modena. 1907 C. Hill-Tout Brit. N. Amer., Far West x. 182 Early marriages were..the custom, the girls being often barely pubescent when taken to wife. |
| (b) 1547–8 in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 275, x li. of wex for the wyfes Light. |
| (c) 1731–8 Swift Pol. Conversat. iii. 192 Miss. Pray, Madam, who were the Company? Lady Smart. Why, there was all the World, and his Wife. 1822 Byron Let. to Sir W. Scott, ‘All the world and his wife’, as the proverb goes, were trying to trample upon me. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xvii, All the world and his wife and daughter leave cards. 1912 World 7 May 701/1 So much has been heard of Hardelot lately..that its name must be familiar to all the world and his wife. |
| (d) 1798 E. Inchbald Lovers' Vows (ed. 3) ii. iii. 31 Go to Amelia—explain to her the duties of a wife and of a mother. 1850 Mrs. Gaskell Let. Apr. (1966) 108 One of my mes is..a true Christian..another of my mes is a wife and mother, and highly delighted at the delight of everyone else in the house. 1911 G. B. Shaw Getting Married 196 She's a born wife and mother, maam. Thats why my children all ran away from home. 1930 A. Christie Murder at Vicarage xxxii. 252 I'm going to be a real ‘wife and mother’ (as they say in books). 1974 M. Cecil Heroines in Love v. 128 They could remain devoted wives and mothers and do their bit for the Cause. |
| (e) 1951 ‘J. Tey’ Daughter of Time i. 9 The present Valerie or Angela or Cecile..must be a naval wife. 1975 ‘J. Bell’ Victim i. 17 All the vulgar arrogance of an overseas army wife between the wars. 1981 P. McCutchan Shard calls Tune ii. 18 Beth had been a police wife..and a Foreign Office Security wife... She knew she mustn't ask where Simon was going. |
c. (
a)
euphem. A kept mistress, concubine.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. x. 880 Bot scho wes blamyt in hir live, The bischop of Dunkeldynnis wif. |
(
b)
a wife in every port, a licence or indulgence (jocularly) said to be enjoyed by sailors.
| 1761 I. Bickerstaffe Thomas & Sally i. iii. 5 'Tis pretty sport, for one that gets a wife at ev'ry port. 1907 Punch 22 May 365/2 (caption) Admiral. And what made you wish to become a sailor, my boy? Navy Candidate (in perfect good faith). Because he's got a wife in every port, sir. 1933 Somerville & ‘Ross’ Smile & Tear xi. 132 ‘The wife in every port’, supposed to be the perquisite of sailors, is no more than the constant aspiration of every self-respecting dog. |
† d. Applied as a term of affection to a female friend.
Obs.| 1592 Wills & Inv. Durh. (Surtees 1860) 205 To Mrs. Clopton one old ryall, to hir daughter, my wiffe, Alice, one angell. 1601 in Blackw. Mag. (1898) Nov. 654/2, I came lately thence..about a match for my wife, which is since dispatcht with younge Gifford. |
e. transf. The female of a pair of the lower animals; the mate of a male animal.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 63 As Chauntecleer among hise wyues alle Sat on his perche. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 669 Fesauntis..first in Marche vppon they go Theyr wyuys. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 159 Phebus red fowle..Pykland his meyt..Hys wifis, Toppa and Pertelok, hym by. 1657 G. Thornley Daphnis & Chloe 125 The he-goats..every one had his own wives. 1838 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 194 The monkeys were in a rage... The old father hunted his wife and children up the tree. 1870 P. M. Duncan Blanchard's Transf. Insects 436 Wives appear to be at a premium amongst these spiders. 1887 G. W. Cable in Century Mag. Mar. 677/1 The song-birds..making the..wood merry with their carolings to the wives and younglings in the nests. |
f. fig. of a thing: see
quots. See also
Dutch wife s.v. Dutch A. 4.
| 1813 in Brighton Adm. Wallis (1892) 45 [His] wooden wife [as he sometimes called his ship]. 1823 Egan Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Wife, a fetter fixed to one leg. 1859 Habits Gd. Society vii. (new ed.) 254 The pipe is the bachelor's wife. |
g. The passive member of a homosexual partnership.
slang.| 1883 W. A. Hammond Sexual Impotence in Male i. 57 The one who was in this disgusting arrangement to act the part of ‘husband’ came to his ‘wife's’ bed and remained there during the night. 1957 Danforth & Horan D.A.'s Man (1958) i. 3 He's got a new girl. His ‘wife’ went home last week. 1978 J. Hyams Pool xiii. 199 The group's leader [a homosexual]..made his ‘wife’ head of production. |
3. The mistress of a household; the hostess or landlady of an inn. In
quot. c 1430
= housewife, economist.
Obs. exc. as surviving in
goodwife 1,
housewife 1.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 462 A preest..Which was so plesaunt and so seruysable Vn-to the wyf where as he was at table That she wolde suffre hym no thyng for to paye. c 1430 How Good Wife taught Dau. 168 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 191 Be thou wise wif of thin owen. 1485 in Yorks. Archæol. Soc., Record Ser. XLI. 5 The wiff of this hous is your doughter..and it is most metlye for you to tarye here. 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings xvii. 17 The sonne of the wife of y⊇ house was sicke. 1560 Machyn Diary (Camden) 238 The wyff of the Bell in Gracyous-strett. 1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 48 b, The olde husbandes..vsed..to iudge, that where they founde the garden out of order, the wyfe of the house..was no good huswyfe. 1620 Frier Rush 14 He called the wife of the house and said: Mistresse, I pray you fill a pottle of wine. |
4. Collectors' name for a moth,
Catocala nupta, also called Willow Red Underwing.
| 1832 Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 99 The Wife..appears among willows the beginning of August. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. attrib. (
a) of or pertaining to a wife or wives, as
wifekin,
wifthing; (
b) appositive
= ‘that is a wife’, as
wife-slave,
wife-whore (
† wife-houre).
b. obj. (
a) with agent-n., as
wife-basher,
wife-beater,
wife-broker,
wife-hunter,
wife-seeker; (
b) with
n. of action, as
wife-bashing,
wife-battering,
wife-beating,
wife-murder,
wife-purchase,
wife-slaughter; (
c) with
pres. pple., as
wife-beating,
wife-hunting adjs. c. instr. = ‘with or by a wife’, as
wife-awed,
wife-worn adjs. d. Special
Combs.:
wife-bound a., bound or united to a wife, married;
wife-carl Sc., a man who occupies himself with a woman's or housewife's work, a ‘cotquean’;
wife-old a.,
Sc., old enough to be a wife, of marriageable age;
wife-ridden a., tyrannized over by one's wife, ‘hen-pecked’;
wife-swapping, the interchange of marital partners for sexual purposes within a social group; hence
wife-swap n. (
occas. as
v. intr.);
wife-swapper;
wife-widow (
nonce-wd.), a wife living apart from her husband.
| 1615 Chapman Odyss. xi. 370 She brought her *wife-awd husband, Neleus. |
| 1909 Practitioner Dec. 828 Poisoning conducted on these lines..resembles the action of the *wife-basher, who attacks his victim with a poker... The wife-basher, however, is aware of the obviousness of his crime. 1979 J. Wainwright Tension 98 She walked to the home of the ‘wife-basher’..and..went into action. |
| 1978 ― Thief of Time 221 ‘Why should some wandering female run to the nearest doctor?’..‘*Wife-bashing. Unwanted pregnancy. A score of reasons.’ |
| 1978 Times 16 Feb. 4/7 *Wife-battering is most likely to occur among couples with a family history of violence. |
| 1892 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 21 Nov. 4/1 If the whipping-post has a mission, it is for the punishment of *wife-beaters. |
| 1830 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. Walks, Shaw, An assurance of tenderness and protection such as no *wife-beating tyrant..ever could inspire. 1856 Geo. Eliot Let. 18 Jan. (1954) II. 225 A Petition..that married women may have a legal right to their own earnings, as a counteractive to wife-beating and other evils. 1882 L. Oliphant Land of Khemi iv. 199, I asked whether there was much wife-beating among the natives of Egypt. |
| a 1547 Surrey æneis iv. 343 A *wifebound man. 1820 Keats Let. 28 Jan. (1958) II. 247 Henry is wife-bound in Cambden Town there is no getting him out. |
| 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. vii. (1709) 63 These Marriage-Hucksters, or *Wife-brokers. |
| 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 351, I maid that *wif carll to werk all womenis werkis. 1816 Scott Antiq. xiv, An ye will be a wife-carle, and buy fish at your ain hands. |
| 1826 Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 171 Young *wife-hunters, in search of rich and ugly old women. |
| 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 212 *Wife-hunting, as the rumour ran, was he. 1907 E. V. Lucas Swan & Friends 90 Having loved in vain a lady whom he met at Shaftesbury while on a wife-hunting expedition. |
| 1871 C. Kingsley At Last x, *Wife-murder is but too common among these Hindoos. |
| 1901 E. Phillpotts Striking Hours 31, I was *wife-auld, an' a peart gal very interested in men-folk. |
| 1891 Westermarck Hist. Hum. Marr. (ed. 2) 382 *Wife-purchase and husband-purchase still persist.., though in disguised forms. |
| 1694 Congreve Double Dealer v. xiii, By Heav'n I'll not be *Wife-ridden. |
| 1859 Cornwallis New World I. 231 The profession of the *wife-seeker was greatly in his favor. |
| 1609 Bible (Douay) Num. v. comm., God ordained this law..to avoid *wiveslaughter. |
| 1902 Westm. Gaz. 6 Aug. 1/3 He retires from work..and purchases *wife-slaves to maintain him in idleness. |
| 1976 Private Eye 24 Dec. 8/2 M. Phillipe Dannat..told the magistrates of Nice that he had assaulted M. Georges David at a *wife-swap rendezvous in the hills above St. Tropez. |
| 1978 F. Weldon Praxis xx. 184 They played strip poker; they *wife-swapped. |
| 1969 C. Himes Blind Man with Pistol x. 111 *Wife swappers, gang fuckers, seekers of depravity. |
| 1959 M. Pugh Chancer xiv. 170 He began to discuss the *wife-swapping parties held locally... ‘But how do they get away with it here?... The town's so small. I would have thought that after six months..they'd have to convene a mass divorce trial.’ 1967 W. & J. Breedlove Swinging Set x. 119 They brought up the subject of ‘wife-swapping’ with four other couples. 1976 ‘W. Trevor’ Children of Dynmouth iii. 77 There was wife-swapping every Saturday night at parties on the new estate. |
| 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 310 Alle *wif houren..Þe deuel of helle ich hii be-take. |
| 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary iii. i, If this Philip..Left Mary a *wife-widow here alone. |
| 1647 Ward Simple Cobler 27 Our considerate, I dare not say *wife-worne Commons. |
Hence
wifekin,
wifelet,
wifeling,
wifelkin (
dial.), as terms of endearment
= little wife;
wifeship, the position or relation of a wife;
wifeward adv., towards or to one's wife. (All
nonce-wds.)
| 1829 Carlyle in Love Lett. T. C. (1909) II. App. 355 *Wifekin waits and coffee simmers. |
| 1890 Daily News 14 Oct. 5/6 With *wifelet and chubby children. |
| 1868 Farrar Seekers ii. iv. 226 If..some *wifeling or childling be granted you. |
| 1851 Borrow Lavengro v, Leave him to me, *wifelkin. |
| 1891 T. K. Cheyne Orig. Psalter vii. 315 The figures of sonship and *wifeship were no longer adequate to express Israel's relation to its Lord. |
| 1886 Kipling Departm. Ditties etc. (1888) 48 [He] travelled *wifeward. |
▸
wife-beater n. U.S. colloq.apparently associating such a garment with men who commit domestic violence, a man's sleeveless cotton undershirt or vest; (also) a shirt for women designed to resemble this.
| 1993Crazy Stanford Law Students on Acid—True Crime!! in alt.drugs (Usenet newsgroup) 18 Nov. Pee-Wee had the emaciated body of Tolkien's Gollum and sported brown khakis and a *wifebeater tanktop. 1994 Boston Globe (Nexis) 28 Sept. 35 Bowling shirts are in, wife beaters are out. 2000 M. Gladwell Tipping Point 207 White teenage girls in Los Angeles dressing up like Mexican gangsters with the look they called ‘the wife beater’—a tight white tank top with the bra straps showing. 2003 Wired Mar. 106/1 The young racers sport wife-beaters and military buzz cuts. |
▪ II. † wife, v. Obs. rare.
[f. prec. n.] 1. intr. To take a wife, to marry:
= wive v. 1.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 263 Þey..kepeþ besiliche here children, and suffreth hem nouȝt to wyfe wiþ ynne foure and twenty ȝere. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 97 It is sayde full ryfe, ‘a man may not wyfe And also thryfe, And all in a yere.’ 1725 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1878) I. 348 Eu. An't you weary of wifeing? Po... If this Eighth should die to Day I would marry the Ninth to-Morrow. |
2. wife it: to play the wife, act as a wife.
| 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingt. C 3, I should Wife it as fine as any woman could. |