wedded, ppl. a.
(ˈwɛdɪd)
[f. wed v. + -ed1.]
1. Joined in wedlock; living in the married state.
| ? a 800 Conf. Abp. Ecgbert xx. in Thorpe Laws (1840) II. 146 Ða ᵹeweddodan fæmnan [L. puellam desponsatam] hire yldran hi ne moton syllan oðrum men. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 143 Þe weddede wiues. c 1200 Ormin 4604 Weddedd were & weddedd wif. 13.. Cursor M. 10458 (Gött.) Quar-of suld i haue ioy or bliss, Quen i mi weddid lauerd miss? c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 355 The wedded turtil with hire herte trewe. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1623 And many wedded couples haue I knowe. 1548–9 Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony 13 b, N. wilte thou haue this woman to thy wedded wife. 1607 Shakes. Per. iii. iv. 9 My wedded Lord, I nere shall see againe. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 605 Harmonie to behold in wedded pair More grateful then harmonious sound to the eare. 1717 Pope Eloïsa 77 Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame. 1740 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 205, I have been a close observer of the behaviour of wedded folks. 1798 T. Morton Speed the Plough v. i, She is my wife... My lawful, wedded wife. 1848 Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton xxxiii, If she lives, she shall be my wedded wife. 1908 G. Tyrrell in M. D. Petre Life (1912) II. 380, I thought that Utrecht would faint at the idea of a wedded bishop. |
b. absol. rare.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 5 Þat bihald as of heh alle widewen under hire & weddede baðe. 1450–1530 Myrr. Our Ladye ii. 149 She fayled not..the chastyte of vyrgyns ne the plenteousnesse of wedded. a 1849 J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 62 Who pleads for thee thus, thy wedded shall be. |
2. Of or pertaining to marriage or to married persons.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. v. 137 (Fo.) Go aske his name: if he be married, My graue is like to be my wedded bed [Qq. wedding bed]. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 750 Haile wedded Love, mysterious Law, true sourse Of human ofspring. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 184 ¶2 As soon as she took upon her the wedded Condition. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxxi, I care not myself for the wedded state. 1830 Coleridge Table-t. 27 Sept., Luther has sketched the most beautiful picture of the nature, and ends, and duties of the wedded life I ever read. 1866 Neale Sequences & Hymns 130 And wedded troth remains as firm, and wedded love as pure. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. v. 8 The sun of his wedded happiness set in this same year. |
3. Obstinately attached (to an indulgence, a habit, opinion, party, etc.).
| 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 117 If thou be either so wicked that thou wilt not, or so wedded that thou canst not abstein from their glaunces. 1721 Mortimer Husb. i. 1 The wedded Opinions of the Generality to the Custom and Practice of their Neighbours. 1854 C. E. Norton Lett. (1913) I. 106 New Hampshire,..the most wedded of all the Northern States to the Democratic party. |
4. Of things: Coupled or joined together.
| 1842 Tennyson Godiva 43 Then fled she to her inmost bower and there Unclasp'd the wedded eagles of her belt. 1916 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 572/1 The country-side [Italy]..with its wedded vines and elms. |
† 5. wedded brother = wed-brother (see wed n. 6). Obs. rare.
| c 1350 Athelston ii. (Zupitza), For loue of here metyng þare Þey swoor hem weddyd breþeryn for euer mare, In trewþe trewely dede hem bynde. Ibid. xiv, Þy weddid broþir. |
Hence † ˈweddedhood [-hood], ˈweddedness [-ness], wedded state or condition.
| a 1450 Myrc Par. Pr. 212 Dedly synne hyt ys forthe broght, Saue in here wedhode [v.r. wededhood] That ys feyre to-fore gode. 1891 Harper's Mag. July 181/1 His weddedness. 1903 Ld. R. Gower Rec. & Remin. 538 He and his wife appear exceedingly fond of one another, a rare and refreshing state of weddedness nowadays. |