wive, v.
(waɪv)
Forms: 1 wifian, (3 wifue), 3–6 wyue (-ve), 3–7 wiue, 7– wive.
[OE. w{iacu}fian (= MLG., MDu. wîven), f. w{iacu}f wife n.]
1. intr. († rarely refl.) To take a wife, get married, marry. Const. † on (o), with. Also occas. with it.
| c 888 ælfred Boeth. xi. §1 Maniᵹe habbað ᵹenoᵹ ᵹesælilice ᵹewifod. c 1000 ælfric's Canons vii. in Thorpe Laws (1840) II. 346 He ne moste on wydewum wifiᵹan. a 1225 Ancr. R. 308 Judas..wiuede o Thamar. a 1225 Juliana 12 Ȝef þat he..ne schal wiuen on me, wiue þer his wil is. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1588 Quad rebecca to hire were, Esau wifuede us to dere. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6459 Þo adde hii boþe iwiued wel. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 2896 To wiue on our kinde. 1340 Ayenb. 225 Zaynte paul..zayþ to wodewon, ‘huo þet guod is, he him hyealde ine þet stat; and yef hit him naȝt ne lykeþ, he him wyui’. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 117 Ther as myn herte is set ther wol I wyue. c 1460 Wisdom 666 in Macro Plays 57 Wndyrstondynge. We haue þat nedyt vs, so thryve I; Wyll. And yff þat I care, neuer wyve I. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. i. xi. 28 It is harde to wiue and thryue bothe in a yere. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 56, I haue thrust my selfe into this maze, Happily to wiue and thriue, as best I may. Ibid. 75, I come to wiue it wealthily in Padua. 1606 Marston Parasit. v. H 4, Goe thy waies & wiue with whome thou wilt for my part. 1774 Johnson To Mrs. Thrale 17 All who wisely wish to wive. 1817 Byron Beppo xcii, With any other women did you wive? 1876 Hardy Ethelberta xxvii, Encouraging Neigh in his resolve to wive. |
2. To be a wife, act as a wife. Also with it. rare.
| 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus E j b, Were it not very absurd..for maides being scarse borne, to begin to bride it, and say in so doing they woulde learne to wiue it? 1639 [see wiving ppl. a.]. 1891 C. E. Norton Dante's Hell i. 100 Many are the animals with which she [sc. a she-wolf] wives [orig. a cui sammoglia]. |
3. trans. To take to wife, make one's wife, marry, wed (a woman); pa. pple. made or become a wife, married (to a man).
| 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxv. 152 He wyu'd a Lady passing faire. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 145, I had rather hee should shriue me then wiue me. 1676 Hobbes Odyssey ii. 203 Many other ladies we could wive. 1848–9 Lytton K. Arthur ii. lxv, ‘Wived to my son, the witch will soon be steady!’ ‘Wived to your son?—she is a wife already!’ 1862 Meredith Modern Love xxxv, It is no vulgar nature I have wived. 1898 E. P. Evans Evol. Ethics i. 52 The Magians continued to wive their sisters in conformity to ancient usage. |
4. To furnish with a wife, obtain a wife for; to marry to a wife: chiefly in pa. pple. married (of a man). Obs. or arch.
| 1513 More Rich. III (1883) 61 Smal pleasure taketh a man of al that euer he hath beside, yf he bee wiued against his appetite. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus X iij b, They are euill horsed, and worse wiued, that ride on coltes & marrie younge giglittes. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 61, I bought him in Paules, and hee'l buy mee a horse in Smithfield. If I could get mee a wife in the Stewes, I were Mann'd, Hors'd, and Wiu'd. 1604 ― Oth. ii. i. 60 Mon. .. Is your Generall wiu'd? Cassio. Most fortunately: he hath atchieu'd a Maid That paragons description. 1608 ― Per. v. ii. 10 He is promisde to be wiued To faire Marina. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. iii. Wks. 1851 V. 113 She..won so much upon his fancy, though already wiv'd, as to demand her in mariage. 1816 Crabbe Flirtation 372 His craft contrived To get the Priest with expedition wived. 1820 Scott Monast. xxxvii, I promise you..that young Bennygask shall be richly wived. 1851 W. B. MacCabe Bertha III. xiv. 376, I [Henry] can do more strange things than unwive myself, and wive you. |
† b. with it: To obtain a wife for. Obs. rare.
| 1608 J. Day Humour out of Breath i. i. B 3, Oct... Ile one day get A husband for thee... Flo... Wiue it for them [sc. my brothers], you shall not husband me. |
5. To become the wife of, marry (a man; also transf. of an animal). Obs. or arch.
| 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ix. (1626) 175 So haue I seene two Buls together close; The fairest Cow in all the pasture chose To wiue the Victor. 1812 Crabbe Tales xii. 283 Served by that Villain—by this Fury wived—What fate is mine! |
6. fig. To ‘wed’, unite, couple. rare.
| 1886 Lowell Latest Lit. Ess., Gray (1891) 2 The thoughts, wived with words above their own level. |
Hence wived (waɪvd), ppl. a.
| 1633 Costlie Whore iv. end, He shalbe intombed with a wived maid. 1876 Encycl. Brit. V. 293/2 Gregory VII..determined..that no wived priest should celebrate or even assist at the Mass. |