Dictionary

archwife en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English archewyf, arche wif, equivalent to arch- + wife.

Meanings

1. A big, masculine wife; a dominating woman; virago.
   • All the same, Master Kit, it looks like you're in a case of pickles – if her ma's half the archwife the postboy says she is! Seems to me you'll have to hang up your axe.' 2008, Georgette Heyer, False Colours, page 191:
   • You archwives, strong as camels, take the high And overpowering hand against the male. 1977, Geoffrey Chaucer, Theodore Morrison, The Portable Chaucer: Revised Edition:
   • Lady Wallingford had been circulating defamatory libels against Buckingham, leading James to comment that Wallingford was like his father-in-law, 'altogether guided and overruled by an archwife'. 2002, Pauline Croft, King James:
   • Some poor fool might have been saved a lifetime of misery if the archwife had drowned in the ditch after all. 2013, Barbara Metzger, Greetings of the Season and Other Stories:
   • "To pay homage to the World Harlot, the Mandrake Venus, the Archwife, the Ever-existing, who has been, is, and will be. […]" 2003, Stephanie Forward, Dreams, Visions and Realities, page 3:

Forms