Dictionary

bewife en · VERB

Etymology

From be- + wife.

Meanings

1. (rare, transitive) To marry (a woman).
   • Pondering other items, like the path to a Chemical Engineering Ph.D., are Burke Baker, who took to wife one Betty Kimble back there in the Dark Ages, the same month we graduated, at Berkeley; and John Erjavec, who bewifed Julie Evans of Palatine, Ill. last June in the presence of John Bowman, Bill Schoening, and John Davis, at the University of Wisconsin. 1968 February 13, Thomas B. Coburn, “65”, in John D. Davies, editor, Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume LXVIII, number 17, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27, column 2:
   • All of the hidden frustration and difficulties of the beleaguered American woman were brought front and center in Betty Freidman’s^([sic]) “Feminine Mystique.” There we were presented with the poor thwarted creature of American culture — the bewifed, child-bearing female living in suburbia. 1964 November 1, Shirley Sievers, “Lonely in the Suburbs”, in Franklin D[unn] Schurz, editor, The South Bend Tribune, volume XCII, number 237, South Bend, Ind.: Franklin D. Schurz, →OCLC, “The Reading Lamp” section, page 14, column 5:
   • She glowed into love, smiled, kissed him, fondled him like a mother. The male resents this mothering in his depth. It shields the home. The conquered woman turns back as a mother to draw him in, more and more into herself, to her warm quiescent hearth, to the unborn. The hunter rebels. It is then that brutality begins. He essays violence, cruelty, because he senses himself weak before the indrawing suction of the bewifed woman. 1930 (date written), Dane Rudhyar, Rania: An Epic Narrative, San Francisco, Calif.: Unity Press, published spring 1973, →ISBN, page 71:
   • When the woman finally agreed that it was necessary to 'bewife' her to another man in the interest of her welfare of that of her children, her late husband's 'spirit' would thank her and urge her to make a choice of a husband. 1983, Nwanna Nzewunwa, editor, The Masquerade in Nigerian History and Culture […], Port Harcourt, Rivers State: […] University of Port Harcourt Press for the University of Port Harcourt Publications Committee, →OCLC, page 368:
   • The possession of a daughter in our law and custom is something of great moment. Also, the custom that follows the bewifing of a daughter is of great value. 1971, Petros Jozana, quotee, Debates of the Transkei Legislative Assembly: Fourth Session, Second Assembly, Umtata: […] [F]or the Transkei Legislative Assembly by the Elata Commercial Printers […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 366, column 2:
2. (rare, transitive) To be or become a wife to (someone); to provide (someone) with a wife.
   • The only balance to be found in all the marriage license records here was the 50-50 equality between men and women. There were 387 white men wed to 387 white women and 256 Negro males bewifed by 256 Negro females. 1952 January 7, Demont Roseman, “Wedding Bells in Their Belfreys: Nash Averages Nearly Two Marriages per Day”, in The Evening Telegram, volume XLI, number 73, Rocky Mount, N.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, columns 2–3:
   • A man who had been bewifed six times told a friend: “I think I’ll remarry again!” […] Before the average bridegroom was bewifed he’d say to the blushing maid, “Nothing is good enough for you!” After they’re wed he thinks the same! […] A newly bewifed wolf sneaked over to a callhouse and asked for the prettiest pigeon in the place. 1956, H[orace] T[heodore] Elmo, Honeymoon Humor, New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →OCLC, pages 19, 27, and 47:
   • Þæt wolde ðyncan wundorlic ælcum men þe on Englalande wæs, gif ænig man ær þam sæde þæt hit swa gewurþan sceolde, for ðam þe he wæs ær to þam swyðe up ahafen swylce he weolde þæs cynges ⁊ ealles Englalandes, ⁊ his sunan wæron eorlas, ⁊ þæs cynges dyrlingas, ⁊ his dohtor þæm cynge beweddod ⁊ beæwnod. 1898, Sir James H[enry] Ramsay of Bamff, [10th] Bar[one]t, “Eadward the Confessor (continued): a.d. 1051–1053”, in The Foundations of England: or Twelve Centuries of British History (b.c. 55–a.d. 1154), London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co Ltd, →OCLC, pages 461–462:

Forms

Relateds

bewifed

Synonyms

wive · wife · wive · take to wife