Wedding

vbl. sb. Forms: 1 weddung, 3 weddingue, 4 weddin, 5 -yn, 4–5 weding, -yng, 4–6 weddyng(e, -inge, 6 Sc. vedding, 3– wedding. [f. WED v. + -ING¹.]

  1.  The action of marrying; marriage, espousal. Chiefly gerundial. † Also, the married state, wedlock, matrimony (obs.).

c. 1000.  Gosp. Nicod., vii. 3, in Thwaites. Hept. (1698). Seo weddung wæs beweddod, eal swa eowre aʓene ðeoda secgaþ.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1428. Siðen men hauen holden skil, first to freinen ðe wimmanes wil, Or or men hire to louerd giue, for wedding or for morgen-giwe.

c. 1290.  St. Edmund Conf., 97, in S. Eng. Leg., 434. Wel he huld is treuþe setþe and his weddingue also, And trewe spouse was inovȝ.

a. 1300.  K. Horn., 423. Hit nere no fair wedding Bitwexe a þral & a king.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. X. 178. Summe … For Couetise of Catel vnkuyndeliche beoþ maried, And Careful Concepcion comeþ of such weddyng.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, I. 267. Wedding is the hardest band Thal ony man may tak on hand.

a. 1400.  Chaucer, Envoy to Bukton, 24. So may happe That the were leuer to be take in Frise Than eft falle of weddynge in the trappe.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., xiii. 92. Be well war of wedyng.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 112/1. Ye secund Weddynge, bigamia, deutrogamia.

1490.  Caxton, Eneydos, xiv. 52. My sone hyemen, whiche is named the god of weddynge.

1564.  Brief Exam., *****iij. Who vsed the ring fyrst in weddyng? the Heathen.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 76. Wooing, wedding, and repenting, is as a Scotch ijgge, a measure, and a cinque-pace.

  Prov.  1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 129. Weddyng and hangyng are desteny.

  2.  The performance of the marriage-rite; the ceremony of a marriage, with its attendant festivities.

  This is the word in general use for this sense.

c. 1300.  K. Horn, 1295 (Laud). He rongen þe bellen Þe wedding [Cambr. wedlak] for to fullen.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 25. The feste that was at hir weddynge.

1490.  Caxton, Eneydos, lxiii. 163. Moche Ioye was there made atte theyr weddynge.

1526.  Tindale, Matt. xxii. 10. The weddinge was furnysshed with gestes.

1530.  Palsgr., 287/2. Weddyng, nopees.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 178. I thinke it was to see my Mothers Wedding.

1663.  Killigrew, Parson’s Wedd., V. ii. I’ll run and invite them to the Wedding.

1754.  Richardson, Grandison, V. lv. 347. Every woman’s heart leaps … when a wedding is described.

1795.  Sir F. M. Eden, State Poor (1797), I. 598. The custom of a general feasting at weddings and christenings is still continued in many villages, in Scotland, in Wales, and in Cumberland.

1848.  Dickens, Dombey, v. The very wedding looked dismal as they passed in front of the altar.

1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, x. Are you to be at the Milton wedding next week?

1897.  Stopf. Brooke, in Jacks, Life & Lett. (1917), II. 532. I am told the wedding went off well.

  fig.  a. 1901.  F. W. H. Myers, Human Personality (1903), II. 295. Since that great wedding between Reason and Experience, which immortalises the name of Galileo.

  b.  Phr. Penny wedding: see PENNY 12 c. Silver wedding [G. silberhochzeit, silberne hochzeit], the 25th anniversary of a wedding (see SILVER sb. 20). Golden wedding, the 50th anniversary. Diamond wedding, the 60th or 75th anniversary (see DIAMOND sb. 12).

1860.  Illustr. Lond. News, 24 Nov., 485/3. The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of Prince William of Hesse and the Princess Charlotte…. This ‘golden wedding,’ as such an event is called [etc.].

1874.  Longf., Hanging of Crane, vii. It is the Golden Wedding day.

  † 3.  Occas. found in other senses of the verb: Close union or association; the action of pledging or wagering. Obs.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 364 [see WED v. 7 b]. Ibid., 431. But Lord! wheþer weddyng wiþ siche signes helpiþ to holde religioun of Crist, and love hym of hert? Ibid., Wks. (1880), 448. Wedding wiþ þes newe bilawis, passinge þe wedding wiþ goddis lawe, makiþ þes newe rotun sectis.

1503.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 401. Item, the xj day of October, to the King quhilk he tynt on wedding with the Abbot of Cambuskinneth, xiiij s.

  4.  attrib., as wedding-anniversary, -appearance, -banquet, -bed, -bell, -chamber, † -cheer, -clothes, -coat, -dinner, dower, -dress, -feast, festival, -gown, -guest, -journey, -mass, -night, -peal, -present, -robe, -sermon, † smock, -song, -suit, -supper, -table, -torch, † trim.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 13 Aug., 1673. It being his *wedding anniversarie.

1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1768), IV. 257. How bravely shall we enter a court,… dressed out each man, as if to his *wedding-appearance.

1855.  Longf., Hiaw., xii. 372. Thus the *wedding-banquet ended.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. v. 137 (Qo. 1599). If he be married, My graue is like to be my *wedding bed.

1685.  ? Dryden, Daphnis, 64, in Sylvæ, 118. I bargain for a wedding Bed at least.

a. 1849.  Poe, The Bells, ii. Hear the mellow *wedding bells.

1552.  Huloet, *Weddynge chamber, thalamus.

1611.  Bible, 2 Esdras x. 1. When my sonne was entred into his wedding chamber, he fell downe and died.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. v. 87. Our *wedding cheare [turns] to a sad buriall Feast.

1678.  Butler, Hud., III. i. 737. The Bride, That with her *Wedding-cloaths undresses Her Complaisance and Gentilesses.

1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, I. 288. Betsy … prepared her wedding-clothes, and looked hourly for the bridegroom.

1857.  Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 26. A pair of common nankeen tights,… and blue *wedding-coat.

1633.  Rowley, Match at Midn., II. i. D 2 b. One *wedding dinner must serve both marriages.

1835.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Mistaken Milliner. Miss Amelia Martin was invited … to honour the wedding-dinner with her presence.

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 78. Then let her beauty be her *wedding dowre.

1863.  Kingsley, Water-Bab., ii. They helped her on with her *wedding-dress.

1633.  Ford, ’Tis Pity, III. v. They that now dreame of a *wedding-feast, May chance to mourne the lusty Bridegromes ruine.

1855.  Longf., Hiaw., xi. (heading), Hiawatha’s Wedding-feast.

1795–6.  Wordsw., Borderers, I. 331. The villagers Are flocking in—a *wedding festival.

1439.  E. E. Wills (1882), 118. My *weddynggown and all my clothis of gold.

1767.  Murphy, School for Guard., IV. iv. 66. I have brought your young lady’s wedding-gown.

1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., I. 31. The *Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, For he heard the loud bassoon.

1881.  Howells (title), Their *Wedding Journey.

1612.  Webster, White Devil, II. I. 190. Accursed be the priest That sang the *wedding masse.

1661.  Pepys, Diary, 10 Oct. So home, and intended to be merry, it being my sixth *wedding night.

1682.  Otway, Venice Preserved, I. 7. The very bed, which on thy wedding night Receiv’d thee to the Arms of Belvidera.

1835.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Watkins Tottle, i. I spent my wedding-night in a back-kitchen chimney.

1808.  Skurray, Bidcombe Hill, 25, note. In the village of Horningsham … it is customary, when a young person dies unmarried, to ring the *wedding peal on muffled bells, immediately on the interment of the corpse.

1898.  G. B. Shaw, Plays, II. Candida, 81. A travelling clock in a leather case (the inevitable *wedding present).

1450–1530.  Myrr. Our Ladye, II. 238. Thys noble yonge lorde ys clad in a new *weddynge robe.

1694.  T. Brown, Lottery for Ladies & G., Wks. 1711, IV. 169. Dr. B——s shall preach the *Wedding Sermon.

c. 1610.  Beaum. & Fl., Scornf. Lady, I. i. If my *Wedding smock were on.

1648.  Herrick, Hesper., ‘Come sit we under yonder Tree,’ 22. Next we will … talke of Brides; and who shall make That wedding-smock, this Bridal-Cake.

1598.  R. Bernard, Terence, Adelphi, V. vii. (1607), 327. They which sing the *wedding song.

1594.  Taming of a Shrew (1844), 22. For this I sweare shall be my *wedding sute.

1728.  Cibber, Provoked Husb., III. i. 53. The Wedding-suit of a first Dutchess.

1695.  Congreve, Love for L., IV. xv. Ha, ha, ha! That a Man shou’d have a Stomach to a *Wedding Supper, when the Pidgeons ought rather to be laid to his feet.

1722.  Ramsay, Three Bonnets, IV. 53. To tell how meikle cakes and ale … Was serv’d upon the *wedding-table.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. ii. 26. Behold, this is the happy *Wedding Torch, That ioyneth Roan vnto her Countreymen.

a. 1729.  Tickell, Colin & Lucy, 43. He in his *wedding-trim so gay, I in my winding-sheet!

  b.  wedding-breakfast, the entertainment formerly given at the bride’s house after the marriage-ceremony and before the departure for the honeymoon; wedding-cake, a large rich cake, covered with icing and decorated with sugar ornaments, cut and distributed to the guests at the wedding-feast and sent in small portions to absent friends; also attrib.; wedding-cards, cards, bearing the names of the two parties, sent out to friends as an announcement of the wedding; wedding-chest, an ornamental chest made to contain a bride’s clothes, etc.; † wedding church door = wedding door; wedding-coffer = wedding-chest; wedding-day, the day on which a marriage is performed, or which is fixed for the marriage; also, an anniversary of this day; also attrib.; † wedding door, the church-door, or porch, at which couples were married; wedding-favour, a knot of white ribbon, or a white rosette, sometimes worn by guests at a wedding; wedding-finger = RING-FINGER; wedding-flower, (a) Moræa (Iris) robinsoniana, of Lord Howe’s Island, N.S.W.; (b) Dombeya natalensis, of S. Africa; wedding-garment, a garment appropriate to, or customarily worn at, a wedding; also fig. (with ref. to Matt. xxii. 11–2); † wedding-garter, a garter worn as a wedding-favour; † wedding-house = BRIDE-HOUSE; † wedding kirk door = wedding door; † wedding-knives, ? a pair of knives worn at the girdle by a bride; wedding-knot, (a) fig. the bond of matrimony; (b) Naut., a tie for uniting the looped ends of two ropes (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875); wedding-march, a march (Mendelssohn’s, if not otherwise specified) composed for performance at a wedding; † wedding-monger, one who is busied about a wedding; wedding-ring, a ring, usually of plain gold, placed by the bridegroom on the third finger of the bride’s left hand as part of the ceremony, and worn by her ever after; also fig.; wedding-sheet, a sheet laid on the bridal bed and sometimes kept to form a shroud for the bride at her death.

1853.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxx. To make the furnished lodging decent for the *wedding breakfast.

1859.  Habits Gd. Society, xv. 372. It must be borne in mind that the wedding-breakfast is not a dinner.

1648.  Herrick, Hesper., Bride-Cake. This day my Julia thou must make For Mistresse Bride, the *wedding cake.

1798.  Coleridge, Three Graves, 60. The wedding-cake with her own hand The ruthless mother brought.

1879.  Mrs. F. D. Bridges, Jrnl. Lady’s Trav., iii. (1883), 43. The Palace, somewhat of the wedding-cake style of architecture, all over stucco ornaments and whitewash.

1867.  Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xxix. I … noticed a basket containing some of the *wedding cards.

1888.  Anna K. Green, Behind Closed Doors, ii. My daughter’s wedding-cards are out.

1874.  J. H. Pollen, Anc. & Mod. Furniture S. Kens. Mus., 127. Coffer … The figures of angels … on the ends and the front panel are uninjured. It has been a *wedding chest.

1560.  Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 97. Paid … for mendynge … the window over the *wedinge churche dore.

1904.  Studio, Sept., 303/2. *Wedding-coffers, or ‘cassones,’ as they are sometimes called.

a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., I. iv. (Arb.), 26. What weepe on the *weddyng day? be merrie woman.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. v. 35. O Sonne, the night before thy wedding day, Hath death laine with thy wife.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 18 Nov., 1659. Sir John Evelyn invited us to the 41st wedding-day feast.

1782.  Cowper, Gilpin, 9. Though wedded we have been These twice ten tedious years, yet we No holiday have seen. To-morrow is our wedding-day.

1847.  C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xxxvii. The third day from this must be our wedding-day, Jane.

1470–3.  Rec. Andover, 11. Paid vnto John helyer for reperacon don at the *weddyndor, vi d.

1636.  in Swayne, Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896), 205. A gallerie over the Wedding doare in the Church.

1681.  W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 592/1. A *wedding favour, Lemniscus nuptialis.

1882.  Besant, Revolt of Man, xi. (1883), 263. The church was crammed with the guests in wedding-favours.

1542.  Recorde, Gr. Artes, P ij. The *weddyng fynger (whiche is the nexte to the little fynger).

1548.  Patten, Exped. Scot., H iv. Hurt vppon the weddyng fynger of hys righte hande.

1888.  ‘J. S. Winter,’ Bootle’s Childr., xiii. She slipped it on to her wedding-finger.

1869.  in Gardeners’ Chron. (1872), 23 March, 393/3. A large Iridaceous plant, termed the *‘Wedding Flower.’

1526.  Tindale, Matt. xxii. 11. The kynge … spyed there a man which had not on a *weddinge garment.

c. 1540.  Coverdale, Fruitful Less., To Rdr. (1593), A 4 b. The old Adam ought we to lay aside, to mortifie the members vppon earth, and to put on Christ the Lord, as the new wedding garment.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. i. 51. Is supper ready, the house trim’d,… and euery officer his wedding-garment on?

1663.  Butler, Hud., I. ii. 524. Are these the fruits o’ th’ Protestation,… Which all the Saints, and some, since Martyrs, Wore in their Hats, like *Wedding-Garters.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 519/2. *Weddynge (howus K., hous P.), idem quod Brydale howse, supra.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 412/1. A Weddyng howse, nuptorium.

1684.  D’Urfey, Pills (1719), II. 31. Willy was late at a Wedding house, Where Lords and Ladies danc’d all arow.

1530.  Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 137. He was found in the *vedding kirk dur with his bonat on his heid.

1596.  Edw. III., II. ii. 173. Here by my side doth hang my *wedding knifes.

c. 1620.  Dekker, Match me in London, V. (1631), 70. See at my Girdle hang my wedding kniues.

1902.  ‘Roma White,’ Backsheesh, iii. 33. Of course, from the British Public point of view the Moslem *wedding knot is not altogether respectable.

1850.  J. Benedict, Sk. Life Mendelssohn, 42. The gorgeous *Wedding-march.

1903.  J. L. Allen, Mettle of Pasture, ii. 33. The loud crash of the wedding march closed their separate pasts with a single melody.

1671.  Caryl, Sir Salomon, II. 29. By that time the Lawyers, the Taylers, the Semstresses, and riming Poets, with the rest of the *Wedding-Mongers, will have all things in readiness.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 812. And heere agayn my clothyng I restoore, And eek my *weddyng ryng.

c. 1540.  Coverdale, Fruitful Less. (1593), Kk 2 b. The same holie Ghost, who is the teacher of the trueth, the earnest pennie of saluation, the wedding ring of grace, and ioye of the minde was giuen.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., II. ii. 139. Wouldst thou not … from my false hand cut the wedding ring?

1630.  R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 41. The sand about us seemes to be our wedding Ring, and the riches of the Sea our Dowrie.

1704.  Prior, To Yng. Gent. in Love, 70. The Moral of the Tale I sing (A Posy for a Wedding Ring).

1853.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxvii. The only article of ornament of which she stands possessed appears to be her wedding-ring.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., IV. ii. 105. Prythee to night, Lay on my bed my *wedding sheetes, remember.

1823.  Lockhart, Reg. Dalton, I. viii. (1842), 46. Her wedding-sheet, which, according to the primitive fashion of the district, had been carefully laid by for that purpose, was formed into the shroud which enveloped her remains.

  ¶ For alternative forms of many of these collocations see BRIDAL 2, BRIDE sb.¹ 5 a, 6, MARRIAGE 8, NUPTIAL a. 1. The adjectival force of wedding is recognized in the following quot.:

1530.  Palsgr., 329/1. (‘The Table of Adjectyves’) Weddyng, belongyng to maryage, nuptial.