Pl. wives. Forms: Sing. α. 1–5 (6 Sc.) wif, 3–5 wijf, 3–6 wyf, 4–6 wyff(e, wyfe, (chiefly Sc.) vif, vyf(e, 5–6 wiff(e, 6 Sc. vyff, (1, 4 wiif, 4 vijfe, whife, wieffe, wyefe, weyffe, 4–5 weife, wiue, wyue, 5 wyif, wyyfe, wyȝffe, whyf(f)e, 5–7 wiefe, 6 wieff, 6–7 wief), 4– wife. Gen. 1–7 wifes, 3–7 wiues, (4 wiuis, wyuys), 4–5 wijfes, wyues, 4–6 wyfes, 5–6 Sc. wyf(f)is, 7 wives, 8 wive’s, 8– wife’s; uninflected 4 wijf, 4–5 wife. Pl. 1–3 wif; 2–7 wifes, 3–7 wiues, 4–5 Sc. wyffis, 4–6 wyfes, wyues, wifis, Sc. wiffis, 5–6 Sc. wyfis, (4 wijf(e)s, vijfes, wiuis, wiuus, wiwes, vyuez, Sc. vifis, 5 wifs, wifys, wyuys, 5–6 -is, 6 Sc. vyffis, vyfues, vyuis, 7 wiefs), 7– wives. Gen. 1 wi(i)fa, 3 wife, wiue; 3 wiuene; 4–7 wives, 8– wives’. [OE. wif str. n. = OFris., OS. wîf, (LG. wief, Du. wijf), OHG., MHG. wîp (G. weib), ON. víf (Sw. vif, Da. viv); not in Gothic (which uses qinô ‘mulier’ QUEAN and qêns ‘uxor’ QUEEN sb.); of obscure origin.]
1. A woman: formerly in general sense; in later use restricted to a woman of humble rank or ‘of low employment’ (J.), esp. one engaged in the sale of some commodity. Now dial., exc. with prefixed descriptive word, esp. in compounds such as ALE-WIFE1, APPLE-wife, FISHWIFE, OLD WIFE, OYSTER-wife, etc.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., A 646. Anus, alduuif.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xxiii. Seo ærest wiifa [L. feminarum].
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John iv. 7. Cuom uif of ðær byriʓ to ladanne uæter.
971. Blickl. Hom., 5. For þære synne þæs ærestan wifes.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 111. Wisdom biriseð weran and clenesse birisað wifan.
c. 1205. Lay., 1507. Þa scipen todraȝen & þa wif drenchen.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 158. Seint Johan baptiste, bi hwam ure Louerd seið, þet among wiuene sunes ne aros neuer betere.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12904. Amang all wiue [13[?] Gött. wiues] suns,… A heier barn was neuer nan.
c. 1300. Havelok, 1713. Hw god helpen kan O mani wise wif and man.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 1067. I coniure þe, Þat it, þat þu has hard of me,… Þat þu tel nothyre to man na vyf.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 155. The wyues of the parisshe. Ibid., Doctor’s T., 71. Whan she woxen is a wyf.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VI. xviii. 2235. Þat man is noucht born of wiff Off powar to reff me my lif.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, I. 94. Eduuard … gert sla … Off man and wiff, vij thousand and fyfty.
1488. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 91. The wyfis of Dunbar.
1526. Tindale, Rev. xvii. 6. I sawe the wyfe dronke with the bloud of saynctes.
c. 1563. Jack Juggler, C iij. Then came I by a wife that did costerds sell.
1570. Satir. Poems Reform., xii. 118. The wyfis that fostred ȝow.
1635. Bacon, Apophthegms, § 54 [19]. Strawberrie wiues, that laid two or three great strawberries at the mouth of their pot, and all the rest were little ones.
1635. in Daily Chron. (1908), 1 March, 6/7. Oyster wives, herb wives, tripe wives.
1818. Keats, Dawlish Fair, 3. Where ginger-bread wives have a scanty sale.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Gloss, Wife, a woman, whether married or not. ‘An apple wife,’—‘a fish wife,’—‘A tripe wife.’
1859. Tennyson, Guinevere, 55. She … shuddered, as the village wile who cries ‘I shudder, some one steps across my grave.’
b. Qualified by old, esp. in the phr. old wives’ fable, story, tale: See OLD WIFE 1.
c. 725. [see above].
1340, etc. [see OLD WIFE 1].
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., III. 220. An old wiues request.
1656. Mennes & J. Smith, Mus. Delic. (ed. 2), 2. An old wifes-Tale.
2. A woman joined to a man by marriage; a married woman. Correlative of HUSBAND sb. 2. (The ordinary current sense.)
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., x. Hu ne liofað þin wif eac, þæs ilcan Simaches dohtor?
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., Matt. i. 24. Accepit coniugem suam, feng wiue his.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xviii. 25. Hyne het hys hlaford ʓesyllan, & hys wif & hys cild.
a. 1175. Cott. Hom., 225. Sem cham iafet and hare þreo wif.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 49. Riche men … þe habbeð … feire wifes and feire children. Ibid., 129. He forseh his scuppend þurh his wifes red.
c. 1205. Lay., 25. Noe & Sem Japhet & Cham & heore four wiues [c. 1275 wifes]. Ibid., 14142. Ich wulle … senden after mine wiue.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1219. God him bad is wiues tale Listen.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 30/26. To take is broþer wijf.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 918. Þou, man,… has vndertaken Þi wijf red [Gött. þi wiues rede].
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 785. Þe lambes vyuez in blysse we bene.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 242. My menskful moder is his meke wiue.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., xxxvi. 192. The loue that a vif shold haue to hir spous.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., iii. (1885), 114. Thair wyfes and childeren.
1483. Cath. Angl., 417/1. A Wife modir, socrus.
1549. Compl. Scot., ii. 24. Thou sal spouse ane vyfe, bot ane vthir sal tak hyr fra the.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 72. A good wife makth a good husbande, (they saie).
1580. in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.), 58. Ane of Jacobs vyfues.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 16. Slaves unto their wives goods.
1628. Coke, On Litt., I. 112. A man may not grant nor giue his tenements to his Wife during the couerture, for that his Wife and hee bee but one person in the Law.
1628. in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.), 273. Their wifes and bairnes.
c. 1635. Sir W. Pole, Descr. Devon, III. (1791), 166. Sr. Thomas Beamont … maried 2 wiefs.
1637. Sc. Prayer Bk., Vis. Sick. Visit him, O Lord, as thou didst Peters wives mother.
1722. Hearne, Collect. (O. H. S.), VII. 382. His Wive’s first Husband.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, IX. vii. She passed for that Gentleman’s Wife,… and yet … there were some Doubts concerning the Reality of their Marriage.
1834. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Boarding-ho., i. He had never been married; but he was still on the look-out for a wife with money.
b. Phrases. (a) To wife (TO prep. 11 b), for a wife, to be one’s wife: in such phrases as to take to wife, to marry (somewhat arch.); † to give (grant) to wife, to bestow in marriage; † to have (hold) to wife, to have as one’s wife, be the husband of; † to will to wife, to desire to marry. † (b) Wife’s light, a light (in a church) maintained by married women (cf. maiden’s light, MAIDEN sb. 10). (c) All the world and his wife (humorous colloq.), all men and women, everybody: usually hyperbolically for a large and miscellaneous body or company of people of both sexes.
Also in various other phrases, as bachelor’s wife (BACHELOR 4 b), wife of one’s bosom (BOSOM sb. 1 c), wife of the left hand (LEFT HAND 2), man and wife (MAN sb.1 8).
(a) c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xiv. 4. Nys þe alyfed hi to wife to hæbbenne.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2147. Iosep to wiue his dowter nam.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8926. Þe emperour of alimayne willede to wiue [v.rr. to his wyfe, to his wyff] Mold þe kinges doȝter.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7482. I suld … giue mi doghter him to wijf.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. III. 106. Ȝif he wilne þe to wyf, wolt þou him haue?
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1304, Dido. Haue ȝe nat sworn to wyue me to take?
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 217. This Steward … A lusti ladi hath to wyve.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3575. He has weddyde Waynore, and hyr to wyefe holdes.
1415. in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1430, 39/1. Huchon Fraser … God grantand, sal lede into wyf Jonet of Fentoun the systir.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. viii. 61. Bot he the grant to wyf his child Lavine.
1526. Tindale, Mark xii. 23. In the resurrecion then … whose wyfe shall she be of them? For seven had her to wyfe.
1588. Greene, Pandosto, Wks. (Grosart), IV. 234. This Pandosto had to Wife a Ladie called Bellaria.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 80, ¶ 3. She … was taken to Wife by a Gentleman.
1726. Pope, Odyss., XXI. 73. If I the prize, if me you seek to wife.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 231. James had … taken to wife the princess Mary of Modena.
1907. C. Hill-Tout, Brit. N. Amer., Far West, x. 182. Early marriages were everywhere the custom, the girls being often barely pubescent when taken to wife.
(b) 1547–8. in Swayne, Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896), 275. x li. of wex for the wyfes Light.
(c) 1731–8. Swift, Pol. Conversat., III. 192. Miss. Pray, Madam, who were the Company? Lady Smart. Why, there was all the World, and his Wife.
1822. Byron, Lett. to Sir W. Scott. ‘All the world and his wife,’ as the proverb goes, were trying to trample upon me.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. xvii. All the world and his wife and daughter leave cards.
1912. World, 7 May, 701/1. So much has been heard of Hardelot lately … that its name must be familiar to all the world and his wife.
c. euphem. A kept mistress, concubine.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VI. x. 880. Bot scho wes blamyt in hir live, The bischop of Dunkeldynnis wif.
† d. Applied as a term of affection to a female friend. Obs.
1592. Wills & Inv. Durh. (Surtees, 1860), 205. To Mrs. Clopton one old ryall, to hir daughter, my wiffe, Alice, one angell.
1601. in Blackw. Mag. (1898), Nov., 654/2. I came lately thence … about a match for my wife, which is since dispatcht with younge Gifford.
e. transf. The female of a pair of the lower animals; the mate of a male animal.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nun’s Priest’s T., 63. As Chauntecleer among hise wyues alle Sat on his perche.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 669. Fesauntis … first in Marche vppon they go Theyr wyuys.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. Prol. 159. Phebus red fowle … Pykland his meyt … Hys wifis, Toppa and Pertelok, hym by.
1657. G. Thornley, Daphnis & Chloe, 125. The he-goats … every one had his own wives.
1838. Lett. fr. Madras (1843), 194. The monkeys were in a rage…. The old father hunted his wife and children up the tree.
1870. P. M. Duncan, Blanchard’s Transf. Insects, 436. Wives appear to be at a premium amongst these spiders.
1887. G. W. Cable, in Century Mag., March, 677/1. The song-birds … making the … wood merry with their carolings to the wives and younglings in the nests.
f. fig. of a thing: see quots. See also Dutch wife s.v. DUTCH A. 4.
1813. in Brighton, Adm. Wallis (1892), 45. [His] wooden wife [as he sometimes called his ship].
1823. Egan, Grose’s Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Wife, a fetter fixed to one leg.
1859. Habits Gd. Society, vii. (new ed.), 254. The pipe is the bachelor’s wife.
3. The mistress of a household; the hostess or landlady of an inn. In quot. c. 1430 = housewife, economist. Obs. exc. as surviving in GOODWIFE 1, HOUSEWIFE 1.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 462. A preest … Which was so plesaunt and so seruysable Vn-to the wyf where as he was at table That she wolde suffre hym no thyng for to paye.
c. 1430. How Gd. Wijf tauȝte hir Douȝtir, 168, in. Hazl., E. P. P., I. 191. Be thou wise wif of thin owen.
1485. in Yorks. Archæol. Soc., Record Ser. XLI. 5. The wiff of this hous is your doughter … and it is most metlye for you to tarye here.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Kings xvii. 17. The sonne of the wife of ye house was sicke.
1560. Machyn, Diary (Camden), 238. The wyff of the Bell in Gracyous-strett.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 48 b. The olde husbandes … vsed … to iudge, that where they founde the garden out of order, the wyfe of the house … was no good huswyfe.
1620. Frier Rush, 14. He called the wife of the house and said: Mistresse, I pray you fill a pottle of wine.
4. Collectors’ name for a moth, Catocala nupta, also called Willow Red Underwing.
1832. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 99. The Wife … appears among willows the beginning of August.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. (a) of or pertaining to a wife or wives, as WIFEKIN, WIFTHING; (b) appositive = ‘that is a wife,’ as wife-slave, -whore († -houre). b. obj. (a) with agent-n., as wife-beater, -broker, -hunter, -seeker; (b) with n. of action, as wife-beating sb., -murder, -purchase, -slaughter; (c) with pr. pple., as wife-beating, -hunting adj. c. instr. = ‘with or by a wife,’ as wife-awed, -worn adjs. d. Special Combs.: wife-bound a., bound or united to a wife, married; wife-carl Sc., a man who occupies himself with a woman’s or housewife’s work, a ‘cotquean’; wife-old a., Sc., old enough to be a wife, of marriageable age; wife-ridden a., tyrannized over by one’s wife, ‘hen-pecked’; wife-widow (nonce-wd.), a wife living apart from her husband.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XI. 370. She brought her *wife-awd husband, Neleus.
1892. Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 21 Nov., 4/1. If the whipping-post has a mission, it is for the punishment of *wife-beaters.
1882. L. Oliphant, Land of Khemi, iv. 199. I asked whether there was much *wife-beating among the natives of Egypt.
1830. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. IV. Walks, Shaw. An assurance of tenderness and protection such as no *wife-beating tyrant … ever could inspire.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, IV. 343. A *wifebound man.
1700. T. Brown, trans. Fresny’s Amusem., vii. (1709), 63. These Marriage-Hucksters, or *Wife-brokers.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 351. I maid that *wif carll to werk all womenis werkis.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xiv. An ye will be a wife-carle, and buy fish at your ain hands.
1826. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 171. Young *wife-hunters, in search of rich and ugly old women.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 212. *Wife-hunting, as the rumour ran, was he.
1907. E. V. Lucas, Swan & Friends, 90. Having loved in vain a lady whom he met at Shaftesbury while on a wife-hunting expedition.
1871. C. Kingsley, At Last, x. *Wife-murder is but too common among these Hindoos.
1901. Eden Phillpotts, Striking Hours, 31. I was *wife-auld, an’ a peart gal very interested in men-folk.
1891. Westermarck, Hist. Hum. Marr. (ed. 2), 382. *Wife-purchase and husband-purchase still persist…, though in disguised forms.
1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, V. xiii. By Heav’n I’ll not be *Wife-ridden.
1859. Cornwallis, New World, I. 231. The profession of the *wife-seeker was greatly in his favor.
1609. Bible (Douay), Num. v. comm., God ordained this law … to avoid *wiveslaughter.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 6 Aug., 1/3. He retires from work … and purchases *wife-slaves to maintain him in idleness.
13[?]. Sir Beues (A.), 310. Alle *wif houren … Þe deuel of helle ich hii be-take.
1875. Tennyson, Q. Mary, III. i. If this Philip … Left Mary a *wife-widow here alone.
1647. Ward, Simple Cobler, 27. Our considerale, I dare not say *wife-worne Commons.
Hence Wifekin, Wifelet, Wifeling, Wifelkin (dial.), as terms of endearment = little wife; Wifeship, the position or relation of a wife; Wifeward adv., towards or to one’s wife. (All nonce-wds.)
1829. Carlyle, in Love Lett. T. C. (1909), II. App. 355. *Wifekin waits and coffee simmers.
1890. Daily News, 14 Oct., 5/6. These … already see themselves in imagination comfortably housed, with *wifelet and chubby children, surrounded by countless herds.
1868. Farrar, Seekers, II. iv. 226. If … some *wifeling or childling be granted.
1851. Borrow, Lavengro, v. Leave him to me, *wifelkin.
1891. J. K. Cheyne, Orig. Psalter, vii. 315. The figures of sonship and *wifeship were no longer adequate to express Israel’s relation to its Lord.
1844. Buffalo Daily Gaz., 5 Oct., 2/5. It gives gentlemen a chance for the look at ladies, that the old radical Cobbett used so to recommend to those whose hopes were *wifewards.
1886. Kipling, Departm. Ditties, etc. (1888), 48. [He] travelled wifeward.
