[f. WIFE sb. + -DOM.]

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  1.  The position or condition of a wife, married state (of a woman); the character or qualities of a wife: = WIFEHOOD 1, 2.

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1848.  Tait’s Mag., XV. 114. Joy and merriness are not for me,… nor wedded wifedom.

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1897.  Contemp. Rev., Jan., 114. This essential for good wifedom is also an essential for good womanhood.

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1898.  Daily Tel., 15 Aug., 7/6. So long as women are unfettered by the cares of wifedom and motherhood, for which they were surely originally intended, it works well enough that they shall try for independence by honest labour of any kind.

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  2.  Wives collectively, married women as a class.

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1891.  Ebsworth, Roxb. Ball., VII. 489. The new race of Wifedom is sadly degenerating.

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1894.  Hall Caine, Manxman, III. ii. A circle of official wifedom.

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