a. and adv. [f. WIFE sb. + -LIKE.]

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  A.  adj. Resembling, or having the character of, a wife; characteristic of or befitting a wife.

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1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., II. iv. 138. Thy rare qualities,… Thy meeknesse Saint-like, Wife-like Gouernment.

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1796.  Plain Sense (ed. 2), II. 190. With a kind of bitter raillery he treated her wife-like fears.

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1856.  Merivale, Rom. Emp., xlii. V. 37. Her heart swelling with wifelike pride.

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  B.  adv. In the manner of a wife.

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1598.  Chapman, Iliad, IV. [VIII.] 138. Nor canst thou skale our turrets tops nor leade the wiues to Fleete Of valiant men; that wifelike fear’st my aduerse charge to meete.

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1611.  Shaks., Cymb., III. ii. 8. She … vndergoes More Goddesse-like, then Wife-like; such Assaults As would take in some Vertue.

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1864.  Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 808. When she laid, Wifelike, her hand in one of his.

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