a. [ad. L. conjugāl-is, f. conjug-em (nom. conju(n)x) consort, spouse, f. con- together + jug- root of jung-ĕre to join, yoke; cf. conjungĕre to join together, join in marriage, etc. Cf. F. conjugal (in Cotgr., 1611).]
Of or relating to marriage, matrimonial.
Conjugal rights: ‘the privilege which husband and wife have of each other’s society, comfort, and affection’ (Wharton).
1545. Joye, Exp. Dan., xii. (R.). He shall set naught by ye God of his fathers, neither shall he regarde the coniugale sone in wedlock.
a. 1626. Bp. Andrewes, Serm. (1631), I. 9. Whereby He and we become … ‘one flesh’ as man and wife do by conjugal union.
1644. Milton, Judgm. Bucer (1851), 321. Matrimony and Divorce are civil things, which the Christian Emperors knowing, gave conjugal Laws.
1682. D’Urfey, Butler’s Ghost, 12. Upon bare Hopes I would be frugal, And enter into Bonds Conjugal.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. iii. 80. To countenance the conjugal state of her clergy.
1875. Hamerton, Intell. Life, VII. iii. 240. Essential to the conjugal life.
b. Of or pertaining to husband or wife in their relation to each other.
1550. Bale, Apol., 64 (R.). That some men voweth coniugall chastyte, or faythfull clennesse in marryage.
1653. Walton, Angler, i. 25. The hearing of such conjugal faithfulness will be Musick to all chaste ears.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. 259. If he had not been restrained by conjugal tenderness.
1834. Macaulay, Ess., Pitt (1851), 292. Conjugal fidelity.
