ppl. a. [f. prec. + -ED1.] In senses of the verb. Also quasi-sb.
1611. Bible, Luke ii. 5. To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
1660. Glanvill, Vanity Dogmat., xiii. 120. The beloved Opinion being … wedded to the Intellect; the case of our espoused self becomes our own.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 710. With Flowers, Garlands, and sweet-smelling Herbs Espoused Eve deckt first her Nuptial Bed.
1701. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., II. xlvii. 46. The espoused never see one another till three days after their marriage.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, I. 138. My own first espoused.
1828. D’Israeli, Charles I., I. iii. 39. But the female, by her personal influence, was still more actively propagating the espoused doctrines.
