Forms: 3–4 spus, spuse, 3– spouse, 4 spouce; 4 spows, 5 spowce, 5–8 spowse, 6 spowze; also Sc. 5 spoys, 6 spouis(s, 6–7 spous, 8 spuse. [a. OF. spus, spous masc., spuse fem., varr. of espus, espouse, etc.: see ESPOUSE sb. In some early ME. instances (see 3) the masc. spus is distinct from the fem. spuse.]
1. A married woman in relation to her husband; a wife; † a bride. Usually with possessive pronouns, of, or to.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 135. Elizabet þi spuse shal hauen a cnauechild.
c. 1250. Owl & Night., 1527. Þat were gulte Þat leof is oþer wymmon to pulte … & haueþ atom his rich[t]e spuse.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3043. Þof ysmael be noght o spus, O him sal gret men cum and crus.
13[?]. Sir Beues, 143. And þow schelt after her wedde to spouse, To þin amy.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2677. Þare fand he … þe trew spouse Of ser Dary.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 40. To you, dere herte, my veray trouthe I plihte As to my spouse.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., V. i. Sir,… doe not ye therfore your faithfull spouse mystrust.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. v. 67. So qualified, as may beseeme The Spouse of any noble Gentleman.
c. 1614. Sir W. Mure, Dido & Æneas, I. 200. I,… Jove’s spowse, and sister, heaven’s arch-empresse great.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 169. The fishie fume, That drove him, though enamourd, from the Spouse Of Tobits Son.
1711. S. Sewall, Diary, 1 Feb. He thanks me for my Respect to him and his Spouse.
1782. Cowper, Gilpin, ii. John Gilpin’s spouse said to her dear [etc.].
1833. Tennyson, Dream Fair Wom., xli. A name for ever!—lying robed and crown’d, Worthy a Roman spouse.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, I. I. 30. Thou wilt find the task Too hard for thee, although thou be my spouse.
1877. Mar. M. Grant, Sun-Maid, i. He chose Lady Anna as a fitting spouse because he liked her rank.
fig. 1859. E. Fitzgerald, Omar, xl. [How I] Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.
b. Used as a term of address. (Also in sense 2.)
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sec. Nun’s T., 144. O sweete and wel biloued spouse deere,… Ther is a conseil Which that right fayn I wolde vn-to yow seye.
1706–7. Farquhar, Beaux’ Strat., V. iv. They tell me Spouse that you had like to have been rob’d. Mrs. Sull. Truly, Spouse, I was pretty near it.
1821. Shelley, Epipsych., 130. Spouse! Sister! Angel … O too soon adored, by me!
2. A married man in relation to his wife; a husband; † a bridegroom. Usually with possessive pronouns.
c. 1200–. [see 3].
13[?]. Cursor M., 10170 (Gött.). To samirtale wiðuten strijf, Be-tuix any spouse and his wijf.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xviii. 5. As spouse cumand forth of his chawmbire.
1399. Gower, Conf., I. 301. This wif … sih how that hire seli spouse Was sett.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 57. Thus she gan crye Welkecome dere spouse and god gramercy.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron. (1811), 654. At whiche mariage was no persones present but the spowse, the spowsesse, the duches of Bedforde [etc.].
1564–5. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 327. George Kennedie, hir pretendit spous.
1597. J. Payne, Royal Exch., 43. So gloriouse and Princely a spowze to take … so poore and meane an espowzes.
1608. [see SPOUSED ppl. a. b].
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 232. To fill the place of the deceased, not only as the son of the sachem, but as the spouse of a beautiful squaw.
1782. Cowper, Mut. Forbearance, 1. The lady thus address’d her spouse.
1844. Willis, Lady Jane, I. 82. Ours Are the best wives on earth. They love their spouses.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, II. 412. I am scarcely meek enough To be the handmaid of a lawful spouse.
† b. An affianced suitor; one’s fiancé. Obs.–1
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. v. I am bespoken: And I thought verily thys had bene some token From my dear spouse Gawin Goodluck.
3. fig. In religious use: a. Applied to the Church, or to a woman who has taken religious vows, in relation to God or Christ.
(a) c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 149. Swiche teares wiep þe holie spuse uppen hire spus.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 2. Louerd! seið Godes Spuse to hire deorewurðe Spus [etc.].
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 339. Cristis Chirche is his Spouse.
a. 1536. Songs, Carols, etc. (1907), 69. The chirche is callid þe spowse of Jhesu Criste.
1570. B. Googe, Pop. Kingd., IV. 51 b. How are the Idoles worshipped, if this religion here Be Catholike, and like the Spowse of Christ accounted dere?
1641. Wither, Haleluiah, I. l. Thy God, is now thy Father dear; His holy Spouse, thy Mother too.
1782. J. Fletcher, Lett., Wks. 1795, VII. 239. The Church, the Spouse of the Son of God.
1827. Pollok, Course T., V. The Church, the holy spouse of God.
(b) c. 1230. Hali Meid., 5. Swuch wurðschipe, as hit is to beo godes spuse, Ihesu cristes brude.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 52. Go … to þe Abbesse of þe house, Dame Aldred þat clene Maide, þat is godes spouse.
c. 1430. Life St. Kath. (1884), 19. Now myn owne doughter be glad … for now ȝe lak noo thyng þat longeth to an heuenly spouse.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., v. 13 (Harl. MS.). Ony sowle, þe which is spouse of god.
c. 1610. Women Saints, 83. Their no lesse religious sister Walburge, a moste chaste spouse of Christ.
a. 1700. in Cath. Rel. Soc. Publ., IX. 343. God … had perticularly designed her for his especiall Elected and Beloved spowse.
1756–9. A. Butler, Lives of Saints, S. Catherine of Bologna. She looked upon it as the greatest honour to be in any thing the servant of the spouses of Christ.
1886. Monahan, Rec. Ardagh & Clonmacnoise, 2. That youthful spouse of Christ [St. Bridget].
b. Applied to God or Christ in relation to the Church (or its members) or to women of religion.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 149. Swiche teares wiep þe holie spuse uppen hire spus.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 717, in O. E. Misc. He is ure soule spuse.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxiv. (Pelagia), 102. We, þat suld god plese maste, oure verray spouse.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 178. Perpetuelly … Knet to your spouse callid Crist Jhesu.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), G g b. Let the swete odour of deuocyon and prayer spyre out and ascende vp to thy lorde & spouse.
1657. Penit. Conf., vii. 117. That the Church would not have made so bold … without express warranty from her Spouse?
1753. Challoner, Cath. Chr. Instr., 207. Because the Church is then in Mourning for her Spouse.
† 4. The married state; marriage, wedlock. Obs.
c. 1250. Owl & Night., 1334. Þu … me atwist Þat ic singe bi manne huse & theche wyue breke spuse.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3907. Quat of his wiues tuin in spus, And wat of hand wimmen in hus, Tuelue suns had he o þaa. Ibid., 11132. Als dos þe men þat liues in spus.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 393. Alle leccheries lust vs loþeth to founde, Or to bringe vs in brigge for to breke spouce.
5. attrib. and Comb., as spouse-bed, faith, -feast; spouse-lost adj.
1550. Coverdale, Spir. Pride, vii. (1588), 80. Those … matrones, which being sore tempted,… do neuerthelesse kepe their spouse faith toward their husbandes vndefiled.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vii. Let her, that … Dares spot the Spous-bed with unlawful kisses, Blush. Ibid. (1598), II. i. Sith spousebed spotless laws of God allow.
1601. Downfall Earl Huntington, II. i. in Hazl., Dodsley, VIII. 129. To this end came I to the mock spouse-feast.
1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 320. Like spouse-lost Turtles, do we flocke together.
