subs. phr. (common).—1. An ideal wife; and 2. (venery) = a harlot: whence BACHELOR’S-BABY = a bastard.
1562. HEYWOOD, Proverbs and Epigrams (1867), 61. 7. BACHELERS WIUES, and maides children be well tought.
1726. VANBRUGH, The Provoked Husband, i. 1. Ay! ay! BACHELORS’ WIVES, indeed, are finely governed.
1854. H. MILLER, My Schools and Schoolmasters, 503. The ‘BACHELOR’S WIFE’ … occupies a large place in our literature, as the mistress of all the poets who ever wrote on love without actually experiencing it.
