covert baron

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman couverte baroun, alteration of earlier coverte de baron (“covered by a husband”).

Adjective

covert baron (not comparable)

1. (law) Covert, under coverture; married.
   • 1617, The free Customes, Benefits and Priviledges of the Copyhold Tennants of the Mannors of Stepney and Hackney:

     The Surrender by a woman covert Baron, being of the age of one and twenty years, made together with her ſband of the Lands

Noun

covert baron (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, chiefly with under) The protection of a husband; a married state, the condition of a feme covert or (loosely) any married person.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page II.17:

     to put himself under covert-baron [translating à couvert], he tooke him a wife from out that place, where all men may have them for mony […].