English edit

Etymology edit

From bed +‎ swerver.

Noun edit

bedswerver (plural bedswervers)

  1. (now historical, archaic) Someone who commits adultery; an unfaithful spouse. [from 17th c.]
    • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], lines 704-5, 709-10:
      [S]hee’s / A Bed‑swaruer, euen as bad as those / That Vulgars giue bold’st Titles [] .
    • 2011, Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish, Vintage, published 2016, page 134:
      Before she said aught a word I knew that she was a bedswerver, aiming to sweep out from her hubby's cot into mine [] .