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husband

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EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English husbonde, from Old English hūsbonda, hūsbunda ‎(“male head of a household, householder, master of a house”), probably from Old Norse húsbóndi ‎(“master of house”), from hús ‎(“house”) + bóndi ‎(“dweller, householder”), equivalent to house +‎ bond ‎(“serf, slave", originally, "dweller”).

Bond in turn represents a formation derived from the present participle of WestScand. búa, EastScand. bôa = to build, plow; cf. German bauen, der Bauende. Cognate with Icelandic húsbóndi ‎(“head of household”), Faroese húsbóndi ‎(“husband”), Norwegian husbond ‎(“head of household, husband”), Swedish husbonde ‎(“master”), Danish husbonde ‎(“husband”).

NounEdit

husband ‎(plural husbands)

  1. (obsolete) The master of a house; the head of a family; a householder.
  2. (obsolete) A tiller of the ground; a husbandman.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.3:
      a withered tree, through husbands toyle, / Is often seene full freshly to have florisht […]
    • (Can we date this quote?) George Hakewill (1578-1649)
      the painful husband, ploughing up his ground
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Evelyn (1620-1706)
      He is the neatest husband for curious ordering his domestick and field accommodations.
  3. (archaic) A prudent or frugal manager.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Fuller (1606-1661)
      God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a good husband, to improve the short remnant left me.
  4. A man in a marriage or marital relationship, especially in relation to his spouse.
    You should start dating so you can find a suitable husband.‎
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Blackstone (1723-1780)
      The husband and wife are one person in law.
    • 1915, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger, chapter I:
      A great bargain also had been […] the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.
  5. The male of a pair of animals.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
  6. (Britain) A manager of property; one who has the care of another's belongings, owndom, or interests; a steward; an economist.
  7. A large cushion with arms meant to support a person in the sitting position.
    While reading her book, Sally leaned back against her husband, wishing it were the human kind.‎
  8. (Britain dialectal) A polled tree; a pollard.

SynonymsEdit

AntonymsEdit

HypernymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Derived terms

TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

husband ‎(third-person singular simple present husbands, present participle husbanding, simple past and past participle husbanded)

  1. (transitive) To manage or administer carefully and frugally; use to the best advantage; economise.
    For my means, I'll husband them so well, / They shall go far. — Shakespeare.
  2. (transitive) To conserve.
    • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
      ...I found pens, ink, and paper, and I husbanded them to the utmost; and I shall show that while my ink lasted, I kept things very exact, but after that was gone I could not, for I could not make any ink by any means that I could devise.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To till; cultivate; farm; nurture.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Evelyn
      Land so trim and rarely husbanded.
  4. (transitive) To provide with a husband.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  5. (transitive) To engage or act as a husband to; assume the care of or responsibility for; accept as one's own.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

StatisticsEdit

Most common English words before 1923: certainly · big · road · #550: husband · blockquote · effect · wanted

SwedishEdit

EtymologyEdit

hus ‎(“house”) +‎ band ‎(“band”)

NounEdit

husband n

  1. a group of musicians who regularly play live in a TV show

DeclensionEdit

Inflection of husband 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative husband husbandet husband husbanden
Genitive husbands husbandets husbands husbandens
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Last edited on 20 September 2016, at 10:33