释义 |
wifehood|ˈwaɪfhʊd| Forms: see wife n. and -hood; also 6 wiue-, 7 wivehood. [f. wife n. + -hood. (OE. had wífhád womanhood.)] 1. The position or condition of a wife; married state (of a woman).
1390Gower Conf. III. 51 Fro ferst that sche wifhode tok. c1440Promp. Parv. 526/2 Wyyfhood, uxoratus. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1768) IV. 305 To restore her to her Virgin State by my confession, after her Wifehood had been reported to her Uncle. 1856Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh ii. 356, I ask for love..For wifehood. 1884Leeds Mercury 30 Apr. 4/5 Her daughter has now grown to womanhood, and to-day enters upon the sacred duties of wifehood. 2. The character of, or befitting, a wife; ‘behaviour becoming to a wife’ (J.); wifeliness.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 253 Penolope & Marcia catoun Mak of ȝoure wyfhod no comparisoun. 1390Gower Conf. I. 74 Wifhode is lore In me, which whilom was honeste. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. v. 3 The vertue of chast loue, And wiuehood true. 1616B. Jonson Devil an Ass i. vi, Thou, onely art to heare, not speake a word,..on your wiue-hood, wife. a1625Fletcher Woman's Prize iv. iv, She hath neither manners, honesty, behaviour, Wife-hood, nor woman⁓hood. 1830Tennyson Isabel 12 The stately flower..Of perfect wifehood. 1873Symonds Grk. Poets iv. 107 Plutarch's Life of Cleomenes contains two historical pictures of heroic wifehood. |