> as lemmas

1611 G. Chapman May-day ii. ii. 21 O this same vnhearty nicenesse of women, is good for nothing but to keepe their huswife hands still occupied in this warp of dissembling.

1737 M. Green Spleen 15 Old inspired times display, How wives could love, and yet obey. Then truth, and patience of controul, And houswife arts adorn'd the soul.

a1795 S. Bishop Poet. Wks. (1796) I. 247 Let..a thatch-clad dome Give humble Honesty an home; At whose low door, with house-wife zeal, Unconscious beauty twirls her wheel.

1857 Blackwood's Mag. Dec. 682/1 The quiet activity with which..she moved about..assisting her in her dairy-work and other housewife tasks.

1882 Victorian Rev. (Melbourne) Feb. 418 All her housewife life is spent In the tedious content That in story-books befalls Angels and good animals.

1909 Catal. Copyright Entries: Pt. 4 (Libr. of Congr. Copyright Office) 4 75/2 Happy housewife. Young lady dressed in usual housewife costume, sleeves rolled up.

1989 Daily Nation (Nairobi) 26 July 33/4 You can't combine athletics, work and housewife chores.

2002 L. Blumenfeld Revenge i. 7 They stood up and, one by one, offered me their hands—muscled housewife hands; gummy toddler fingers, [etc.].