wifehoodn.
/ˈwʌɪfhʊd/, U.S. /ˈwaɪfˌ(h)ʊd/ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxxvi. 490 We sprecað be þære heofonlican cwene endebyrdlice æfter wifhade þeahhwæðere eall seo geleaffulle gelaþung getreowfullice be hire singð, þæt heo is geuferod & ahafen ofer engla werodum.
OE Harley Gloss. (1966) 181 Femininum sexus, wifhad.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) i. 27 God gesceop ða man to his anlicnysse, to Godes anlicnysse he gesceop hine; werhades & wifhades he gesceop hi.
OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iii. xvi. 212 Þes ylca þæs arwyrðan lifes wer geþohte & geteohhode..þæt he ofer þæt nan wif ne gesawe, nalles þæt he oferhogode þone wifhad, ac forþon þe he him ondred, þæt he sceolde geyrnan on ða uncyste deofles costunge, gif he sceawode hire onsyne.
2. The character or qualities of a wife.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife > character or quality of
wifehooda1393
wifelihead1557
wifeliness1865
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 974 Wifhode is lore In me, which whilom was honeste.
c1430 (c1395) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) Prol. l. 207 Penolope & Marcia catoun Mak of ȝoure wyfhod no comparisoun.
1543 ( Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 120 Hir wyfehode also defouled, Afore that tyme that euer was kept vnfouled.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. v. sig. E2 The vertue of chast loue, And wiuehood true. View more context for this quotation
a1625 J. Fletcher Womans Prize iv. v, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ppppp3v/1 She hath neither manners, honesty, behavour, Wife-hood, nor woman-hood.
1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse i. vi. 50 in Wks. II Thou, onely art to heare, not speake a word,..on your wiue-hood, wife.
1712 M. Prior Susannah sig. II, in S. Cobb Carpenter of Oxf. Fair Susan did her Wifehode well maintaine, Algates assaulted sore by Leachers twaine.
1798 J. S. Murray Gleaner III. lxxv. 80 The world never saw such a pattern of wifehood as your Augusta is determined henceforth to exhibit.
1830 Ld. Tennyson Isabel in Poems 7 The stately flower..Of perfect wifehood.
1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets iv. 107 Plutarch's Life of Cleomenes contains two historical pictures of heroic wifehood.
1914 C. Werner Law of Life xxiii. 143 I must insist that your qualities of wifehood far outshine your wizardry of the [typewriter] keys.
1989 L. Roper Holy Household (1991) vi. 233 In place of the convent, he proposed the ideal of Christian wifehood.
3. The state, condition, or fact of being a wife.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [noun] > wife > condition or position of
wifehooda1393
wifeheadc1500
wifeship1658
uxorialitya1832
wiving1840
wifedom1845
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. l. 1475 Fro ferst that sche wifhode tok.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 526 Wyyfhood, uxoratus.
c1460 Tree & 12 Frutes (McClean) (1960) 156 (MED) It excedith and ouerpassith in frute and reward al oþer maner of chastite, bothe of wifhode and wedehode.
1566 T. Nuce tr. Octavia i. iv. sig. C.jv She can not truely yet of wyfehoode crake.
1582 T. Bentley Fift Lampe Virginitie 41 As though the motherhood of the one were lessened by the daughter in lawe, and the wifehood of the other, were minished by the mother in lawe.
1730 D. Lewis et al. Misc. Poems 62 What Honours, what Rewards her Wife-hood gains!
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa IV. xli. 233 To restore her to her virgin state, by my confession, after her wifehood had been reported to her uncle.
1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh ii. 56 I ask for love..For wifehood.
1884 Leeds Mercury 30 Apr. 4/5 Her daughter has now grown to womanhood, and to-day enters upon the sacred duties of wifehood.
1919 Boston Post 6 Dec. 9/3 Women who use rouge, wear corsets, high heeled shoes or thin silk stockings are unworthy of wifehood.
1994 L. Gordon Charlotte Brontë (1995) x. 317 Women must beware what wifehood will do to their natures.
2000 Daily Express (Nexis) 24 Oct. The kind of woman who is an intense Hampstead feminist and intellectual and finds it difficult to adjust to mere wifehood.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.OE