Husband

Pronunciation

IPA: /ËˆhÊŒzbÉ™nd/

Origin

From Middle English husbonde, from Old English hÅ«sbonda, hÅ«sbunda ("male head of a household, householder, master of a house"), probably from Old Norse hÃºsbÃ³ndi ("master of house"), from hÃºs ("house") + bÃ³ndi ("dweller, householder"), equivalent to house + bond("serf, slave").

Rather not bond = serf, but present participle of WestScand. bÃºa, EastScand. bÃ´a = to build, to plow; cf. German bauen, der Bauende. Cognate with Icelandic hÃºsbÃ³ndi ("head of household"), Faroese hÃºsbÃ³ndi ("husband"), Norwegian husbond ("head of household, husband"), Swedish husbonde ("master"), Danish husbonde ("husband").

Full definition of husband

Noun

husband

(plural husbands)

(obsolete) The master of a house; the head of a family; a householder.
(obsolete) A tiller of the ground; a husbandman.

1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.3:a withered tree, through husbands toyle,
Is often seene full freshly to have florisht ...
unknown date Hakewillthe painful husband, ploughing up his ground
unknown date John Evelyn (1620-1706)He is the neatest husband for curious ordering his domestick and field accommodations.

(archaic) A prudent or frugal manager.

unknown date Henry Blake Fuller (1857-1929)God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a good husband, to improve the short remnant left me.

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.

unknown date William Blackstone (1723-1780)The husband and wife are one person in law.
1922, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest Chapter 6, 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.

The male of a pair of animals.
(UK) A manager of property; one who has the care of another's belongings, owndom, or interests; a steward; an economist.
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.
(UK dialectal) A polled tree; a pollard.

Synonyms

Antonyms

wife

Hypernyms

partner (may or may not be married)
spouse (may also apply to wife)

Derived terms

Verb

(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.
(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.

(transitive, obsolete) To till; cultivate; farm; nurture.

unknown date EvelynLand so trim and rarely husbanded.

(transitive) To provide with a husband.
(transitive) To engage or act as a husband to; assume the care of or responsibility for; accept as one's own.