• Sister-wife

    Full definition of sister-wife

    Noun

    1. A woman who is simultaneously sister and wife to her husband:
      • 1743, trans. Philip Francis, Horace Chapter Odes, My Grecians shall victorious prove, By me led on to War, the Sister-Wife of Jove.
      • 1853, Henry N. Humphreys, The coin collector's manual, Ptolemy VII married Cleopatra the sister-wife of his predecessor.
      • 1974, Joseph Fontenrose, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins‎, Anat as sister-wife of Baal, Isis as mother of Horos and sister-wife of Osiris, Hera as sister-wife of Zeus
    2. In a polygamous marriage, a woman who is simultaneously the sister and co-wife of another.
      • 1853, quoted in Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, Enmities between sister-wives will be, from their having known each other too intimately all their lives, more unmannerly than where they are strangers to each other
    3. A co-wife in general.
      • 2008, Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen, Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, The concept of 'sisterhood' was popularly applied to the official organizations for Mormon women, and Mormon co-wives were and are still known as 'sister-wives'
      • 2006, Xiaoxiaosheng, trans. David Tod Roy, The plum in the golden vase, or, Chin P'ing Mei, Yüeh-niang and her sister-wives, all dressed in formal gowns, came out from inside to greet them and ushered them into the rear reception hall
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