wife -
n. (pl. wives)
1 a married woman esp. in relation to
her husband.
2 archaic a woman,
esp. an old or uneducated one.
3 (in comb.) a woman engaged in a specified
activity (fish
wife; house
wife; mid
wife).
have (or take) to wife archaic marry (a woman). wife-swapping colloq. exchanging wives for sexual relations.
wifehood n. wifeless adj. wifelike adj. wifely adj. wifeliness n. wifish adj. [OE wif woman: ult. orig. unkn.]
