huswifely

English

Etymology

huswife +‎ -ly

Adjective

huswifely (comparative more huswifely, superlative most huswifely)

1. (archaic) Like or of a huswife; capable; economical; prudent.
   • c. 1528, Thomas Wyatt, Tho. Wyatis Translatyon of Plutarckes Boke, Of the Quyete of Mynde‎^[1], London: Richard Pynson:

     Besydes that it is false that vnac[t]yfe men lede a quiete lyfe for els it must be that the lyfe of women were more quietous than that of men as they that syt watchyng at home occupied in huswifely occupations.

   • 1568, Matthew Parker et al. (translators), Bishops’ Bible, Proverbs 12.4,^[2]

     A huswifely woman is a crowne vnto her husbande: but she that behaueth her selfe vnhonestly, is as corruption in his bones.

   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Henry Cripps, Partition 3, Section 2, Member 5, Subsection 3, pp. 649-650,^[3]

     In taking a dowre thou loosest thy liberty, hazardest thine estate; thou hadst better haue taken a good huswifely maid in her smocke.

   • 1816, William Hazlitt, “The Recruiting Officer,” review published in The Examiner, 3 March, 1816, in A View of the English Stage; or, A Series of Dramatic Criticisms, London: John Warren, 1821, p. 246,^[4]

     We ought not to omit, that she cries her chickens in a good shrill huswifely market-voice, as if she would drive a good bargain with them.

Adverb

huswifely (comparative more huswifely, superlative most huswifely)

1. (archaic) In the manner of a huswife; capably; economically; prudently.
   • 1573, Thomas Tusser, Fiue Hundreth Points of Good Husbandry, London: Richard Tottill, “Enstructions to Huswiferie,”^[5]

     This care hath a huswife all daye in her hed,

     that all thing in season be huswifely fed.

See also

• housewifely

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “huswifely”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)