husband

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Contents

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English husbonde, from Old English hūsbonda, hūsbunda (“male head of a household, householder, master of a house”), probably from Old Norse húsbóndi (“master of house”), from hús (“house”) + bóndi (“dweller, householder”), equivalent to house +‎ bond (“serf, slave”). Cognate with Icelandic húsbóndi (“head of household”), Faroese húsbóndi (“husband”), Norwegian husbond (“head of household, husband”), Swedish husbonde (“master”), Danish husbonde (“husband”).

Noun[edit]

husband (plural husbands)

  1. (obsolete) The master of a house; the head of a family; a householder.
  2. (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 […]
  3. (archaic) A prudent or frugal manager.
  4. A man in a marriage or marital relationship, especially in relation to his spouse.
  5. (UK) A manager of property; one who has the care of another's belongings, owndom, or interests; a steward; an economist.
  6. 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.
  7. (UK dialectal) A polled tree; a pollard.
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Hypernyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms
Translations[edit]
male partner in marriage
cushion

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English husbonden, from husbonde (“master of a house”). See above.

Verb[edit]

husband (third-person singular simple present husbands, present participle husbanding, simple past and past participle husbanded)

  1. (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.
  2. (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.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To till; cultivate; farm; nurture.
    Land so trim and rarely husbanded. — Evelyn.
  4. (transitive) To provide with a husband.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  5. (transitive) To engage or act as a husband to; assume the care of or responsibility for; accept as one's own.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to conserve

Statistics[edit]

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

hus (“house”) +‎ band (“band”)

Noun[edit]

husband n

  1. a group of musicians who regularly play live in a TV show

Declension[edit]

Declension of husband
singular plural
Neuter indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative husband husbandet husband husbanden
genitive husbands husbandets husbands husbandens
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