wedlock
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English wedlok, wedlocke (“wedlock, marriage, matrimony”), from Old English wedlāc (“marriage vow, pledge, plighted troth, wedlock”), from wedd (“pledge”) + -lāc, suffix denoting activity or process, equivalent to wed + -lock.
Noun[edit]
wedlock (countable and uncountable; plural wedlocks)
- The state of being married; matrimony.
- (obsolete) A wife; a married woman.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)
