bewife

From be- +‎ wife.

bewife (third-person singular simple present bewifes, present participle bewifing, simple past and past participle bewifed) (transitive, rare)

1. To marry (a woman).

   Synonyms: take to wife, (colloquial) wife, wive

   • 1930 (date written), Dane Rudhyar, Rania: An Epic Narrative, San Francisco, Calif.: Unity Press, published spring 1973, →ISBN, page 71:

     She glowed into love, smiled, kissed him, fondled him like a mother. The male resents this mothering in his depth. It shields the home. The conquered woman turns back as a mother to draw him in, more and more into herself, to her warm quiescent hearth, to the unborn. The hunter rebels. It is then that brutality begins. He essays violence, cruelty, because he senses himself weak before the indrawing suction of the bewifed woman.

   • 1964 November 1, Shirley Sievers, “Lonely in the Suburbs”, in Franklin D[unn] Schurz, editor, The South Bend Tribune, volume XCII, number 237, South Bend, Ind.: Franklin D. Schurz, →OCLC, “The Reading Lamp” section, page 14, column 5:

     All of the hidden frustration and difficulties of the beleaguered American woman were brought front and center in Betty Freidman’s^[sic] “Feminine Mystique.” There we were presented with the poor thwarted creature of American culture — the bewifed, child-bearing female living in suburbia.

   • 1968 February 13, Thomas B. Coburn, “65”, in John D. Davies, editor, Princeton Alumni Weekly, volume LXVIII, number 17, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27, column 2:

     Pondering other items, like the path to a Chemical Engineering Ph.D., are Burke Baker, who took to wife one Betty Kimble back there in the Dark Ages, the same month we graduated, at Berkeley; and John Erjavec, who bewifed Julie Evans of Palatine, Ill. last June in the presence of John Bowman, Bill Schoening, and John Davis, at the University of Wisconsin.

   • 1971, Petros Jozana, quotee, Debates of the Transkei Legislative Assembly: Fourth Session, Second Assembly, Umtata: […] [F]or the Transkei Legislative Assembly by the Elata Commercial Printers […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 366, column 2:

     The possession of a daughter in our law and custom is something of great moment. Also, the custom that follows the bewifing of a daughter is of great value.

   • 1983, Nwanna Nzewunwa, editor, The Masquerade in Nigerian History and Culture […], Port Harcourt, Rivers State: […] University of Port Harcourt Press for the University of Port Harcourt Publications Committee, →OCLC, page 368:

     When the woman finally agreed that it was necessary to 'bewife' her to another man in the interest of her welfare of that of her children, her late husband's 'spirit' would thank her and urge her to make a choice of a husband.

2. To be or become a wife to (someone); to provide (someone) with a wife.

   Synonym: wive

   • 1898, Sir James H[enry] Ramsay of Bamff, [10th] Bar[one]t, “Eadward the Confessor (continued): a.d. 1051–1053”, in The Foundations of England: or Twelve Centuries of British History (b.c. 55–a.d. 1154), London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co Ltd, →OCLC, pages 461–462:

     In the simple words of the Worcester chronicler, ‘That would any man that on England was have thought wonderlike if any man ere said that it so should happen. For that he (Godwine) was theretofore so upheaven, as if he wielded of the King [Eadward] and all England; and his sons were earls and the King’s darlings (!), and his daughter [Edith of Wessex] to the King bewedded and bewifed.’

     [original: Þæt wolde ðyncan wundorlic ælcum men þe on Englalande wæs, gif ænig man ær þam sæde þæt hit swa gewurþan sceolde, for ðam þe he wæs ær to þam swyðe up ahafen swylce he weolde þæs cynges ⁊ ealles Englalandes, ⁊ his sunan wæron eorlas, ⁊ þæs cynges dyrlingas, ⁊ his dohtor þæm cynge beweddod ⁊ beæwnod.]

   • 1952 January 7, Demont Roseman, “Wedding Bells in Their Belfreys: Nash Averages Nearly Two Marriages per Day”, in The Evening Telegram, volume XLI, number 73, Rocky Mount, N.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, columns 2–3:

     The only balance to be found in all the marriage license records here was the 50-50 equality between men and women. There were 387 white men wed to 387 white women and 256 Negro males bewifed by 256 Negro females.

   • 1956, H[orace] T[heodore] Elmo, Honeymoon Humor, New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →OCLC, pages 19, 27, and 47:

     A man who had been bewifed six times told a friend: “I think I’ll remarry again!” […] Before the average bridegroom was bewifed he’d say to the blushing maid, “Nothing is good enough for you!” After they’re wed he thinks the same! […] A newly bewifed wolf sneaked over to a callhouse and asked for the prettiest pigeon in the place.