wedlock

4 definitions found

wedlock - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Wedlock \Wed"lock\, v. t.
     To marry; to unite in marriage; to wed. [R.] "Man thus
     wedlocked." --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]

  Wedlock \Wed"lock\, n. [AS. wedl[=a]c a pledge, be trothal; wedd
     a pledge + l[=a]c a gift, an offering. See Wed, n., and cf.
     Lake, v. i., Knowledge.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The ceremony, or the state, of marriage; matrimony. "That
        blissful yoke . . . that men clepeth [call] spousal, or
        wedlock." --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              For what is wedlock forced but a hell,
              An age of discord or continual strife? --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A wife; a married woman. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: See Marriage.
          [1913 Webster]

wedlock - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  wedlock
      n 1: the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for
           life (or until divorce); "a long and happy marriage"; "God
           bless this union" [syn: marriage, matrimony, union,
           spousal relationship, wedlock]

wedlock - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  34 Moby Thesaurus words for "wedlock":
     a world-without-end bargain, alliance, bed, bond of matrimony,
     bridebed, cohabitation, conjugal bond, conjugal knot, coverture,
     holy matrimony, holy wedlock, husbandhood, ill-assorted marriage,
     intermarriage, interracial marriage, marriage, marriage bed,
     marriage sacrament, match, matrimonial union, matrimony,
     mesalliance, misalliance, miscegenation, mixed marriage,
     nuptial bond, sacrament of matrimony, spousehood, union,
     wedded bliss, wedded state, weddedness, wedding knot, wifehood