Definition

1. Verb (Transitive):

   • To provide a wife for someone; to marry a woman to a man.
   • To take (a woman) as a wife; to marry.

2. Verb (Intransitive):

   • To marry a woman; to take a wife.

Usage

• Verb (Transitive):

  • The king sought to wive his son to a noblewoman from a neighboring kingdom.
  • He decided to wive the woman he had loved for years.

• Verb (Intransitive):

  • In that era, a man was expected to wive and establish a household.
  • "It is better to wive than to burn," is an archaic saying.

Advanced Usage

• "To wive it": An archaic phrase meaning to thrive or prosper as a wife.
  • She hoped to wive it well in her new home.
• The verb is often used in historical, literary, or legal contexts and is considered rare in modern everyday English.

Variants and Related Words

• Wived (verb, past tense and past participle): Having taken a wife or been provided with a wife.
  • He had wived a woman of great fortune.
• Wiving (verb, present participle or gerund): The act of taking a wife.
  • His wiving was the talk of the county.

Synonyms

• Marry (a woman).
• Espouse (archaic or formal).
• Wed.

Antonyms

• Divorce.
• Separate from.

Related Phrases

• "To wive and thrive": An old proverb suggesting that taking a wife leads to prosperity.
  • His father's advice was simple: "Wive and thrive."
• "Woo, wed, and wive": An alliterative phrase describing the traditional progression of courtship to marriage.
  • The old tale followed the hero's quest to woo, wed, and wive the princess.

Verb

1. provide with a wife; marry (someone) to a wife
2. marry a woman, take a wife
3. take (someone) as a wife