husband

name

1. A surname.
2. An unincorporated community in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, named after Harmon Husband.

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH-der.? Proto-Germanic *hūsą Proto-West Germanic *hūs Old English hūs Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Germanic *būaną Old Norse búa Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Old Norse -andi Old Norse bóndibor. Old English bonda ▲ Old Norse húsbóndicalq. Old English hūsbonda Middle English husbonde English husband Inherited from Middle English husbonde, from Old English hūsbonda, from hūs + bonda. Calque of Old Norse húsbóndi. By surface analysis, house + bond.

1. A man in a marriage or marital relationship, especially in relation to his spouse.

   “You should start dating so you can find a suitable husband.”

   “The husband and wife are one person in law.”

2. A manager of property; one who has the care of another's belongings, owndom, or interests; a steward; an economist.
3. A prudent or frugal manager.

   “God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a good husband, to improve the short remnant thereof.”

   “[S]o I went and fetch’d a good Dram of Rum, and gave him; for I had been ſo good a Husband of my Rum, that I had a great deal left: When he had drank it, I made him take the two Fowling-Pieces, which we always carry’d, and load them with large Swan-Shot, as big as ſmall Piſtol Bullets; then I took four Muſkets, and loaded them with two Slugs, and five ſmall Bullets each; and my two Piſtols I loaded with a Brace of Bullets each; I hung my great Sword as uſual, naked by my Side, and gave Friday his Hatchet.”

4. The master of a house; the head of a family; a householder.
5. A tiller of the ground; a husbandman.

   “[…] a withered tree, through husbands toyle, Is often seene full freshly to have florisht […]”

   “The painfull husband plowing up his ground, Shall finde all fret and rust both pikes and shields”

6. The male of a pair of animals.

   “Husband of the Herd”

7. A 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.”

8. A polled tree; a pollard.

verb

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH-der.? Proto-Germanic *hūsą Proto-West Germanic *hūs Old English hūs Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Germanic *būaną Old Norse búa Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Old Norse -andi Old Norse bóndibor. Old English bonda ▲ Old Norse húsbóndicalq. Old English hūsbonda Middle English husbonde English husband Inherited from Middle English husbonde, from Old English hūsbonda, from hūs + bonda. Calque of Old Norse húsbóndi. By surface analysis, house + bond.

1. To manage or administer carefully and frugally; use to the best advantage; economise.

   “And for my meanes, I'll husband them so well, They shall go farre with little.”

2. 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. To till; cultivate; farm; nurture.

   “Land so trim and rarely husbanded.”

4. To provide with a husband.

   “Thinke you, I am no ſtronger then my Sex Being ſo Father'd, and ſo Husbanded?”

5. To engage or act as a husband to; assume the care of or responsibility for; accept as one's own.