See Also: spouse(medicine)
spouse(1)(dictionary)
spouse(2)(dictionary)
spouse(dictionary)
Spouse(law)
spouse abuse(medicine)
battered spouse syndrome(medicine)

spouse(1) (iou)



spouse noun. ME.
[Old French spus, spous masc., spuse, spouse fem., aphet. vars. of espous, espouse, (mod. epoux, epouse), from Latin sponsus bridegroom, sponsa bride, uses as nouns of masc. and fem. pa. pples of spondere betroth.]
A married person; a wife, a husband. Formerly also, a bride; a bridegroom. ME.
W. Trevor With the help of her spouse..cut into the wedding cake. C. Harkness Leave their respective spouses and be free to live with each other.
A fiance(e). ME-M16.
fig. God or Christ, or the Church or a woman who has taken religious vows, regarded as standing in a relationship of husband or wife respectively to each other. ME.
Wedlock. Only in ME.
Comb.: spouse-breach (long arch. rare) adultery.
spousehood noun (arch.) marriage, wedlock ME.
spouseless adjective LME.
spousy noun (arch. colloq.) a spouse L18.