Category:Wedlock

Wed"lock, n. Etym: [as. wedlac a pledge, be trothal; wedd a pledge + Lac a gift, an offering. See wed, n., and cf. Lake, v. i., Knowledge.]

1. The ceremony, or the state, of marriage; matrimony. "that blissful Yoke . . . that men clepeth [call] spousal, or wedlock." Chaucer. For what is wedlock forced but a hell, an age of discord or continual Strife shak.

2. A wife; a married woman. [obs.] B. Jonson.

Syn. -- see marriage.

Wedlock Wed"lock, v. t.

Defn: to marry; to unite in marriage; to wed. [r.] "man thus Wedlocked." Milton.