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archwife. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
archwife, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
archwife in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
archwife you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English archewyf, arche wif, equivalent to arch- + wife.
Noun
archwife (plural archwives)
- A big, masculine wife; a dominating woman; virago.
1977, Geoffrey Chaucer, Theodore Morrison, The Portable Chaucer: Revised Edition:You archwives, strong as camels, take the high
And overpowering hand against the male.
2002, Pauline Croft, King James:Lady Wallingford had been circulating defamatory libels against Buckingham, leading James to comment that Wallingford was like his father-in-law, 'altogether guided and overruled by an archwife'.
2003, Stephanie Forward, Dreams, Visions and Realities, page 3:"To pay homage to the World Harlot, the Mandrake Venus, the Archwife, the Ever-existing, who has been, is, and will be. […] "
2008, Georgette Heyer, False Colours, page 191:All the same, Master Kit, it looks like you're in a case of pickles – if her ma's half the archwife the postboy says she is! Seems to me you'll have to hang up your axe.'
2013, Barbara Metzger, Greetings of the Season and Other Stories:Some poor fool might have been saved a lifetime of misery if the archwife had drowned in the ditch after all.
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