Wife

Wife

A wife is a female lifetime partner in a continuing marital relationship. A wife may also be referred to as a spouse. The term continues to be applied to a woman who has separated from her husband and ceases to be applied to such a woman only when her marriage has come to an end following a legally recognised divorce or the death of her spouse. The rights and obligations of the wife in relation to her husband and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time. In a heterosexual relationship, a woman's spouse is her husband.

Read more about Wife.

Famous quotes containing the word wife:

    When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.
    Bible: Hebrew Deuteronomy 24:5.

    There lived a wife at Usher’s Well,
    And a wealthy wife was she;
    She had three stout and stalwart sons,
    And sent them o’er the sea.
    —Unknown. The Wife of Usher’s Well (l. 1–4)

    The only solid and lasting peace between a man and his wife is, doubtless, a separation.
    Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)