Library / English Dictionary

HUSBAND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A married man; a woman's partner in marriage

Synonyms:

hubby; husband; married man

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("husband" is a kind of...):

better half; married person; mate; partner; spouse (a person's partner in marriage)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "husband"):

benedick; benedict (a newly married man (especially one who has long been a bachelor))

cuckold (a man whose wife committed adultery)

family man (a man whose family is of major importance in his life)

house husband; househusband (a husband who keeps house while his wife earns the family income)

uxoricide (a husband who murders his wife)

Antonym:

wife (a married woman; a man's partner in marriage)

Derivation:

husbandly (related to or suited to a husband)

husbandly (befitting or characteristic of a husband)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Use cautiously and frugally

Example:

conserve your energy for the ascent to the summit

Synonyms:

conserve; economise; economize; husband

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "husband" is one way to...):

preserve; save (to keep up and reserve for personal or special use)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "husband"):

retrench (tighten one's belt; use resources carefully)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

The general certainly had been an unkind husband.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“Perhaps she fell in love with her second husband,” Mr. Dick suggested.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Not all that Mrs. Bennet, however, with the assistance of her five daughters, could ask on the subject, was sufficient to draw from her husband any satisfactory description of Mr. Bingley.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

"No," said she, "I am Gladys Potts. Let me introduce you to my husband."

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, in the first flush of the new life, she had often said, My husband shall always feel free to bring a friend home whenever he likes.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You—poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are—I entreat to accept me as a husband.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mercedes ceased weeping over the dogs, being too occupied with weeping over herself and with quarrelling with her husband and brother.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

She had gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a previous husband—the chances being in favour of the latter.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mrs. John Dashwood did not at all approve of what her husband intended to do for his sisters.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Signor Castalotte was a bachelor, and I believe that he felt as if Gennaro was his son, and both my husband and I loved him as if he were our father.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)