archwife

English

Etymology

arch- +‎ wife

Noun

archwife (plural archwives)

  1. (obsolete) A big, masculine wife.
    • c. 1400: Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Clerk's Tale"
      Ye archewyves, stondeth at defence
      Sin ye be stronge as is a greet camaille

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for archwife in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams
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