marry

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English marien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman, Old French marier, from Latin marītāre (“to wed”), from marītus (“husband, suitor”), from mās, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méryos (“young man”), same source as Sanskrit मर्य (márya, “suitor, young man”). Compare its feminine derivatives: Welsh morwyn (“girl”), merch (“daughter”), Crimean Gothic marzus (“wedding”), Ancient Greek μεῖραξ (meîrax, “boy; girl”), Lithuanian martì (“bride”), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀‎ (mairiia, “yeoman”).[1])

Verb

marry (third-person singular simple present marries, present participle marrying, simple past and past participle married)

  1. (intransitive) To enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife. [from 14th c.]
    Neither of her daughters showed any desire to marry.
    • 1641, Evelyn, Diary, quoted in 1869 by Edward J. Wood in The Wedding Day in All Ages and Countries, volume 2, page 241:
      Evelyn, in his "Diary," under date 1641, says that at Haerlem "they showed us a cottage where, they told us, dwelt a woman who had been married to her twenty-fifth husband, and, being now a widow, was prohibited to marry in future; […] "
    • 1755, The Holy Bible, both Old and New Testament, Digested, Illustrated, and Explained, second edition, page 59:
      But Esau, being now forty years of age, took a false step by marrying not only without his parents consent; but with two wives, daughters of the Hittites.
    • 1975 March 17, Marian Christy, "Suzy Chaffee, A Liberated Beauty", The Lebanon Daily News
      If and when Suzy does marry, it will be an open marriage because she's a believer in the "totality" of freedom.
  2. (transitive, in passive) To be joined to (someone) as spouse according to law or custom. [from 14th c.]
    She was not happily married.
    His daughter was married some five years ago to a tailor's apprentice.
  3. (transitive) To arrange for the marriage of; to give away as wife or husband. [from 14th c.]
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XXIII:
      The kyngdome of heven is lyke unto a certayne kinge, which maryed his sonne [...].
    He was eager to marry his daughter to a nobleman.
  4. (transitive) To take as husband or wife. [from 15th c.]
    In some cultures, it is acceptable for an uncle to marry his niece.
  5. (transitive, figuratively) To unite; to join together into a close union. [from 15th c.]
    The attempt to marry medieval plainsong with speed metal produced interesting results.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Bible (KJV), Jeremiah 3.14:
      Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you.
    • 2006, Lisa C. Hickman, William Faulkner and Joan Williams: The Romance of Two Writers
      For Faulkner, these years marry professional triumphs and personal disappointments: the Nobel Prize for Literature and an increasingly unlifting depression.
  6. (transitive) To unite in wedlock or matrimony; to perform the ceremony of joining spouses; to bring about a marital union according to the laws or customs of a place. [from 16th c.]
    A justice of the peace will marry Jones and Smith.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Gay, The what d'ye call it:
      Tell him that he shall marry the couple himself.
  7. (nautical) To place (two ropes) alongside each other so that they may be grasped and hauled on at the same time.
  8. (nautical) To join (two ropes) end to end so that both will pass through a block.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Translations to be checked

Etymology 2

From Middle English Marie,[2] referring to Mary, the Virgin Mary.[3] Mid-14th century.

Interjection

marry!

  1. (obsolete) indeed!, in truth!; a term of asseveration.

References
  1. J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, s.v. "woman" (London: Dearborn Fitzroy, 1997), 656.
  2. “marry” in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
  3. “marry” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

See also
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