Betroth
[bɪ'trəʊð;-θ]
Definition
(v. t.) To contract to any one for a marriage; to engage or promise in order to marriage; to affiance; -- used esp. of a woman.
(v. t.) To promise to take (as a future spouse); to plight one's troth to.
(v. t.) To nominate to a bishopric, in order to consecration.
Checked by Curtis
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Affiance, pledge in marriage, engage to marry.
Typed by Humphrey
Definition
v.t. to contract or promise in order to marriage: to affiance: (obs.) to pledge one's self to any cause.—ns. Betroth′al Betroth′ment an agreement or contract with a view to marriage.
Edited by ELLA
Examples
- His betrothed looked shocked at the metaphor, and George Dorset exclaimed with a sardonic growl: Poor devil! Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- I was in a flutter of pride and anxiety; pride in my dear little betrothed, and anxiety that Agnes should like her. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Betrothed, or not betrothed, she was equally far from me. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- She was betrothed to a good young man, too: a tenant of his. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- She smiled and looked up at her betrothed with grateful eyes. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The betrothed bride must see her future home, and dictate any changes that she would like to have made there. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- To the general relief the Countess Olenska was not present in her grandmother's drawing-room during the visit of the betrothed couple. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
Checked by Helena