Wed v.

Inflected wedded (also wed), wedding. Forms: 1 weddian, 2–3 weddenn, 3–4 wedden, weddi, -y, 3–5 wedd, (4 weed, 5 weede, wid, weddon), 3–6 wedde, 8–9 Sc. wad, 4– wed. [Com. Teut.: OE. węddian corresponds to OFris. weddia, MLG. wedden, OHG. wettôn (MHG., mod.G. wetten), to pledge, wager, ON. veðja to pledge, Goth. ga-wadjōn to espouse (ἁρμόζεσθαι):—Teut. *waðjōjan, f. *waðjo-m WED sb.

  The form wed in the pa. t. is now only dialectal; in the pa. pple. it is common dial. but otherwise rare exc. in poetry.]

  † 1.  intr. To engage, covenant (to do something). Only OE. (Const. genitive or to with gerundial inf.)

a. 1000.  Laws Æthelstan, § 23 (Liebermann). Ʒif hwa ordales weddiʓe, ðonne cume he [etc.].

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke xxii. 5. And hiʓ … him weddedon feoh to syllenne.

  2.  trans. To wager, stake (e.g., money, one’s life, one’s head). Obs. exc. Sc. and north.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. IV. 129. And ȝif þou worchest hit in wit Ich wedde boþe myn Eres, Þat lawe schal ben a laborer. Ibid. (1393), C. III. 36. My lyf ich dar wedde, He shal lese for hure loue a lappe of trewe charite.

c. 1430.  Chev. Assigne, 27. & þat dare I my hedde wedde.

1560.  Peebles Burgh Rec. (1872), 262. Stene Robesone weddit ten merkis of money aganes the said tar barrell that scho suld nocht mary the said king of Swane.

a. 1600.  Montgomerie, Sonn., xlvi. 8. Shute on; lat sie vho first my wedfie wins; For I will wed ane apple and a nute.

1786.  Burns, Earnest Cry & Prayer, xv. Or faith! I’ll wad my new pleugh-pettle, Ye’ll see’t or lang.

1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxvi. I’ll wad ye a plack, as we say in the north, that you get the pardon from the king.

1843.  in T. Doubleday, Coquet-Dale Fishing Songs (1852), 110.

1876.  Whitby Gloss., Wad, to pledge; to bet.

1894.  A. Reid, Sangs o’ the Heatherland, 54. I’ll wad that sune our neebors’ heids Will doors and windocks thrang.

  3.  To marry. (Common in dialects; otherwise only literary.) a. trans. Originally, to make (a woman) one’s wife by the giving of a pledge or earnest. More fully, † to wed (a woman) to wife, to or unto his wife. Hence, of a person of either sex: To take in marriage; to become the husband or wife of (a person) by participating in a prescribed ceremony or formal act.

a. 1000.  Laws Edmund, Be wifmannes beweddunge, § 1 (Liebermann). Ʒif man mædan oððe wif weddian wille, & hit swa hire & freondan ʓeliciʓe, [etc.]. Ibid., § 6. Ʒif hy þonne ælces þinges sammæle beon, ðonne fon maʓas to & weddian heora maʓan to wife.

c. 1205.  Lay., 22243. Þis maiden he gon wedde and nom heo to his bedde.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1090. Two ðor werren quam him ðoȝte ear To wedden his two doȝtres ðear; Loth hem warnede.

c. 1275.  Lay., 4500. A king of Britayne hadde hire i-wedded [c. 1205 biwedded].

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 772. Quat-kyn þyng may be þat lambe, Þat þe wolde wedde vnto hys vyf?

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 1422. Wolde he be my worldly make & weddy me to wyue. Ibid., 2012. & she hym wedede after þan þat was hure fader fo.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xv. 70. Þe lady had mykill sorow þat scho had wedded him.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 925. Wed ane worthie to wyfe.

1485.  Plumpton Corr. (Camden), 48. My lord Schanchler publyshed in the Parlament house the same day, that the Kings gud grace shall weede my lady Elizabeth.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxii. 216. I wyll wed her to my wyfe.

1548.  Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony, 14. With thys ring I thee wed.

1552.  Huloet, Wedde, denubo, for the woman; desponso, for the man.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, III. ii. 118. If you loue her, then to morrow wed her.

a. 1663.  Killigrew, Parson’s Wedd., IV. i. (1664), 124. Pars. If she be my wife Sir? I have wedded her and Bedded her, what other Ceremonies would you have?

1794.  Burns, Weary Pund o’ Tow, iv. And ’or I wad anither jad, I’ll wallop in a tow.

1816.  J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. iv. 248. The husband, now no longer tied May wed a new and blushing bride.

1856.  Aytoun, Bothwell, I. xxiv. I wed A trembling, sickly, shrewish dame, And put her from my bed.

1873.  Black, Pr. Thule, ix. 133. To think that your aunt would forbid your wedding a King’s daughter!

  fig.  c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 339. Cristis Chirche is his Spouse…. And fer be it fro Cristene men to graunte þat Crist haþ weddid þe fend.

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 15. O true valeyntyne is oure lord to me … With his blode, Seynt dauid! he did me wedde.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., V. i. 94. Come, come, in wooing Sorrow let’s be briefe, Since wedding it, there is such length in Griefe.

1667.  Milton, P. L., V. 216. They led the Vine To wed her Elm.

1670.  Dryden, 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada, III. (1672), 113. In gaining him, I gain that Fortune too Which he has Wedded, and which I but Wooe.

1781.  Cowper, Retirem., 229. As woodbine weds the plant within her reach.

  † b.  Phrase. To wed (a) wife: to get married.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 6798. Me sede þe king þat he moste nede wede wif.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3216. Abraham wald in his lijf þat ysaac had wedded a wijf.

c. 1325.  Lai le Freine, 248. Than was ther … A riche knight … yong, and joliue; And had nought yete y-wedded wiue.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 149. He hath wedded a wyf with-inne this syx monethes.

1460.  Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 139. The fader or Gefrey Plauntgenet wedded a wyf only for beute.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 124 b. To one demaundyng when best season wer to wedde a wife.

  4.  To bind (the contracting parties) in wedlock; to conduct the marriage ceremony for (a man and woman); also absol.

1[?].  Rule of Chrodegang (Napier), 81. Brydguman & bryde mid ʓebedum & mid ofringum mæssepreost sceal bletsian & weddian hi & betæcan hi be laʓum.

c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well, 21. We schewyn acursyd … alle preestys þat … weddyn ony oþere but here owyn parysschenys wyth-oute leve, or weddyn wythoute þe banys askyd.

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 1. Alle men of religion þat howselith, or weddith, or anelith any man or woman, with-out leve.

c. 1450.  Contin. Brut, 425. The Erchebisshop of Caunturburi … weddid hem togederis there by ordynaunce of God and holy chirche.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxii. 214. How Huon … went to Rome to the pope, who weddyd togyther Huon and the fayr Esclaramonde.

1546.  Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees), 228. The sayd incumbent shuld … burye, wedde, and christen wythin the sayd chappell.

1876.  Miss Broughton, Joan, III. I. xxxii. 24. The Helmsley Courier devotes three columns to the describing of his and his wife’s deportment on the occasion; of how they were clad, who wed them, and who looked on.

  b.  To give (a woman) in marriage; to cause to be married.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, V. 863. And whi here fader tarieth so longe To wedden here vn-to som worthi wight.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, vi. (Thomas), 47. Þe kinge of þat cunctre of nev his douchtir vedit had.

1843.  J. S. Knowles, Secretary, II. i. 21. My father cannot wed me ’gainst my will.

  5.  pass. To be joined in wedlock; to be married † with, † unto, to (a husband or wife); also, to be joined together as husband and wife.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 1942. & ȝuw birrþ witenn þatt ȝho wass Weddedd þurrh Godess wille Wiþþ an weppmann off hire kinn. Ibid., 1990. & forrþi wass ȝho till Josæp Wiþþ Godess laȝhe weddedd.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 394. Auh þauh heo were iwedded him heo muhte i-wurðen so unwrest, [etc.].

c. 1300.  Havelok, 1127. To-mo[r]we ye sholen ben weddeth, And, maugre þin, to-gidere beddeth.

c. 138[?].  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 334. She lyvede sevene ȝeer wiþ hir hosebonde þat was weddid wiþ hir fro her maidenhod.

a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour, xlvii.–xlix. 66. After the knight was wedded to another wiff, and he and the secounde wiff leued togedre .v. yere.

1529.  Frith, Antithesis, 96 b. The Pope sayeth…, my prestes also shall not be wedded.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 37. In Siracusa was I borne, and wedde Vnto a woman, happy but for me.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit., 231. Cecilie … was wedded to Thomas Greie.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 828. And Adam, wedded to another Eve, Shall live with her enjoying, I extinct.

1673.  J. W[ade], Vinegar & Mustard (1873), 21. Before that ever we were wed.

1819.  Scott, Ivanhoe, xxiv. When I returned … I found her wedded to a Gascon squire.

1874.  Green, Short Hist., iv. § 1. 162. Eleanor the daughter of Simon of Montfort … was wedded to him [Llewelyn] at the English court.

  fig.  c. 1374.  Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 131. Hir hart was to him weddid with a Ringe.

a. 1400.  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xl. 253. Ihesu, my soule is weddet to þe.

  6.  intr. († also refl.). To enter into the matrimonial state; to take a wife or husband; to contract matrimony. Const. † to, with.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 368. Nolde him liken betere þen þauh me seide him þet heo gleowede & gomede, & wedde mid oðer men, & liuede in delices?

c. 1393.  Chaucer, Marriage, 18. Bet ys to wedde than brenne in worse wise.

1483.  Caxton, Golden Leg., 170/1. Aurelyan … came to domycelle for to wedde and accomplissh the maryage by force ageynst hir wyll.

1530.  Palsgr., 778/2. There be seasons forbydden to wedde in.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 132. Who wedth ere he be wise, shall die ere he thriue.

1592.  Kyd, Murther. I. Brewen, Wks. (1901), 292. ‘But if I were so minded’ (quoth he), ‘I would be twice aduised how I did wed with such a strumpet as thy selfe.’

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., III. ii. 17. Hee’ll wooe a thousand,… Yet neuer meanes to wed where he hath woo’d.

1619.  J. Dyke, Counterpoyson (1620), 21. And yet how many sticke not to wed to Canaanites!

1721.  Lett. fr. Mist’s Jrnl. (1722), II. 248. A Country Fellow had the Misfortune to wed with one of the Godly.

1781.  Cowper, Table-T., 554. As if the poet, purposing to wed, Should carve himself a wife in gingerbread.

1807.  Crabbe, Par. Reg., I. 434. Yet … there were times of joy, (The day they wed, the christening of the boy).

a. 1834.  Coleridge, in Lit. Rem. (1839), IV. 59. Alas! alas! this is the misery of it, that so many wed and so few are Christianly married!

1859.  Tennyson, Marr. Geraint, 227. And may you … live to wed with her whom first you love.

1884.  H. Spencer, in Contemp. Rev., Feb., 155. Dissenters, no longer obliged to submit to the ecclesiastical form of marriage, were made free to wed by a purely civil rite.

  fig.  a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 1517. He haueð iweddet him to mi meiðhad mit te ring of rihte bileaue.

1621.  Heylin, Microcosmus, 243. [The Thames] flieth through Berks, Buck: Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, and Essex; and so weddeth himself with the Kentish Medway.

  7.  trans. To unite as in marriage. a. To attach (a person, his thoughts, etc.) indissolubly by affection to something. Chiefly in passive, to be obstinately attached to (an opinion, one’s own will, a habit, a faction, etc.). Also (rarely) refl., to addict or devote oneself to a party.

c. 1397.  Chaucer, Lack Stedf., 28 (MS. Cotton). O prince … Drede god … And wed thi folk ayen to stedfastnesse.

1421.  26 Pol. Poems, xviii. 6. Swete þouȝt in deuocion, Is weddid to chastite.

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 279 b. This Pompeius … wedded hymselfe wholly to the faccion of Sylla.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 181 b. The kyng perceived & knewe well, that the quene was wedded to her awne opinion.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr., L ij b. I was wedded vnto my wyll.

1575.  Fleming, Virg. Bucol., To Indifferent Rdr. The Bucolikes of Virgil … I haue translated into the Englishe tongue, wedding my selfe (as it were) to y^e vulgar and common phrase of speach.

1614.  Raleigh, Hist. World, II. i. § 5. 9. It highly commends his diligence and iudgement, that he was not so wedded to any author, as affected with the loue of truth.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VII. xxxi. 47. They are so wedded to superstition, that some adore the Devil.

1703.  R. Neve, City & C. Purchaser, 45. Nations … are very apt to be wedded to their own Ways and Methods.

1707.  Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 20. The frivolous Cares that wed you to the Town.

1712.  Arbuthnot, John Bull, IV. vi. Your Honour has it in your power to wed me still closer to your interest!

c. 1750.  Shenstone, Love & Hon., 88. The love That weds each bosom to its native soil.

1800.  Campbell, On leaving a Scene in Bavaria, xvii. Then wed thee to an exile’s lot.

1866.  Trollope, Claverings, iii. He was not wedded to the joys of his college hall, or the college common room.

1887.  S. Colvin, Keats, ii. 34. Ready to entertain and appreciate any set of ideas according as his imagination recognised their beauty or power, he could never wed himself to any as representing ultimate truth.

1889.  Mrs. E. Kennard, Landing a Prize, viii. (1891), 63. You have been wedded to your comforts all your life.

1913.  Woodrow Wilson, New Freedom, vi. 122. There are those, of course, who are wedded to the old ways.

  † b.  To unite by liking or custom with. Obs.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 364. And errour in weiyng of þis love makiþ many fals weddingis; as men ben weddid wiþ þer habitis, and þer custumes, and þer singular maners, as ȝif þei weren Cristis comaundementis.

  † c.  To commit or pledge (a person) irrevocably to a course of action. Obs.

1578.  H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 251. Hauing maried a woman which did but dishonour the countrey, and had wedded him vnto a war so daungerous, as [etc.].

  d.  To join or couple (a thing) intimately with or to something else; to associate closely together.

1818.  Keats, Endym., II. 408. Above his head, Four lily stalks did their white honours Wed To make a coronal.

1839.  Hood, Storm at Hastings, x. Whilst we were panting with the sultry weather, And hardly cared to wed two words together.

1851.  Westcott, Introd. Study Gospels, i. (1860), 78. The LXX. wedded Greek language to Hebrew thought.

1887.  Saintsbury, Hist. Elizab. Lit., ii. (1890), 46. The Ecclesiastical Polity remains a book in which matter and manner are wedded as in few other books of the same kind.

1891.  Lindley’s New Holidays in Essex, 38. There is an excellent thing locally wedded with Blackwater boating. It is sausages.

  † 8.  To espouse, adopt (a cause, a course of conduct, a custom, etc.). Obs.

1626.  T. H[awkins], trans. Caussin’s Holy Crt., 4. Men, who willingly wed the manners, and affections of those on whom they see theyr fortunes depend.

1647.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 49. And though … most of the principal men of the House of Commons were again elected to serve in this Parliament, yet they were far from wedding the war. Ibid., II. § 57. Most of the King’s Privy Council … now as frankly wedded that interest as any of the leaders.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., I. 51. O lead my mind,… and fix my firm resolve Wisdom to wed.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. ii. Or, in milder language, They have wedded their delusions: fire nor steel, nor any sharpness of Experience, shall sever the bond.