Dictionary

marriage

Etymology

From Middle English mariage, from Old French mariage, from marier, from Latin marītō, from marītus, from mas ("male, masculine, of the male sex").

Pronunciation

(RP) IPA: /ˈmæɹɪdʒ/
- (nMmmm) IPA: /ˈmæɹɪdʒ/
- (Mmmm) IPA: /ˈmɛɹɪdʒ/, /ˈmeɹɪdʒ/

Noun

marriage

The state of being married. [from 14th c.]
You should enter marriage for love.
A union of two or more people that creates a family tie and carries legal, social, and/or religious rights and responsibilities. [from 14th c.]
- 1944, Tiaki Hikawera Mitira, Takitimu, page 123:
  By his marriage to his two wives, Tapuwae quietly strengthened all of the pas of the Wairoa district, as many of them came under his control through these unions.
- 1990, John Stevens, Lust for enlightenment: Buddhism and sex:
  One layman in Buddha's time decided to embrace celibacy and relinquished his marriage vows to his four wives. When he asked them what they wanted in terms of a settlement, one said, […]
- 1995, Edith Deen, All of the women of the Bible, page 275:
  The account of the loss of the blessing of his father Isaac appears immediately after Esau's marriage to his Hittite wives.
- 2013, David Gilman, Master of War :
  "Now can we eat? Marriages are arranged for whatever purpose is suitable. All this talk of undying love and childbearing squirms in my stomach like a worm that demands feeding."
1. (sometimes specifically) The union of only two people, to the exclusion of all others.
  My grandparents' marriage lasted for forty years.
  Pat and Leslie's marriage to each other lasted forty years.
2. (often specifically) The union of two people of opposite sex, to the exclusion of all others.
A wedding; a ceremony in which people wed. [from 14th c.]
You are cordially invited to the marriage of James Smith and Jane Doe.
(figuratively) A close union. [from 15th c.]
- 2000, Edmund E. Jacobitti, “The Classical Heritage in Machiavelli's Histories”, in Vickie B. Sullivan, editor, The comedy and tragedy of Machiavelli: essays on the literary works, page 181:
  And this marriage of poetry and history remained a solid relationship throughout the classical period.
- 2006 August 9, Amy Scattergood, A wild dream in the wild, published in the Los Angeles Times, republished in 2009 in The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year in the Life of a Restaurant (by Michelle and Phillip Wojtowicz and Michael Gilson with Catherine Price), on the cover:
  But the food is real: a marriage of local ingredients and serious technique.
A joining of two parts.
(card games) A king and a queen, when held as a hand in some versions of poker or melded in pinochle.
(card games) In solitaire or patience games, the placing a card of the same suit on the next one above or below it in value.
(prison slang) A homosexual relationship between male prisoners.