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(spa
z, -s) Forms: 3-4 spus, spuse, 3- spouse, 4 spouce; 4 spows, 5 spowce, 5-8 spowse, 6 spowze; also Sc. 5 spoys, 6 spouis(s, 6-7 spous, 8 spuse. [a. OF. spus, spous masc., spuse fem., varr. of espus, espouse, etc.: see ESPOUSE n. In some early ME. instances (see 3) the masc. spus is distinct from the fem. spuse.]
1. A married woman in relation to her husband; a wife; 
a bride. Usually with possessive pronouns, of, or to.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 135 Elizabet
i spuse shal hauen a cnauechild.
c1250 Owl & Night. 1527
at were gulte
at leof is
oer wymmon to pulte..&
haue atom his rich[t]e spuse.
a1300 Cursor M. 3043
of ysmael be noght o spus, O him sal gret men cum and crus.
13.. Sir Beues 143 And
ow schelt after her wedde to spouse, To
in amy.
a1400-50 Alexander 2677
are fand he..
e trew spouse Of ser Dary.
c1430 LYDG. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 40 To you, dere herte, my veray trouthe I plihte As to my spouse.
a1553 UDALL Royster D. V. i, Sir,..doe not ye therfore your faithfull spouse mystrust.
1596 SHAKES. Tam. Shr. IV. v. 67 So qualified, as may beseeme The Spouse of any noble Gentleman.
c1614 SIR W. MURE Dido & Æneas I. 200, I,..Jove's spowse, and sister, heaven's arch-empresse great.
1667 MILTON P.L. IV. 169 The fishie fume, That drove him, though enamourd, from the Spouse Of Tobits Son.
1711 S. SEWALL Diary 1 Feb., He thanks me for my Respect to him and his Spouse.
1782 COWPER Gilpin ii, John Gilpin's spouse said to her dear [etc.].
1833 TENNYSON Dream Fair Women xli, A name for ever!
lying robed and crown'd, Worthy a Roman spouse.
1870 BRYANT Iliad I. I. 30 Thou wilt find the task Too hard for thee, although thou be my spouse.
1877 M. M. GRANT Sun-Maid i, He chose Lady Anna as a fitting spouse because he liked her rank.
fig. 1859 E. FITZGERALD Omar xl, [How I] Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.
b. Used as a term of address. (Also in sense 2.)
c1386 CHAUCER Sec. Nun's T. 144 O sweete and wel biloued spouse deere,..Ther is a conseil Which that right fayn I wolde vn-to yow seye.
1706-7 FARQUHAR Beaux' Strat. V. iv, They tell me Spouse that you had like to have been rob'd.
Mrs. Sull. Truly, Spouse, I was pretty near it.
1821 SHELLEY Epipsych. 130 Spouse! Sister! Angel..O too soon adored, by me!
2. A married man in relation to his wife; a husband; a bridegroom. Usually with possessive pronouns.
c1200- [see 3].
13.. Cursor M. 10170 (Gött.), To samirtale widuten strijf, Be-tuix any spouse and his wijf.
a1340 HAMPOLE Psalter xviii. 5 As spouse cumand forth of his chawmbire.
1390 GOWER Conf. I. 301 This wif..sih how that hire seli spouse Was sett.
1447 O. BOKENHAM Seyntys (Roxb.) 57 Thus she gan crye Welkecome dere spouse and god gramercy.
a1513 FABYAN Chron. (1811) 654 At whiche mariage was no persones present but the spowse, the spowsesse, the duches of Bedforde [etc.].
1564-5 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 327 George Kennedie, hir pretendit spous.
1597 J. PAYNE Royal Exch. 43 So gloriouse and Princely a spowze to take..so poore and meane an espowzes.
1608 [see
SPOUSED ppl. a. b].
1771 SMOLLETT Humph. Cl. (1815) 232 To fill the place of the deceased, not only as the son of the sachem, but as the spouse of a beautiful squaw.
1782 COWPER Mut. Forbearance 1 The lady thus address'd her spouse.
1844 WILLIS Lady Jane I. 82 Ours Are the best wives on earth. They love their spouses.
1856 MRS. BROWNING Aur. Leigh II. 412, I am scarcely meek enough To be the handmaid of a lawful spouse.
b. An affianced suitor; one's fiancé. Obs.
1
a1553 UDALL Royster D. I. v, I am bespoken: And I thought verily thys had bene some token From my dear spouse Gawin Goodluck.
3. fig. In religious use: a. Applied to the Church, or to a woman who has taken religious vows, in relation to God or Christ.
(
a)
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 149 Swiche teares wiep
e holie spuse uppen hire spus.
a1225 Ancr. R. 2 Louerd!
sei
Godes Spuse to hire
deorewure Spus [etc.].
c1380 WYCLIF Sel. Wks. III. 339 Cristis Chirche is his Spouse.
a1536 Songs, Carols, etc. (1907) 69 The chirche is callid
e spowse of Jhesu Criste.
1570 B. GOOGE Pop. Kingd. IV. 51b, How are the Idoles worshipped, if this religion here Be Catholike, and like the Spowse of Christ accounted dere?
1641 WITHER Haleluiah I. l, Thy God, is now thy Father dear; His holy Spouse, thy Mother too.
1782 J. FLETCHER Lett. Wks. 1795 VII. 239 The Church, the Spouse of the Son of God.
1827 POLLOK Course T. v, The Church, the holy spouse of God.
(
b)
c1230 Hali Meid. 5 Swuch
wurschipe, as hit is to beo godes spuse, Ihesu cristes brude.
c1290 S Eng. Leg. I. 52 Go..to
e Abbesse of
e house, Dame Aldred
at clene Maide,
at is godes spouse.
c1430 Life St. Kath. (1884) 19 Now myn owne doughter be glad..for now
e lak noo thyng
at longeth to an heuenly spouse.
c1440 Gesta Rom. v. 13 (Harl. MS.), Ony sowle,
e which is spouse of god.
c1610 Women Saints 83 Their no lesse religious sister Walburge, a moste chaste spouse of Christ.
a1700 in
Cath. Rel. Soc. Publ. IX. 343 God..had perticularly designed her for his especiall Elected and Beloved spowse.
1756-9 A. BUTLER Lives of Saints, S. Catherine of Bologna, She looked upon it as the greatest honour to be in any thing the servant of the spouses of Christ.
1886 J. M
ONAHAN Rec. Ardagh & Clonmacnoise 2 That youthful spouse of Christ [St. Bridget].
b. Applied to God or Christ in relation to the Church (or its members) or to women of religion.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 149 Swiche teares wiep
e holie spuse uppen hire spus.
c1220 Bestiary 717 in
O.E. Misc., He is ure soule spuse.
c1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiv. (
Pelagia) 102 We,
at suld god plese maste, oure verray spouse.
c1430 LYDG. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 178 Perpetuelly..Knet to your spouse callid Crist Jhesu.
1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) Ggb, Let the swete odour of deuocyon and prayer spyre out and ascende vp to thy lorde & spouse.
1657 Penit. Conf. vii. 117 That the Church would not have made so bold..without express warranty from her Spouse?
1753 CHALLONER Cath. Chr. Instr. 207 Because the Church is then in Mourning for her Spouse.
4. The married state; marriage, wedlock. Obs.
c1250 Owl & Night. 1334
u.me atwist
at ic singe bi manne huse & theche wyue breke spuse.
a1300 Cursor M. 3907 Quat of his wiues tuin in spus, And wat of hand wimmen in hus, Tuelue suns had he o
aa.
Ibid. 11132 Als dos
e men
at liues in spus.
1340-70 Alex. & Dind. 393 Alle leccheries lust vs
loeth to founde, Or to bringe vs in brigge for to breke spouce.
5. attrib. and Comb., as spouse-bed, -faith, -feast; spouse-lost adj.
1550 COVERDALE Spir. Pride vii. (1588) 80 Those..matrones, which being sore tempted,..do neuerthelesse kepe their spouse faith toward their husbandes vndefiled.
1591 SYLVESTER Du Bartas I. vii, Let her, that..Dares spot the Spous-bed with unlawful kisses, Blush.
1598 Ibid. II. i, Sith spousebed spotless laws of God allow.
1601 Downfall Earl Huntington II. i. in Hazl.
Dodsley VIII. 129 To this end came I to the mock spouse-feast.
1615 R. BRATHWAIT Strappado (1878) 320 Like spouse-lost Turtles, do we flocke together.
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