ESPOUSE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Espouse

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/ɪspˈaʊz/ /ɪspˈaʊs/ Listen

verb

Espouse v. t. (past & past part. espoused; pres. part. espousing)

To betroth; to promise in marriage; to give as spouse. "A virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph."

To take as spouse; to take to wife; to marry. "Lavinia will I make my empress,... And in the sacred Pantheon her espouse."

To take to one's self with a view to maintain; to make one's own; to take up the cause of; to adopt; to embrace. "He espoused that quarrel." "Promised faithfully to espouse his cause as soon as he got out of the war."

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Etymology of 'Espouse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Espouse" Quotes from Famous Books

... kinsmen, the Fannings, kin to the Tryons, Frederick Rhinelander, the Waltons, and others too tedious to mention, the gentlemen who had the most to lose through friendliness to the cause of liberty, chose to espouse that cause. ...

— The Reckoning • Robert W. Chambers

... help you. I say it is a pity that Bulmer should be a patriarch, because his only hope of marrying you is that I shall die first. Even then he must be prepared to espouse my widow. By the way, is it disrespectful to describe him as a patriarch? Isn't there some proverb about three score ...

— The Stowaway Girl • Louis Tracy

... of any man who could by diligence and thrift realise a good estate, or who could attract notice by his valour in a battle or a siege. It was regarded as no disparagement for the daughter of a Duke, nay of a royal Duke, to espouse a distinguished commoner. Thus, Sir John Howard married the daughter of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk. Sir Richard Pole married the Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence. Good blood was indeed held in high respect: but ...

— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 1 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... aware of that," continued Mrs. Bird; "if he were not there would not be the least trouble about his admission; nor am I sure there will be as it is, if you espouse his cause. One who has been such a benefactor to the academy as yourself, could, I ...

— The Garies and Their Friends • Frank J. Webb

... with which the impetuous stream will rock thee to thine eternal rest! Receive, then, ye sacred waves of the Dnieper, receive thou, mine Ivan, in thy cold grave, thy wife's vow of fidelity to thee. Again will I espouse thee—in life as in death, am ...

— The Daughter of an Empress • Louise Muhlbach

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