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Webster 1913 Edition

Husband

Hus′band

,
Noun.
[OE.
hosebonde
,
husbonde
, a husband, the master of the house or family, AS.
h[GREEK]sbonda
master of the house;
h[GREEK]s
house +
bunda
,
bonda
, householder, husband; prob. fr. Icel.
h[GREEK]sbōndi
house master, husband;
h[GREEK]s
house +
b[GREEK]andi
dwelling, inhabiting, p. pr. of
b[GREEK]a
to dwell; akin to AS.
b[GREEK]an
, Goth.
bauan
. See
House Be
, and cf.
Bond
a slave,
Boor
.]
1.
The male head of a household; one who orders the economy of a family.
[Obs.]
2.
A cultivator; a tiller; a husbandman.
[Obs.]
Shak.
The painful
husband
, plowing up his ground.
Hakewill.
He is the neatest
husband
for curious ordering his domestic and field accommodations.
Evelyn.
3.
One who manages or directs with prudence and economy; a frugal person; an economist.
[R.]
God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a good
husband
, to improve the short remnant left me.
Fuller.
4.
A married man; a man who has a wife; – the correlative to wife.
The
husband
and wife are one person in law.
Blackstone.
5.
The male of a pair of animals.
[R.]
Dryden.
A ship’s husband
(Naut.)
,
an agent representing the owners of a ship, who manages its expenses and receipts.

Hus′band

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Husbanded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Husbanding
.]
1.
To direct and manage with frugality; to use or employ to good purpose and the best advantage; to spend, apply, or use, with economy.
For my means, I'll
husband
them so well,
They shall go far.
Shakespeare
2.
To cultivate, as land; to till.
[R.]
Land so trim and rarely
husbanded
.
Evelyn.
3.
To furnish with a husband.
[R.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition

Husband

HUS'BAND

,
Noun.
s as z.
1.
A man contracted or joined to a woman by marriage. A man to whom a woman is betrothed, as well as one actually united by marriage, is called a husband. Lev.19. Deut.22.
2.
In seaman's language, the owner of a ship who manages its concerns in person.
3.
The male of animals of a lower order.
4.
An economist; a good manager; a man who knows and practices the methods of frugality and profit. In this sense, the word is modified by an epithet; as a good husband; a bad husband. [But in America, this application of the word is little or not at all used.]
5.
A farmer; a cultivator; a tiller of the ground. [In this sense, it is not used in America. We always use husbandman.]

HUS'BAND

,
Verb.
T.
To direct and manage with frugality in expending any thing; to use or employ in the manner best suited to produce the greatest effect; to use with economy. We say, a man husbands his estate,his means or his time.
He is conscious how ill he has husbanded the great deposit of his Creator.
1.
To till; to cultivate with good management.
2.
To supply with a husband. [Little used.]

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