English

Adjective

hymeneal ‎(comparative more hymeneal, superlative most hymeneal)

1. Pertaining to marriage.
   • 1806, Jane West, Letters to a Young Lady, vol I:

     I consider these more as the privileges of age, than as part of the hymeneal dowry.

   • 1831, Anna Maria Winter, Thoughts on the Moral Order of Nature, vol. III, IV.3.vii:

     It seems to me that girls ought to be early taught to discriminate, between the characteristic of a hymeneal connexion and of a dishonourable one apparently resembling it.

   • 1897, Henry James, The Spoils of Poynton:

     Mrs. Gereth evidently thought in these days of little but things hymeneal; for she broke out with sudden rapture in the middle of the week: "I know what they'll do: they will marry, but they'll go and live at Waterbath!"

   • 2005, Catherine Bennett, The Guardian, 23 Jun 2005:

     Is it so difficult to wait until you are out of the register office to exchange some home-made vows and a selection of inspiring hymeneal ditties - To His Coy Mistress, for instance, or some lines from The Hollow Men?

2. (anatomy) Of or pertaining to the hymen.
   • 1978, AS Byatt, The Virgin in the Garden, p. 422:

     ‘It doesn't seem to qualify as a haemorrhage,’ he said, with his usual cocky certainty. ‘Just heavy hymeneal bleeding, I'd say.’

Translations

See also

• matrimonial
• nuptial

Noun

hymeneal ‎(plural hymeneals)

1. A hymn, song or poem in honour of a wedding.
   • 1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard,

     For her white virgins hymeneals sing, / To sounds of heav'nly harps she dies away, / And melts in visions of eternal day.

Translations