cuckold

[ kuhk-uhld ]

See synonyms for cuckold on Thesaurus.com

noun

the husband of an unfaithful wife.

verb (used with object)

to make a cuckold of (a husband).

Origin of cuckold

1200–50; Middle English cukeweld, later cok(k)ewold, cukwold<Anglo-French *cucuald (compare Middle French cucuault), equivalent to Old French cocucuckoo + -ald,-alt pejorative suffix (see ribald); apparently originally applied to an adulterer, in allusion to the cuckoo's habit of laying its eggs in other birds' nests

Other words from cuckold

cuck·old·ly, adverb

Words Nearby cuckold

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cuckold in a sentence

He made cuckolds of his three best friends, who knew of and tolerated their wives’ infidelities with him.
Montalbano says farewell in the lovably quirky novel ‘Riccardino’ | Dennis Drabelle | October 8, 2021 | Washington Post
He is a pudgy, bespectacled, homburg-wearing cuckold of a Sherlock in those fish-grey postwar years of 1970s England.
Iran’s Top Spy Is the Modern-Day Karla, John Le Carré’s Villainous Mastermind | Michael Weiss | July 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
By definition, of course, a cuckold is the “husband of an adulteress.”
The Cuckolding Fetish: When Your Wife’s Cheating Turns You On | Aurora Snow | February 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Mean cuckold is the highest selling DVD producer and director Glenn King has ever released.
The Cuckolding Fetish: When Your Wife’s Cheating Turns You On | Aurora Snow | February 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
She made her first husband a cuckold, and do you suppose that she has suddenly turned virtuous?
The Making of a Saint | William Somerset Maugham

Sfoot, half a quarter of an hour does that; make him a cuckold.
The Mermaid Series. Edited by H. Ellis. The best plays of the old dramatists. Thomas Dekker. Edited, with an introduction and notes by Ernest Rhys. | Thomas Dekker
But he smiled, and replied: "As that cuckold of a Forestier?"
The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6 | Guy de Maupassant
The character of cuckold is indelible: who once has it carries it to his grave; the punishment proclaims it more than the fault.
The Essays of Montaigne, Complete | Michel de Montaigne
We no less laugh at him who takes pains to prevent it, than at him who is a cuckold and knows it not.
The Essays of Montaigne, Complete | Michel de Montaigne

British Dictionary definitions for cuckold

cuckold

/ (ˈkʌkəld) /

noun

a man whose wife has committed adultery, often regarded as an object of scorn

verb

(tr) to make a cuckold of

Origin of cuckold

C13 cukeweld, from Old French cucuault, from cucu cuckoo; perhaps an allusion to the parasitic cuckoos that lay their eggs in the nests of other birds

Derived forms of cuckold

cuckoldry, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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