daughter-in-law

[ daw-ter-in-law ]

noun,plural daugh·ters-in-law.
  1. the wife of one's child.

Origin of daughter-in-law

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English doughter in lawe; see origin at daughter, in, law1; from Middle English in-lawe “in law,” i.e., “a person within the regulation and protection of the law,” based on the prohibition by Roman civil law and, later, Christian canon law, of marriages within four degrees of consanguinity, i.e., up to and including first cousins

Words Nearby daughter-in-law

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How to use daughter-in-law in a sentence

  • They were still living in 1823, when their son and their daughter-in-law had been deceased some time.

    Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A -- Z | Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe
  • Although a bourgeoisie of strict ideas, Mme. du Bruel welcomed the dancer Tullia, who became her daughter-in-law.

    Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A -- Z | Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe
  • His daughter-in-law looked at him with compassionate eyes that he could hardly bear.

    David Fleming's Forgiveness | Margaret Murray Robertson
  • I intend to make my daughter-in-law very happy and I am afraid that my son will not make her so.

    Balsamo, The Magician | Alexander Dumas
  • There is not one I have mentioned who is not unexceptionable, and whom I would gladly embrace as a daughter-in-law.

    Newton Forster | Captain Frederick Marryat

British Dictionary definitions for daughter-in-law

daughter-in-law

nounplural daughters-in-law
  1. the wife of one's son

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