husband

American  

[huhz-buhnd] / ˈhʌz bənd /

noun

• husbands
  plural

1. a married man, especially when considered in relation to his partner in marriage.

2. British. a manager.

3. Archaic. a prudent or frugal manager.

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verb (used with object)

• husbands,
  present (3rd person singular)
• husbanded,
  past participle,  past
• husbanding
  present participle

1. to manage, especially with prudent economy.

2. to use frugally; conserve.

   to husband one's resources.

   Synonyms:

   hoard, store, save, preserve

3. Archaic.

   1. to be or become a husband to; marry.

   2. to find a husband for.

   3. to till; cultivate.

husband British  

/ ˈhʌzbənd /

noun

1. a woman's partner in marriage

2. archaic

   1. a manager of an estate

   2. a frugal person

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verb

1. to manage or use (resources, finances, etc) thriftily

2. archaic

   1. (tr) to find a husband for

   2. (of a woman) to marry (a man)

3. obsolete (tr) to till (the soil)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• husbander
  noun
• husbandless
  adjective
• unhusbanded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• husbands
  plural

Participles

• husbanding
  present
• husbanded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• husband
  simple
• husbands
  simple
• have husbanded
  perfect
• has husbanded
  perfect
• am husbanding
  progressive
• are husbanding
  progressive
• is husbanding
  progressive
• have been husbanding
  perfect progressive
• has been husbanding
  perfect progressive

Past

• husbanded
  simple
• had husbanded
  perfect
• was husbanding
  progressive
• were husbanding
  progressive
• had been husbanding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will husband
  simple
• will have husbanded
  perfect
• will be husbanding
  progressive
• will have been husbanding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of husband

before 1000; Middle English husband ( e ), Old English hūsbonda master of the house < Old Norse hūsbōndi, equivalent to hūs house + bōndi ( bō-, variant of bū- dwell ( see boor) + -nd present participle suffix + -i inflectional ending)

Explanation

A husband is a married man. Your grandfather might joke that he and your grandmother have been husband and wife for so long because she has the patience of a saint and he is deaf as a post. The word husband comes from the Old Norse hūsbōndi, where hūs meant house and bōndi meant dweller. As a verb, husband means to conserve resources and use them frugally. Because of the flooding in the area, roads are cut off and everyone is being asked to husband their supplies. This conservation of resources sense of husband also occurs in the related noun husbandry.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

husband husbands husbanded husbanding

But that transcendence requires preservation and education, according to Holly Kafka, visiting Manhattan from Chicago with her husband.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

Fick and her husband have since quit their nonprofit jobs and started a business promoting concepts like Coast FI.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

The husband of Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Hafidh Ameir Hassan, has died while receiving treatment at a hospital in Zanzibar.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

She credits her "supportive and helpful" husband Jonathan, management at the BBC and her children Iris, 13, Vivienne, 11 and Caspian, 9.

From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026

She asks her friend’s husband what he has in mind.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Photos of sons, daughters, uncles and husbands pepper Chinese social media, shared by people hoping for news about relatives missing since deadly floods on the border with Nepal last week.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The paper reports on three women who lost their "sons, husbands, and homes", while countless others wait for news about their missing loved ones.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Belafonte began psychotherapy, initially with Janet Kennedy, an analyst whose two successive husbands, Stanley Levison and Jay Richard Kennedy would each become significant figures in Belafonte’s life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Both women were openly wistful about having to leave that behind for one spent supporting their husbands in Washington, D.C.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026

Caroline looked longingly at the picture, the way war brides look at photographs of their dead husbands.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

But he seemed diffident about them when we spoke and finally admitted that since the pandemic began all of his carefully husbanded nervousness has been consumed by life rather than work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2020

He married Paula Schwartz in 1983, and with her he tenderly husbanded the land, planting an effusion of flora.

From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2019

From there to the line, she husbanded her lead like someone who had been doing it all her life.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 7, 2018

After his parents divorced, Folkert’s mom did yard work and landscaping and cleaned houses to earn money — which she husbanded with care.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2018

Wang Lung allowed nothing to be bought and sold after the winter came except what he said, and he husbanded carefully all that they had.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

The glimpse reminded voters that Davis, who was husbanding his resources for a late advertising push, was still in the race.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026

He lacks a strategy for husbanding his domestic political capital, without which he will be remembered mainly as an interruption.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

Allies allow you to project power while husbanding your own resources.

From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2025

"The greater risk environment for financials leads to husbanding of capital and risk-taking, less and more conservative investing and lending, and inevitably, lower growth," said Blankfein, who also served as Goldman's chairman, told Reuters.

From Reuters ● Mar. 20, 2023

She had been husbanding her own misery, shaping it, making of it an art and a Way.

From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

Related Words

• companion
• partner
• spouse