goodwife
Americannoun
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Chiefly Scot. the mistress of a household.
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(initial capital letter) a title of respect for a woman.
noun
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the mistress of a household
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a woman not of gentle birth: used as a title
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of goodwife
Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at good, wife
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Paying small heed to those about her, the goodwife sipped the water, prayed quietly.
From Time Magazine Archive
Moreover his child had been nursed by a goodwife who lived near to Elizabeth Clarke and Elizabeth Gooding.
From A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718 by Notestein, Wallace
Soetkin, my gentle goodwife, wilt thou be brave against ill fortune?”
From The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Volume I (of 2) And Lamme Goedzak, and their Adventures Heroical, Joyous and Glorious in the Land of Flanders and Elsewhere by Coster, Charles Th?odore Henri de
"And if I let it burn you may punish me as the goodwife did King Alfred," answered Constance.
From The Lucky Piece A Tale of the North Woods by Paine, Albert Bigelow
"Make fifty pounds of your clearest honey, that the goodwife may sell it on the morrow."
From The Old-Fashioned Fairy Book by Harrison, Constance Cary
Like a football quarterback, Dr. Dafoe passed another girl to the dumbfounded goodwives and another and another and another.
From Time Magazine Archive
But the goodwives knew that Elzire Dionne was on the verge of bearing her seventh child, perhaps twins.
From Time Magazine Archive
The village goodwives saw well that he was a wizard, and when he told them that he was a healall, they brought him straight to the smith's house.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
And at that, the commotion of the street poured in again upon me, and I heard sounds in all their particularity—the striking of hooves, the call of goodwives, the heaving of wood off a cart.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
At the same time, it is like enough the most part of these workmen and goodwives are honest and keep their hands off other folk's goods.
From The Gods are Athirst by Jackson, Emilie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
