goodwife
Americannoun
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goodwives
plural
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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
The next day, at vespers, the Count de Meghem confessed to the handsome goodwife how that he had determined to fetch the gendarmerie he commanded into Bois-le-Duc before daybreak.
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 Charles Th?odore Henri de Coster
Then my father looked in at the door and said, "'Tis time, goodwife, for young folks to be abed."
From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by E. Rameur
"Where am I to get sticks to put under my pot?" screamed the goodwife.
From The Old Willow Tree and Other Stories by Carl Ewald
"Why, goodwife," I answered impatiently, "do you look for gentlemen of the road in Ennerdale?"
From Lawrence Clavering by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason
But the goodwives knew that Elzire Dionne was on the verge of bearing her seventh child, perhaps twins.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like a football quarterback, Dr. Dafoe passed another girl to the dumbfounded goodwives and another and another and another.
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
Their goodwives had for her always a willing curtsy and a ready smile.
From The Man by Bram Stoker
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.
