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

Russell T Davies says death of late husband has been his 'greatest loss'

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

The husband complained that “so many of the amenities that seemed almost a birthright when he was growing up now appear to be out of reach.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

My husband and our children are named as beneficiaries on my TSP account: 50% to my husband and 25% to each child.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

"PM Andy cheers up Fiona" writes the Daily Star, featuring a new photo of the retired broadcaster Fiona Phillips, who has Alzheimer's, shared by her husband Martin Frizzell.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

Grandma Edem had made good money from her clam picking and trading and had left gold jewelry for all her children, but it was being hoarded by Ma’s older sister and her greedy husband.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

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

But over the years, 41 women directly followed their deceased husbands into the lower chamber.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

“That women have property rights independent of husbands is an old Iberian tradition,” Hayes-Bautista told me.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

“I realized a lot of wives were wishing their husbands were there and they weren’t,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026

Women came to comfort her, and their husbands paid condolence calls and hoped inwardly that she would soon move to another neighborhood and spare them the obligation of continuous sympathy.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

For centuries the Venetian republic husbanded its natural resources, keeping the lagoon from filling in through sedimentation and protecting its water quality.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 10, 2019

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

Tollett has not only husbanded the landscape; he has branded it.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 10, 2017

Others husbanded their deutschemarks like farmers girding against unforeseen misfortune.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2014

Even the wilderness is carefully husbanded there, and though that forest had been logged for centuries there were no waste places in it, no desolations of stumps, no eroded slopes.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

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

China did this by building up domestic industries, developing alternative sources for scarce inputs and carefully husbanding its strengths in areas where they saw a chance to seize control.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025

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