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

Omar shares her Washington home with her husband, Tim Mynett, a former political consultant who once was on her campaign’s payroll.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Alongside her husband, she went to try to find her son and was passed by two police cars "with blues and twos on".

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

My husband and I have $1.8 million saved and we’re both still working, and my brother is comfortable too.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

Paxman, 52, says the money has been a godsend, especially after her husband Jon went deaf and lost his job as a music arranger.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

I believe she might know a thing or two—about how my daddy passed away and about how Aunt Kitty’s husband died, too.”

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

"About 60% of husbands and wives in the sample said they exercised, but only about a third exercised together," Yorgason said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

“There are a lot of women whose husbands are not going to work today.”

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026

The two female characters, initially wary of each other, are both on a hiatus from their husbands, and the German tourist eventually draws big crowds by performing magic tricks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

Parents raised sons to be husbands and fathers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Their fathers, husbands, or sons were the fathers of some of their servants.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

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

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

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

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