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

“My husband was a good person, dedicated to his kids and to his wife,” Tovar said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

So, Molly and her husband took Eunice to a hotel on Lake Erie and checked into a two-bedroom suite.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

They allege that at the time, Clancy sent her husband, Patrick Clancy, out on errands so that he would not be home.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Tucker’s husband went down to her store, Care Tucker, because they thought someone had broken in.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

There had been no husband to deliver it to.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

For those whose husbands fought for the British in the jungles of places like Malaya and Borneo in the1950s and 60s time is now running out.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

In Botswana and South Africa, too, women are desperate for sons and husbands to return from a conflict many say they were duped into joining, as authorities warn recruiters are still active.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Discounted food and drinks, and one of my friend’s husbands acts as an Uber driver.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 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

The second is the legend of Aziz and her husbands.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

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

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