wittol

American  

[wit-l] / ˈwɪt l /

noun

Archaic.

1. a man who knows of and tolerates his wife's infidelity.

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wittol British  

/ ˈwɪtəl /

noun

1. obsolete a man who tolerates his wife's unfaithfulness

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Etymology

Origin of wittol

1400–50; late Middle English wetewold, equivalent to wete wit ² + ( coke ) wold cuckold

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wittol

Russian Ambassador to England after the Napoleonic wars, Lieven was an upright, punctilious, short-sighted wittol whose portrait makes him look like an aristocratic Andy Gump.

From Time Magazine Archive

Again, there is no historical proof that Captain O'Shea was the wittol and Gladstonian stool pigeon Playwright Schauffler shows.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her conduct may indeed involve his dishonor, if he is what used to be called a wittol, but even then his dishonor is because of his own disgrace.

From The Galaxy Vol. XXIII?March, 1877.?No. 3 by Various

Say, once and always, Luca was a wittol, I am his cutthroat, you are— Ottima.Here's the wine; I brought it when we left the house above,55 And glasses too—wine of both sorts.

From Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning by Reynolds, Myra

What do I here, list'ning like to an abject, Or heartless wittol, that must hear no good, If he hear aught?

From The Works of Charles Lamb in Four Volumes, Volume 4 by Lamb, Charles