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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wittol

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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

She would not quit the estate and title of the wittol who had wedded her.

From Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott

Sot is an old word that signifies a dunce, dullard, jolthead, gull, wittol, or noddy, one without guts in his brains, whose cockloft is unfurnished, and, in short, a fool.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 5 by Peter Anthony Motteux

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