- Marry
- Marry Mar"ry, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Married}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Marrying}.] [OE. marien, F. marier, L. maritare, fr. maritus
husband, fr. mas, maris, a male. See {Male}, and cf.
{Maritral}.]
1. To unite in wedlock or matrimony; to perform the ceremony
of joining, as a man and a woman, for life; to constitute
(a man and a woman) husband and wife according to the laws
or customs of the place.
[1913 Webster]
Tell him that he shall marry the couple himself. --Gay. [1913 Webster]
2. To join according to law, (a man) to a woman as his wife, or (a woman) to a man as her husband. See the Note to def. 4. [1913 Webster]
A woman who had been married to her twenty-fifth husband, and being now a widow, was prohibited to marry. --Evelyn. [1913 Webster]
3. To dispose of in wedlock; to give away as wife. [1913 Webster]
M[ae]cenas took the liberty to tell him [Augustus] that he must either marry his daughter [Julia] to Agrippa, or take away his life. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
4. To take for husband or wife. See the Note below. [1913 Webster]
Note: We say, a man is married to or marries a woman; or, a woman is married to or marries a man. Both of these uses are equally well authorized; but given in marriage is said only of the woman. [1913 Webster]
They got him [the Duke of Monmouth] . . . to declare in writing, that the last king [Charles II.] told him he was never married to his mother. --Bp. Lloyd. [1913 Webster]
5. Figuratively, to unite in the closest and most endearing relation. [1913 Webster]
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you. --Jer. iii. 14. [1913 Webster]
{To marry ropes}. (Naut.) (a) To place two ropes along side of each other so that they may be grasped and hauled on at the same time. (b) To join two ropes end to end so that both will pass through a block. --Ham. Nav. Encyc. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.