espousal
/əˈspaʊzl̩/ noun
Forms espousals
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English espousal, espousaille, from Old French espousailles, from Latin sponsalia (“a betrothal”), neuter plural of sponsalis, from spōnsus (“one betrothed, a spouse”); see spouse. By surface analysis, espouse + -al.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of espousing or betrothing; especially, in the plural, betrothal; plighting of the troths; a contract of marriage; sometimes, the marriage ceremony.
- noun The uniting or allying one's self with anything; maintenance; adoption; as, the espousal of a quarrel.
Etymology [OF. espousailles, pl., F. épousailles, L. sponsalia, fr. sponsalis belonging to betrothal or espousal. See Espouse, and cf. Sponsal, Spousal.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “espousal”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details