Husband (verb)

Husband (verb)

Pronunciation: ['hêz-bênd]

Definition: To economize, to use sparingly.

Usage: The noun for today's word is husbandry "sparing use, economization." The word originally referred to a farmer who owned his own farm and household (see Etymology). The optimal husband in this sense was the one who was thrifty and managed his farm well, hence, the verbal sense. "It is significant—and to a male a little depressing—that the word which once meant 'general manager' has come to be merely the correlative of a wife."—Bergan Evans quoted in the YD Agora.

Suggested Usage: According to Bergan Evans, renowned professor of English literature at Northwestern, "when Banquo, in Macbeth, sees that it is a dark and starless night, he says, 'There's husbandry in heaven; their candles are all out.' Then as now, apparently, it was the Father who went around putting out unneeded lights to save expense." We must also husband our natural resources, i.e, be thrifty with them, making provisions for their replenishment, as the head of a family might manage his estate so that his children and grandchildren may benefit from it.

Etymology: The English word husband comes from Old Norse husbondi "master of a house" based on hus "house" + bondi "estate owner" from bua "to dwell, own an estate." When the Norsemen came to England, the women who married them used the Norse word for what was then their masters. The feminine was husbonde "wife, mistress of the house" which would also be "husband" today (and an interesting ambiguity, to say the least), had not the word for "woman "wif" assumed that meaning in English.

–Dr. Language, YourDictionary.com