Search

Search results

Displaying 1 - 10

marriage

(Encyclopedia) marriage, socially sanctioned union that reproduces the family. In all societies the choice of partners is generally guided by rules of exogamy (the obligation to marry outside a group…

Brewer's: Marriages

Carrier's republican marriages. A device of wholesale slaughter, adopted by Carrier, proconsul of Nantes, in the first French Revolution. It consisted in tying men and women together by…

Brewer's: Jactitation of Marriage

A false assertion by a person of being married to another. This is actionable. Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894JadeJacques Bonhomme A B C D E F G H I…

Brewer's: Fleet Marriages

Clandestine marriages, at one time performed without banns or licence by needy chaplains, in Fleet Prison, London. As many as thirty marriages a day were sometimes celebrated in this…

Brewer's: Marriage Knot

(The). The bond of marriage effected by the legal marriage service. The Latin phrase is nodus Herculeus, and part of the marriage service was for the bridegroom to loosen (solvere) the…

Brewer's: Marriage Plates

Sacred plates with a circular well in the centre to hold sweetmeats. They were painted for bridal festivities by Maestro Georgio, Orazio Fontane, and other artists of Urbino and Gubbio,…

Brewer's: Morganatic Marriage

(A). A marriage in which the wife does not take the husband's rank, because legally, or according to court bye-laws, the marriage is not recognised. This sort of marriage is effected when…

Brewer's: Paper Marriages

Weddings of dons, who pay their fees in bank-notes. Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894Paper-stainerPaper King A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q…

Same-sex marriage

The Question: Which states recognize gay marriages or civil unions? The Answer: This is a hot-button issue and the status changes frequently, so…

The Devil's Dictionary: Marriage

by Ambrose Bierce MANNAMARTYRMARRIAGE -n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress and two slaves, making in all, two.