Adjacent Words

Concubine definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONCUBINE, n. [L., to lie together, to lie down.]
1. A woman who cohabits with a man, without the authority of a legal marriage; a woman kept for lewd purposes; a kept mistress.
2. A wife of inferior condition; a lawful wife, but not united to the man by the usual ceremonies, and of inferior condition. Such were Hagar and Keturah, the concubines of Abraham; and such concubines were allowed by the Roman laws.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a woman who cohabits with an important man [syn: concubine, courtesan, doxy, paramour]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin concubina, from com- + cubare to lie Date: 14th century a woman with whom a man cohabits without being married: as a. one having a recognized social status in a household below that of a wife b. mistress 4a

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a woman who lives with a man as his wife. 2 (among polygamous peoples) a secondary wife. Derivatives: concubinary adj. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L concubina (as com-, cubina f. cubare lie)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Concubine Con"cu*bine, n. [F., fr. L. concubina; con- + cubare to lie down, concumbere to lie together, akin to E. cubit.] 1. A woman who cohabits with a man without being his wife; a paramour. Note: Concubine has been sometimes, but rarely, used of a male paramour as well as of a female. --Trench. 2. A wife of inferior condition; a lawful wife, but not united to the man by the usual ceremonies, and of inferior condition. Such were Hagar and Keturah, the concubines of Abraham; and such concubines were allowed by the Roman laws. Their children were not heirs of their father.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(concubines) In former times, a concubine was a woman who lived with and had a sexual relationship with a man of higher social rank without being married to him. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

in the Bible denotes a female conjugally united to a man, but in a relation inferior to that of a wife. Among the early Jews, from various causes, the difference between a wife and a concubine was less marked than it would be amongst us. The concubine was a wife of secondary rank. There are various laws recorded providing for their protection (Ex. 21:7; Deut. 21:10-14), and setting limits to the relation they sustained to the household to which they belonged (Gen. 21:14; 25:6). They had no authority in the family, nor could they share in the household government.

The immediate cause of concubinage might be gathered from the conjugal histories of Abraham and Jacob (Gen. 16;30). But in process of time the custom of concubinage degenerated, and laws were made to restrain and regulate it (Ex. 21:7-9).

Christianity has restored the sacred institution of marriage to its original character, and concubinage is ranked with the sins of fornication and adultery (Matt. 19:5-9; 1 Cor. 7:2).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Mistress, paramour.

Moby Thesaurus

better half, bondmaid, bondman, bondslave, bondsman, bondswoman, captive, chattel, chattel slave, churl, common-law wife, debt slave, doxy, feme, feme covert, galley slave, goodwife, goody, helot, helpmate, helpmeet, homager, kept mistress, kept woman, lady, liege, liege man, liege subject, married woman, matron, mistress, odalisque, old lady, old woman, paramour, peon, playmate, rib, serf, servant, slave, squaw, subject, theow, thrall, unofficial wife, vassal, villein, wedded wife, wife, woman