/ˈmæɹ.ɪ/, /ˈmæɹ.i/, /ˈmɛɹ.i/
OriginFrom Middle English marien, from Anglo-Norman marïer, from Latin marītāre (“to wed”), from marītus (“husband, suitor”), from mās (“man, male”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *méryos (“young man”), same source as Sanskrit मर्य (márya, “suitor, young man”). Compare its feminine derivatives: Welsh morwyn (“girl”), merch (“daughter”), Crimean Gothic marzus (“wedding”), Ancient Greek μεῖραξ (meîrax, “boy; girl”), Lithuanian marti̇̀ (“bride”), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 (maⁱriia, “yeoman”).) Displaced native Old English hīwian.
- intransitiveTo enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife.
“Neither of her daughters showed any desire to marry.”
“Evelyn, in his "Diary," under date 1641, says that at Haerlem "they showed us a cottage where, they told us, dwelt a woman who had been married to her twenty-fifth husband, and, being now a widow, was”
“But Esau, being now forty years of age, took a false step by marrying not only without his parents consent; but with two wives, daughters of the Hittites.”
- intransitiveTo enter into marriage with one another.
“Jack and Jenny married soon after they met.”
- transitiveTo take as husband or wife.
“In some cultures, it is acceptable for an uncle to marry his niece.”
“First Xavier (Vernon Chatman): You're about as deep as a bowl of soup, and your tongue is as sharp as a soup spoon.
Second Xavier (Vernon Chatman): Hey, say what you want about me, but lay off the sou”
- transitiveTo arrange for the marriage of; to give away as wife or husband.
“He was eager to marry his daughter to a nobleman.”
“THe kyngdom̃ of hevẽ is lyke vnto a certayne kinge / which maryed his ſonne[…].”
“The Queen has set the example of marrying her children very early in life; […]”
- transitiveTo unite in wedlock or matrimony; to perform the ceremony of joining spouses; to bring about a marital union according to the laws or customs of a place.
“A justice of the peace will marry Jones and Smith.”
“His daughter was married some five years ago to a tailor's apprentice.”
“What ſhall the Curate controul me? Have I not the Preſentation? Tell him that I will not have my Play ſpoil'd; nay, that he ſhall marry the Couple himſelf—I ſay he ſhall.”
- figuratively, intransitiveTo join or connect. See also marry up.
“There’s a big gap here. These two parts don’t marry properly.”
“I can’t connect it, because the plug doesn’t marry with the socket.”
“The firebox married to Britannia's boiler is not, however, in the Doncaster tradition, notwithstanding that it is comparable in dimensions to that of the "V2."”
- figuratively, transitiveTo unite; to join together into a close union.
“The attempt to marry medieval plainsong with speed metal produced interesting results.”
“Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you.”
“For Faulkner, these years marry professional triumphs and personal disappointments: the Nobel Prize for Literature and an increasingly unlifting depression.”
- To place (two ropes) alongside each other so that they may be grasped and hauled on at the same time.
- To join (two ropes) end to end so that both will pass through a block.
- obsoleteA term of asseveration: indeed!, in truth!
“You that be of the court, & eſpecially ye ſworn chaplains beware of a leſſon that a great man taught me at my firſt coming to the court he told me for a good will, he thoughte it wel. He ſayd vnto me.”
“I have chequed him for it, and the young lion repents; marry, not in ashes and sackcloth, but in new silk and old sack.”
“I know too much: / I finde it, I; for when I ha liſt to ſleepe, / Mary, before your Ladiſhip I grant, / She puts her tongue alittle in her heart, / And chides with thinking.” — I know, [she talks] too much: / I always find that when I have the desire to sleep. / Indeed, before your Ladyship I admit / She keeps a little quiet, / And scolds me with her thoughts.
Formsmarries(present, singular, third-person) · marrying(participle, present) · married(participle, past) · married(past) · mary(alternative)