BETROTH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does betroth mean? 

• BETROTH (verb)
  The verb BETROTH has 1 sense:

1. give to in marriage

  Familiarity information: BETROTH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BETROTH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they betroth    ... he / she / it betroths   
Past simple: betrothed   
Past participle: betrothed   
-ing form: betrothing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give to in marriage

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

affiance; betroth; engage; plight

Hypernyms (to "betroth" is one way to...):

vow (make a vow; promise)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

betrothal (the act of becoming betrothed or engaged)

 Context examples 

“I thought,” said Alleyne, “that you were betrothed to some one at Christchurch.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One day he said to her, “You have not yet paid me a visit, although we have been betrothed for some time.” “I do not know where your house is,” she answered.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I was in a flutter of pride and anxiety; pride in my dear little betrothed, and anxiety that Agnes should like her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A little later in the day he telephoned his sister's betrothed, and learned that that person didn't want anything to do with him in "any shape, manner, or form."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

See, then, my Jo—ah, the dear, funny little name—I had a wish to tell something the day I said goodbye in New York, but I thought the handsome friend was betrothed to thee, and so I spoke not.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Can you tell me,” asked the girl, “if my betrothed husband lives here?”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I lingered there as long as four days, and was betrothed to them all; for it seemed shame to set one above her sisters, and might make ill blood in the family.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Instead, her eyes were fixed anxiously upon her betrothed, and Martin, following her gaze, saw spread on that worthy's asymmetrical features nothing but black and sullen disapproval.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The poor betrothed girl crouched trembling and shuddering behind the cask, for she saw what a terrible fate had been intended for her by the robbers.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It was a thought of mine own, said he; for the sword was made by Thomas Wilson, the armorer, who is betrothed to my second daughter Margery.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)