concubine
“
"The position a wife holds towards a concubine is the same as that of
View all »Definitions (7)
American Heritage Dictionary (2)
- noun Law A woman who cohabits with a man without being legally married to him.
- noun In certain societies, such as imperial China, a woman contracted to a man as a secondary wife, often having few legal rights and low social status.
Century Dictionary (3)
GNU Webster's 1913 (1)
WordNet (1)
Elsewhere on the web
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- "Correction: the young woman knew that the king desired her for a concubine, and that this would ruin her chance to marry her beloved, so she pleaded with her brother to do something to ease her case." — Phaze Doubt
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"The position a wife holds towards a concubine is the same as that of
— Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation -
At the audiences, this concubine was always in company with the Empress
— Court Life in China -
Rome, the concubine was accepted and never despised (R.B. Holt,
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 Sex in Relation to Society -
a courtezan, and the term concubinage to the latter, because a concubine is a substituted partner of the bed, therefore for the sake of distinction, ante-nuptial stipulation with a woman is signified by keeping a mistress, and post-nuptial by concubinage.
— The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love
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View all »Etymologies (3)
American Heritage Dictionary (1)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin concubīna : com-, com- + cubāre, to lie down.
Century Dictionary (1)
GNU Webster's 1913 (1)
WordNet
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Pronunciations
/ (kŏngˈkyə-bīnˌ, kŏnˈ-)/
ahd pronounces "concubine"
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American Heritage Dictionary