Crossword clues for goodwife
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Goodwife \Good"wife`\, n.
The mistress of a house. [Archaic]
--Robynson (More's
Utopia).
Wiktionary
a. (non-gloss definition: A title of respect for a woman.) alt. (non-gloss definition: A title of respect for a woman.) n. (context obsolete English) A female head of a household
Wikipedia
Goodwife ( Scots: Guidwife), usually abbreviated Goody, was a polite form of address for women, formerly used where "Mrs.", "Miss" and "Ms." would be used today. Its male counterpart is Goodman. However, a woman addressed by this title was of a lesser social rank than a woman addressed as Mistress.
"Goodwife" and "Goody" were used in England, Scotland, and Colonial America, with the earliest known use circa 1325. By the mid-18th century they had become archaic outside Scotland, and they are perhaps best known today as the forms of address used in Arthur Miller's historical fiction The Crucible, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story " Young Goodman Brown", the novels Magnus by George Mackay Brown and The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.
Although the expression 'Goody Two-Shoes' is sometimes credited to the children's book The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765), the expression appears as far back as a century earlier.
Usage examples of "goodwife".
Normally her husband would have taken the sheep to market, but he, poor soul, had such bad corns on his toes this year the Goodwife had come instead.
She loved them dearly, but ever since that exquisite Lady had stayed overnight in their farmhouse two years ago the Goodwife had been plagued with odd dreams of adventure and excitementand there was precious little adventure and excitement in her isolated life in northern Arcness.
They were good ewes, bright of eye and fat with lamb, and the Goodwife knew she would get a good price for them.
Now and then the Goodwife glimpsed the bright fabrics and feathered wings of those called the Icarii, and she wondered what the gorgeous creatures could want here.
Goodman Renkin always haggled at length for the best price for his sheep, and it looked like his Goodwife would do no less.
Finally they settled on a price that left both Goodwife and trader convinced each had got the best of the bargain.
Both were dressed in clothes of the most exquisite colour and weave that the Goodwife had ever seen, and their wings and eyes glowed with jewel-like intensity in the weak morning sun.
I apologise from the depths of my heart if we have upset your fine sheep, Trader Dewes and Goodwife Renkin.
Horn, Goodwife Renkin, and they live far away to the north in the Avarinheim.
Every so often one of them would lift her head and smile reassuringly at the Goodwife, then lower her eyes and concentrate again on her food.
Abruptly the Goodwife realised she had lost her awe of the Icarii and was chatting to them as if they were old friends.
Lady had gone, once the Goodwife tried to settle back into her old life, she discovered it to be stupefyingly boring and yearned for excitement and adventure.
After she had left StarShine EvenHeart in the market place, the Goodwife wasted only enough time to entrust a brief message to her husband and the coins from the sale of the ewes with a sheep-herder returning to northern Arcness, and restock her pack with food before leaving the town.
I should never have let her leave my home, the Goodwife berated herself.
Every day, with every step, another memory resurfaced and the Goodwife was constantly stopping, her eyes round with astonishment.