Word of the Day ·
benedict
noun
What it means
- rareA newly married man, especially one who was previously a confirmed bachelor.
The benedict, drearily superfluous to the festivities, had hardly been noticed by her as he lurked about the walls and sought what entertainment was possible to one under the social disabilities of matrimony.
1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger Poeple's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 501 more example
A quarter of a mile inland we came upon the holluschickie -- sleek young bulls, living out the loneliness of their bachelorhood and gathering strength against the day when they would fight their way into the ranks of the benedicts
1904, Jack London, chapter 30, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC
In a sentence
The benedict, drearily superfluous to the festivities, had hardly been noticed by her as he lurked about the walls and sought what entertainment was possible to one under the social disabilities of matrimony.
1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger Poeple's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 50
Where it comes from
From Benedicke (normalized to the usual spelling, Benedict), a character in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1598).
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