housewivery

So long as they can marry morally, ſuch as are free from groſſe crimes, uncleanneſſe, riot, alehouſe-haunting, and the like: ſuch as are of a ſweet carriage, faſhionable, and compleat, brought up well to a pleaſing and outwardly gracefull behaviour; eſpecially, if there be any meanes to live competently in the world, good husbandry and houſewivery; oh, they thinke their choice is excellent; yea, when children themſelves ſtagger for conſcience ſake, at ſuch offers, yet their parents are earneſt for the match, and vexe themſelves to ſee their children ſo preciſe. […] Fifthly to his family ſhee is an abſolute helper by neceſſity, and cannot be ſpared: not onely in point of houſewivery, but alſo in the diſpencing the Affayres of it within.

1642, D[aniel] R[ogers], Matrimoniall Honour: or, The Mutuall Crowne and Comfort of Godly, Loyall, and Chaste Marriage. […], London: […] Th: Harper for Philip Nevil, […], pages 33 and 298–299

By her complexion, ſhe ſeems rather made of chalk or marle, than that red earth Adam was made of; though ſhe be ſo meager a ſoile, ſhe grows never the fatter by it; yet one knows not what a good Husbandman may do, for they ſay, a good Husband would remedy all; but he muſt take her on credit then, both for Beauty and good houſewivery; few elſe would venture on her complexion, and ſuch a quality, as if ſhe hold on as ſhe begins, ſhe ſoon would eat her husband out of houſe and home: […]

1658, Rich[ard] Fleckno, Enigmaticall Characters, All Taken to the Life, from Severall Persons, Humours, & Dispositions, page 17

8. Bare walls make giddy houſe-wives. 8. i. e, Idle houſe-wives, they having nothing whereabout to buſie themſelves and ſhew their good houſewivery. […] One utterly ignorant of countrey affairs, of husbandry and houſewivery as there practiſed.

1670, J[ohn] R[ay], A Collection of English Proverbs Digested into a Convenient Method for the Speedy Finding Any One upon Occasion; with Short Annotations. […], Cambridge, Cambs: […] John Hayes, […], for W[illiam] Morden, pages 59 and 240

This tale, no doubt, is written in consequence of the rubbish that has appeared in the Times, in the shape of letters on the question, “Can a man marry with £300. a-year?” There are many practical replies to this interrogatory, in this country; thousands upon thousands of families are living in elegant ease and unequivocal respectability upon £300. a-year, and less; educating and supporting their children in a creditable manner, under the management of notable housewivery.

1858 May 8, “Reviews”, in The Cambridge Independent Press, Huntingdon, Wisbech, Ely, Bedford, Peterborough, & Lynn Gazette, volume LIII, number 2,248, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, page 6, column 1

Pro-Family believes that the measure is at odds with the role of women as family makers and is, therefore, in harmony with a “radical feminism” that wishes “to change that.” Pro-Family indicts radical feminists, whatever that means, as the villains of the piece and quote a feminist author as describing housewivery as “an illegitimate profession.”

1985 September 19, John J[oseph] Marchi, “Senator defends name change bill”, in Staten Island Advance, volume 100, number 21,732, Staten Island, N.Y.: Advance Publications Inc., page B 10, column 3