marry

present singular third person marries · participle present marrying · participle past married · past married

1. intransitiveTo enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife.First known use 14th c.

   Neither of her daughters showed any desire to marry.

   5 more examples

   I forfeited my inheritance and married outside my parents' faith.

   Evelyn, in his "Diary," under date 1641, says that at Haerlem "they showed us a cottage where, they told us, dwelt a woman who had been married to her twenty-fifth husband, and, being now a widow, was prohibited to marry in future; […] "

   1641, John Evelyn, Diary, quoted in 1869 by Edward J. Wood in The Wedding Day in All Ages and Countries, volume 2, page 241

   But Esau, being now forty years of age, took a false step by marrying not only without his parents consent; but with two wives, daughters of the Hittites.

   1755, The Holy Bible, both Old and New Testament, Digested, Illustrated, and Explained, second edition, page 59

   If and when Suzy does marry, it will be an open marriage because she's a believer in the "totality" of freedom.

   1975 March 17, Marian Christy, “Suzy Chaffee, A Liberated Beauty”, in The Lebanon Daily News

   the rich relationed hometown queen marries into what she needs

   1975 July, Janis Ian, “At Seventeen”

   Synonyms: get married, wed · Antonyms: divorce

2. intransitiveTo enter into marriage with one another.

   Jack and Jenny married soon after they met.

3. transitiveTo take as husband or wife.First known use 15th c.

   In some cultures, it is acceptable for an uncle to marry his niece.

   1 more example

   First Xavier (Vernon Chatman): You're about as deep as a bowl of soup, and your tongue is as sharp as a soup spoon. Second Xavier (Vernon Chatman): Hey, say what you want about me, but lay off the soup. First Xavier: If you love soup so much, why don't you marry soup? Second Xavier: 'cause I'm already married. To justice. First Xavier: Yeah. Only a blind girl would marry you.

   2008, Xavier: Renegade Angel, season 1, episode 10

4. transitiveTo arrange for the marriage of; to give away as wife or husband.First known use 14th c.

   He was eager to marry his daughter to a nobleman.

   2 more examples

   THe kyngdom̃ of hevẽ is lyke vnto a certayne kinge / which maryed his ſonne[…].

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew xxij:[2], folio xxx, verso

   The Queen has set the example of marrying her children very early in life; […]

   1870 July 2, “Mr. Vivian A. Webber on “Population and Emigration.”, in The Isle of Wight Observer, number 931, Ryde, Isle of Wight, page 5, column 3

5. transitiveTo unite in wedlock or matrimony; to perform the ceremony of joining spouses; to bring about a marital union according to the laws or customs of a place.First known use 16th c.

   A justice of the peace will marry Jones and Smith.

   3 more examples

   His daughter was married some five years ago to a tailor's apprentice.

   What ſhall the Curate controul me? Have I not the Preſentation? Tell him that I will not have my Play ſpoil'd; nay, that he ſhall marry the Couple himſelf—I ſay he ſhall.

   [1715], [John] Gay, The What D’Ye Call It: A Tragi-comi-pastoral Farce, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, Act II, scene ix, pages 38–39

   This is the Prieſt all ſhaven and ſhorn, that married the man all tattered and torn[.]

   1784, The House that Jack Built, page 8

6. transitiveTo acquire by marriage.

   I wanted to marry wealth and power, and got both.

   Synonyms: marry into

7. figurativelyintransitiveTo join or connect. See also marry up.

   There’s a big gap here. These two parts don’t marry properly.

   3 more examples

   I can’t connect it, because the plug doesn’t marry with the socket.

   The firebox married to Britannia's boiler is not, however, in the Doncaster tradition, notwithstanding that it is comparable in dimensions to that of the "V2."

   1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 273

   However, it now seems likely that means can be found to marry the W.R. and B.R. standard A.T.C. apparatus.

   1959 September, “The Re-appraisal of the B.R. Modernisation Plan”, in Trains Illustrated, page 408

8. figurativelytransitiveTo unite; to join together into a close union.First known use 15th c.

   The attempt to marry medieval plainsong with speed metal produced interesting results.

   2 more examples

   Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 3:14

   For Faulkner, these years marry professional triumphs and personal disappointments: the Nobel Prize for Literature and an increasingly unlifting depression.

   2006, Lisa C. Hickman, William Faulkner and Joan Williams: The Romance of Two Writers

9. nauticalTo place (two ropes) alongside each other so that they may be grasped and hauled on at the same time.
10. nauticalTo join (two ropes) end to end so that both will pass through a block.

alternative mary

1. obsoleteA term of asseveration: indeed!, in truth!

   I have chequed him for it, and the young lion repents; marry, not in ashes and sackcloth, but in new silk and old sack.

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

   2 more examples

   You that be of the court, & eſpecially ye ſworn chaplains beware of a leſſon that a great man taught me at my firſt coming to the court he told me for a good will, he thoughte it wel. He ſayd vnto me. You muſt beware how ſo euer ye do that ye cõtrary not the king, let him haue his ſaiyngs, folow him, go with him. Mary out vpon this counſel, ſhal I ſay, as he ſayes?

   1549 April 29 (Gregorian calendar), Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[27 Sermons Preached by the Ryght Reuerende Father in God and Constant Matir of Iesus Christe, Maister Hugh Latimer, […].] The Seuenth Sermon of Maister Hugh Latymer, which He Preached before King Edward [VI], the .19. Day of Aprill.”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC, folio 93, recto

   I know too much: / I finde it, I; for when I ha liſt to ſleepe, / Mary, before your Ladiſhip I grant, / She puts her tongue alittle in her heart, / And chides with thinking.

   I know, [she talks] too much: / I always find that when I have the desire to sleep. / Indeed, before your Ladyship I admit / She keeps a little quiet, / And scolds me with her thoughts.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 24