Meanings
nounwife-carl (plural wife-carls)
plural wife-carls
- obsoleteA cot-quean.
A niggardly curmudgeon, a wife-carl, counts the cakes as they are baking, keeps the keys of the pantry, eats out of his pocket,
1865 [1863], David Lyndsay, “Ane discriptioun of Peder Coffeis”, in John Small, editor, The Monarche and Other Poems of Sir David Lyndesay, 2nd edition, volume I, London: N. Trübner & Co., page 589
Cite this entry
APA
wife-carl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wife-carl
MLA
“wife-carl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wife-carl. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wife-carl,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wife-carl.
Source: wife-carl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.