"old wife" meaning in English

See old wife in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: old wives [plural]
Etymology: From Middle English ald wyf, eld wiif, olde wyffe. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|ald wyf}} Middle English ald wyf Head templates: {{en-noun|old wives}} old wife (plural old wives)
  1. An old woman, later especially one who tells old wives' tales. Derived forms: old-wifely, old-wifery, old-wifish, old wives' tale
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-jgtN4YIo Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Wrasses Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 16 11 13 6 8 16 6 6 10 8 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6 Disambiguation of Wrasses: 12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4
  2. Any of various marine fishes :
    the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus)
    Related terms: oldwife [alternative]
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-YCZBX8F5 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Wrasses Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 16 11 13 6 8 16 6 6 10 8 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6 Disambiguation of Wrasses: 12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4
  3. Any of various marine fishes :
    A species of perciform fish endemic to the temperate coastal waters of Australia (Enoplosus armatus)
    Related terms: oldwife [alternative]
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-yLh2HePy Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Herrings, Jackfish, Percoid fish, Sparids, Tetraodontiforms, Wrasses Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 16 11 13 6 8 16 6 6 10 8 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6 Disambiguation of Herrings: 14 17 22 4 11 15 4 4 5 5 Disambiguation of Jackfish: 13 16 24 4 11 15 4 4 5 4 Disambiguation of Percoid fish: 2 9 44 9 9 9 9 9 1 2 Disambiguation of Sparids: 14 17 22 4 11 15 4 4 5 5 Disambiguation of Tetraodontiforms: 14 17 22 4 11 15 4 4 5 5 Disambiguation of Wrasses: 12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4
  4. Any of various marine fishes :
    Balistes vetula (Queen triggerfish)
    Related terms: oldwife [alternative]
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-0paCa0gj
  5. Any of various marine fishes :
    Certain spot-tail porgies (Diplodus ascensionis, Diplodus helenae)
    Related terms: oldwife [alternative]
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-VEhSjTx9 Categories (other): Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6
  6. Any of various marine fishes :
    Spondyliosoma cantharus (black seabream)
    Related terms: oldwife [alternative]
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-lpR3uHQ- Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Wrasses Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 16 11 13 6 8 16 6 6 10 8 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6 Disambiguation of Wrasses: 12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4
  7. Any of various marine fishes :
    Trachinotus goodei (great pompano)
    Related terms: oldwife [alternative]
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-VLfIls~m
  8. Any of various marine fishes :
    A wrasse
    Related terms: oldwife [alternative]
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-E-Dpqa97 Categories (other): Wrasses Disambiguation of Wrasses: 12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4
  9. (Canada, US, now rare) The long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis. Tags: Canada, US, archaic
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-BzwNbZmD Categories (other): American English, Canadian English, Ducks Disambiguation of Ducks: 10 7 12 7 7 7 7 7 21 14
  10. (Scotland) A chimney cap to prevent smoking. Tags: Scotland
    Sense id: en-old_wife-en-noun-CYSfhDIP Categories (other): Scottish English

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "ald wyf"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English ald wyf",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English ald wyf, eld wiif, olde wyffe.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "old wives",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "old wives"
      },
      "expansion": "old wife (plural old wives)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 9th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 11 13 6 8 16 6 6 10 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Wrasses",
          "orig": "en:Wrasses",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "73 7 5 3 3 3 3 4 0 0",
          "word": "old-wifely"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "73 7 5 3 3 3 3 4 0 0",
          "word": "old-wifery"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "73 7 5 3 3 3 3 4 0 0",
          "word": "old-wifish"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "73 7 5 3 3 3 3 4 0 0",
          "word": "old wives' tale"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              128,
              136
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1902 January, John Buchan, “The Outgoing of the Tide”, in The Watcher by the Threshold, and Other Tales, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1902, →OCLC, pages 230–231:",
          "text": "Once John, being overtaken in drink on the roadside by the cottage, and dreaming that he was burning in hell, awoke and saw the old wife hobbling toward him. Thereupon he fled soberly to the hills, and from that day became a quiet-living, humble-minded Christian.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An old woman, later especially one who tells old wives' tales."
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-jgtN4YIo",
      "links": [
        [
          "old woman",
          "old woman"
        ],
        [
          "old wives' tale",
          "old wives' tale"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 11 13 6 8 16 6 6 10 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Wrasses",
          "orig": "en:Wrasses",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus)"
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-YCZBX8F5",
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ],
        [
          "alewife",
          "alewife"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 11 13 6 8 16 6 6 10 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 17 22 4 11 15 4 4 5 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Herrings",
          "orig": "en:Herrings",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 16 24 4 11 15 4 4 5 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Jackfish",
          "orig": "en:Jackfish",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 9 44 9 9 9 9 9 1 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Percoid fish",
          "orig": "en:Percoid fish",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 17 22 4 11 15 4 4 5 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sparids",
          "orig": "en:Sparids",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 17 22 4 11 15 4 4 5 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Tetraodontiforms",
          "orig": "en:Tetraodontiforms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Wrasses",
          "orig": "en:Wrasses",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "A species of perciform fish endemic to the temperate coastal waters of Australia (Enoplosus armatus)"
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-yLh2HePy",
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "Balistes vetula (Queen triggerfish)"
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-0paCa0gj",
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "Certain spot-tail porgies (Diplodus ascensionis, Diplodus helenae)"
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-VEhSjTx9",
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "16 11 13 6 8 16 6 6 10 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 14 6 10 16 7 5 8 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 13 15 6 10 15 6 6 7 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Wrasses",
          "orig": "en:Wrasses",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "Spondyliosoma cantharus (black seabream)"
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-lpR3uHQ-",
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ],
        [
          "black seabream",
          "black seabream"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "Trachinotus goodei (great pompano)"
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-VLfIls~m",
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "12 14 19 3 9 13 4 17 4 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Wrasses",
          "orig": "en:Wrasses",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "A wrasse"
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-E-Dpqa97",
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ],
        [
          "wrasse",
          "wrasse"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 17th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Canadian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 7 12 7 7 7 7 7 21 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Ducks",
          "orig": "en:Ducks",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              13
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1634, William Wood, “Of the Birds and Fowles both of Land and Water”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 1st part, page 31:",
          "text": "The Oldvvives, be a foule that never leave tatling day or night, ſomething bigger than a Ducke.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis."
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-BzwNbZmD",
      "links": [
        [
          "Canada",
          "Canada"
        ],
        [
          "US",
          "American English"
        ],
        [
          "long-tailed duck",
          "long-tailed duck"
        ],
        [
          "Clangula hyemalis",
          "Clangula hyemalis#Translingual"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Canada, US, now rare) The long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "US",
        "archaic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 19th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Scottish English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A chimney cap to prevent smoking."
      ],
      "id": "en-old_wife-en-noun-CYSfhDIP",
      "links": [
        [
          "chimney cap",
          "chimney cap"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Scotland) A chimney cap to prevent smoking."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Scotland"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "old wife"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Ducks",
    "en:Herrings",
    "en:Jackfish",
    "en:Percoid fish",
    "en:Sparids",
    "en:Tetraodontiforms",
    "en:Wrasses"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "old-wifely"
    },
    {
      "word": "old-wifery"
    },
    {
      "word": "old-wifish"
    },
    {
      "word": "old wives' tale"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "ald wyf"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English ald wyf",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English ald wyf, eld wiif, olde wyffe.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "old wives",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "old wives"
      },
      "expansion": "old wife (plural old wives)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 9th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              128,
              136
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1902 January, John Buchan, “The Outgoing of the Tide”, in The Watcher by the Threshold, and Other Tales, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1902, →OCLC, pages 230–231:",
          "text": "Once John, being overtaken in drink on the roadside by the cottage, and dreaming that he was burning in hell, awoke and saw the old wife hobbling toward him. Thereupon he fled soberly to the hills, and from that day became a quiet-living, humble-minded Christian.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An old woman, later especially one who tells old wives' tales."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "old woman",
          "old woman"
        ],
        [
          "old wives' tale",
          "old wives' tale"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ],
        [
          "alewife",
          "alewife"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "A species of perciform fish endemic to the temperate coastal waters of Australia (Enoplosus armatus)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Entries missing English vernacular names of taxa",
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "Balistes vetula (Queen triggerfish)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Entries missing English vernacular names of taxa",
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "Certain spot-tail porgies (Diplodus ascensionis, Diplodus helenae)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "Spondyliosoma cantharus (black seabream)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ],
        [
          "black seabream",
          "black seabream"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Entries missing English vernacular names of taxa",
        "Entries using missing taxonomic name (species)"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "Trachinotus goodei (great pompano)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 16th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any of various marine fishes :",
        "A wrasse"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fish",
          "fish"
        ],
        [
          "wrasse",
          "wrasse"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "alternative"
          ],
          "word": "oldwife"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 17th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "Canadian English",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with rare senses"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              13
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1634, William Wood, “Of the Birds and Fowles both of Land and Water”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 1st part, page 31:",
          "text": "The Oldvvives, be a foule that never leave tatling day or night, ſomething bigger than a Ducke.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Canada",
          "Canada"
        ],
        [
          "US",
          "American English"
        ],
        [
          "long-tailed duck",
          "long-tailed duck"
        ],
        [
          "Clangula hyemalis",
          "Clangula hyemalis#Translingual"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Canada, US, now rare) The long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "US",
        "archaic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 19th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "Scottish English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A chimney cap to prevent smoking."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "chimney cap",
          "chimney cap"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Scotland) A chimney cap to prevent smoking."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Scotland"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "old wife"
}

Download raw JSONL data for old wife meaning in English (5.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.