Hus"band , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Husbanded;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Husbanding.]
1. To direct and manage with frugality; to use or employ
to good purpose and the best advantage; to spend, apply, or use, with economy.
For my means, I'll
husband them so well,
They shall go
far.
Shak.
2. To cultivate, as land; to till. [R.]
Land so trim and rarely husbanded.
Evelyn. 3. To furnish with a husband. [R.] Shak.
Hus"band (?), n. [OE.
hosebonde, husbonde, a husband, the master of the
house or family, AS. h&?;sbonda master of the house;
h&?;s house + bunda, bonda, householder, husband;
prob. fr. Icel. h&?;sbōndi house master, husband; h&?;s house + b&?;andi dwelling,
inhabiting, p. pr. of b&?;a to dwell; akin to AS. b&?;an, Goth. bauan. See House Be, and cf. Bond a slave, Boor.]
1. The male
head of a household; one who orders the economy of a
family. [Obs.]
2.
A cultivator; a tiller; a husbandman. [Obs.] Shak.
The painful
husband, plowing up his ground.
Hakewill. He is the neatest husband for curious ordering his domestic and field
accommodations.
Evelyn. 3.
One who manages or directs with prudence and economy; a frugal person; an economist. [R.]
God knows how little time is left
me, and may
I be a good husband, to improve the short remnant left me.
Fuller. 4. A married man; a man who has a wife; -- the correlative to wife.
The husband and wife are
one person in law.
Blackstone. 5. The
male of a pair of animals. [R.] Dryden.
A ship's husband (Naut.), an agent representing the owners of a ship, who manages its expenses and receipts.
Hear it pronounced