marry

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English marien, from Anglo-Norman marïer, from Latin marītāre (“to wed”), from marītus (“husband, suitor”), from mās (“man, male”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *méryos (“young man”), same source as Sanskrit मर्य (márya, “suitor, young man”). Compare its feminine derivatives: Welsh morwyn (“girl”), merch (“daughter”), Crimean Gothic marzus (“wedding”), Ancient Greek μεῖραξ (meîrax, “boy; girl”), Lithuanian martì (“bride”), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 (mairiia, “yeoman”).[1]) Displaced native Old English hīwian.

Verb

marry (third-person singular simple present marries, present participle marrying, simple past and past participle married)

  1. (intransitive) To enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife. [from 14th c.]
    Synonyms: get married, wed; see also Thesaurus:marry
    Antonym: divorce
    Neither of her daughters showed any desire to marry.
    • 1641, Evelyn, Diary, quoted in 1869 by Edward J. Wood in The Wedding Day in All Ages and Countries, volume 2, page 241:
      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; […] "
    • 1755, The Holy Bible, both Old and New Testament, Digested, Illustrated, and Explained, second edition, page 59:
      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.
    • 1975 March 17, Marian Christy, “Suzy Chaffee, A Liberated Beauty”, in The Lebanon Daily News:
      If and when Suzy does marry, it will be an open marriage because she's a believer in the "totality" of freedom.
    • 1975 July, Janis Ian (lyrics and music), “At Seventeen”:
      the rich relationed hometown queen marries into what she needs
  2. (intransitive) To enter into marriage with one another.
    Jack and Jenny married soon after they met.
  3. (transitive) To take as husband or wife. [from 15th c.]
    In some cultures, it is acceptable for an uncle to marry his niece.
  4. (transitive) To arrange for the marriage of; to give away as wife or husband. [from 14th c.]
    He was eager to marry his daughter to a nobleman.
  5. (transitive) To 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. [from 16th c.]
    A justice of the peace will marry Jones and Smith.
    His daughter was married some five years ago to a tailor's apprentice.
  6. (intransitive, figuratively, of inanimate or abstract things) To join or connect. See also marry up.
    There’s a big gap here. These two parts don’t marry properly.
    I can’t connect it, because the plug doesn’t marry with the socket.
    • 1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 273:
      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."
    • 1959 September, “The Re-appraisal of the B.R. Modernisation Plan”, in Trains Illustrated, page 408:
      However, it now seems likely that means can be found to marry the W.R. and B.R. standard A.T.C. apparatus.
  7. (transitive, figuratively) To unite; to join together into a close union. [from 15th c.]
    The attempt to marry medieval plainsong with speed metal produced interesting results.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 3:14:
      Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you.
    • 2006, Lisa C. Hickman, William Faulkner and Joan Williams: The Romance of Two Writers:
      For Faulkner, these years marry professional triumphs and personal disappointments: the Nobel Prize for Literature and an increasingly unlifting depression.
  8. (nautical) To place (two ropes) alongside each other so that they may be grasped and hauled on at the same time.
  9. (nautical) To join (two ropes) end to end so that both will pass through a block.
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2

From Middle English Marie,[2] referring to Mary, the Virgin Mary.[3] Mid-14th century.

Interjection

marry

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

See also

References
  1. J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, s.v. "woman" (London: Dearborn Fitzroy, 1997), 656.
  2. “marry”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  3. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “marry”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading
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