wed

From Middle English wedden, weddien, from Old English weddian (“to pledge; wed”), from Proto-Germanic *wadjōną (“to pledge”), from *wadją, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to pledge”). Cognate with Scots wed, wod, wad (“to wed”), Saterland Frisian wädje (“to bet, wager”), West Frisian wedzje (“to bet, wager”), Low German and Dutch wedden (“to bet”), German wetten (“to bet”), Danish vædde (“to bet”), Swedish vädja (“to appeal”), Icelandic veðja (“to bet”). Related also to gage, engage, and wage.

• enPR: wĕdʹ, IPA^(key): /ˈwɛd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛd

wed (third-person singular simple present weds, present participle wedding, simple past and past participle wed or wedded)

1. (transitive) To perform the marriage ceremony for; to join in matrimony.

   The priest wed the couple.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     And Adam, wedded to another Eve, / Shall live with her.

2. (transitive) To take as one's spouse.

   She wed her first love.

   • 2017 September 27, David Browne, "Hugh Hefner, 'Playboy' Founder, Dead at 91," Rolling Stone

     In 1989, he wed Playmate Kimberley Conrad, a marriage that ended in 2010. In 2013, he married his younger girlfriend, Crystal Harris, with whom he was still wed at the time of his death.

3. (intransitive) To take a spouse.
4. (figuratively, transitive) To join or commit to, more or less permanently, as if in marriage.

   I'm not wedded to this proposal; suggest an alternative.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Thou art wedded to calamity.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Tillotson

     Men are wedded to their lusts.

   • 2008, Bradley Simpson, Economists with Guns, page 72:

     […] the PPS paper proposed a political doctrine that wedded modernization theory to U.S. support for national security states […]

5. (figuratively, intransitive) To take to oneself and support; to espouse.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Clarendon

     They positively and concernedly wedded his cause.

6. (Northern England, Scotland) To wager, stake, bet, place a bet, make a wager.

   I'd wed my head on that.

• marry

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

• DEW, Dew, dew

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

wed

1. first-person singular present indicative of wedden
2. imperative of wedden

From Middle Dutch wedde, from Old Dutch *weddi, from Proto-Germanic *wadją.

wed n (plural wedden, diminutive wedje n)

1. ford, shallow river crossing
2. drinking place for animals

• (ford): voorde

• wad
• waden