Emily Dickinson Lexicon

wife ('s, wives), noun. [Sax. wif, woman.] (webplay: husband, love, man, wedlock, woman.).

1. One who has crossed the dividing line between girlhood and womanhood, who has achieved some power; one who is officially part of a couple; one who has pledged love, trust, constancy, affection.
2. Woman who is a victim of abuse; passive person.
3. Woman who is no longer a maid, no longer chaste; bride; victorious, perhaps a bride of Christ, resurrected.
4. One who accepts obligations, serious status with requirements, responsibility, labor, and, possibly, loss.
5. Woman linked in an established relationship, usually – but not always – by religious rites or legal documents and signs.