Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SPOUSE, n. [spouz; Fr. epouse; Sp. esposo, esposa; It. sposo, sposa; L. sponsus, sponsa, from spondeo, to engage; Ir. posam, id. It appears that n in spondeo, is not radical, or that it has been lost in other languages. The sense of the root is to put together, to bind. In Sp. esposas signifies manacles.]

One engaged or joined in wedlock; a married person, husband or wife. We say of a man, that he is the spouse of such a woman; or of a woman, she is the spouse of such a man. – Dryden.