marriage

Etymology

From Middle English mariage, from Old French mariage, from marier (“to marry”), from Latin marītō (“marry”, verb, literally “give in marriage”), from maritus (“lover”, “nuptial”), from mas (“male, masculine, of the male sex”). Equivalent to marry + -age. Doublet of maritage. Displaced native Old English sinsċipe.

noun

1. The state of being married.
   You should enter marriage for love.
2. A union of two or more people that creates a family tie and carries legal, social, and/or religious rights and responsibilities.
   1. (sometimes specifically) The union of only two people, to the exclusion of all others.
      "I have a patient right now whose marriage proved to be a tragedy. She wanted love, sexual gratification, children, and social prestige; but life blasted all her hopes. Her husband didn't love her. He refused even to eat with her, and forced her to serve his meals in his room upstairs. She had no children, no social standing. She went insane; and, in her imagination, she divorced her husband and resumed her maiden name. She now believes she has married into the English aristocracy, and she insists on being called Lady Smith. 1936, Dale Carnegie, “Part 1, Chapter 2. THE BIG SECRET OF DEALING WITH PEOPLE”, in How to Win Friends and Influence People, page 42
      My grandparents' marriage lasted for forty years.
      Pat and Leslie's marriage to each other lasted forty years.
   2. (often specifically) The union of two people of opposite sex, to the exclusion of all others.
3. A wedding; a ceremony in which people wed.
   You are cordially invited to the marriage of James Smith and Jane Doe.
4. (figurative) A close union.
   And this marriage of poetry and history remained a solid relationship throughout the classical period. 2000, Edmund E. Jacobitti, “The Classical Heritage in Machiavelli's Histories”, in Vickie B. Sullivan, editor, The comedy and tragedy of Machiavelli: essays on the literary works, page 181
   Above all, we will no longer have to feel qualms about the marriage of art and money. We will no longer have to wonder if it is possible to separate the esthetic value of an art work from its commercial value. 2003, Paul Mattick, Art in its time: theories and practices of modern aesthetics, page 105
   But the food is real: a marriage of local ingredients and serious technique. 2006 August 9, Amy Scattergood, A wild dream in the wild, published in the Los Angeles Times, republished in 2009 in The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year in the Life of a Restaurant (by Michelle and Phillip Wojtowicz and Michael Gilson with Catherine Price), on the cover
   That bitter rivalry -- between Thaksin's supporters, known as the Red Shirts, and the royalist elites, known as the Yellow Shirts -- has been a hallmark of politics for the past 20 years, with deadly street protests a common occurrence. Friday's announcement signals a surprise marriage between the two sides, with Ubolratana having the power to break that cycle. 2019-02-08, Olarn, Kocha, Regan, Helen, “This princess could be the next prime minister of Thailand”, in CNN International Edition, Cable News Network, retrieved 2019-02-08
5. A joining of two parts.
6. (card games) A king and a queen, when held as a hand in some versions of poker or melded in pinochle.
7. (card games) In solitaire or patience games, the placing a card of the same suit on the next one above or below it in value.
8. (prison slang) A homosexual relationship between male prisoners.