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more about bigamy
bigamy |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Bigamy \Big"a*my\, n. [OE. bigamie fr L. bigamus twice married; bis twice + Gr ? marriage; prob. akin to Skt. j[=a]mis related, and L. gemini twins, the root meaning to bind, join: cf F. bigamie Cf {Digamy}.] (Law) The offense of marrying one person when already legally married to another. --Wharton. Note: It is not strictly correct to call this offense bigamy: it more properly denominated polygamy, i. e., having a plurality of wives or husbands at once, and in several statutes in the United States the offense is classed under the head of polygamy. In the canon law bigamy was the marrying of two virgins successively, or one after the death of the other or once marrying a widow. This disqualified a man for orders and for holding ecclesiastical offices. Shakespeare uses the word in the latter sense --Blackstone. --Bouvier. Base declension and loathed bigamy. --Shak. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: bigamy n 1: having more than one spouse at a time 2: the offense of having two or more wives or husbands living at the same time From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: BIGAMY, n. A mistake in taste for which the wisdom of the future will adjudge a punishment called trigamy.
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