What does bigamy mean?
Bigamy means The state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously..
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/ˈbɪɡəmi/ · noun
The state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously..
But now we may find in S. Margarets life, who it is that is Chriſtes wife: whereby we are ſo much wiſer than we were before. But looke in the life of S. Katharine, in the golden legend, and you ſhall find that he was alſo married to S. Katharine, and that our ladie made the marriage, &c. An excellent authoritie for bigamie.
A beauty-waining and diſtreſſed widow [Elizabeth Woodville], / Euen in the afternoone of her beſt daies / Made priſe and purchaſe of his [Edward IV's] luſtfull eye, / Seduct the pitch and height of al his thoughts, / To baſe declenſion and loathd bigamie, / By her in his vnlawfull bed he got.
Not to take a Wife to her Siſter] Not to take one Wife to another, or not to have at once two Wives. This ſentence condemneth Bigamie, and Polygamie, having two or more Wives together, Lev[iticus] 18. 18. Neither ſhalt thou take a Wife to her Siſter to vex her.
It is the Complaint of many that ſecular Judges and others make an Objection of Bigamy againſt Clerks when they are taken and impriſon'd for their Crimes, and demand to be ſent to the Eccleſiaſtical Court; [...] Farther he who marries a Widow, or two Women oftentimes does not contract Bigamy according to them, and they do not eſteem ſome to be Bigamiſts, who really are ſo.
This is a peculiar privilege of the clergy, that sentence of death can never be passed upon them for any number of manslaughters, bigamies, simple larcenies, or other clergyable offences; [...]
The missionaries have prepared a sort of penal tariff to facilitate judicial proceedings. [...] The judge being provided with a book, in which all these matters are cunningly arranged, the thing is vastly convenient. For instance: a crime is proved,—say, bigamy; turn to letter B.—and there you have it. Bigamy:—forty days on the Broom Road, and twenty mats for the queen. Read the passage aloud, and sentence is pronounced.
The providers of our sensational fiction [...] have gone on describing murders, bigamies, and forgeries, forgeries, bigamies, and murders, until at length these crimes have become about the most commonplace acts that a hero or heroine can perform.
Anita laughed and hugged him and told him he was the best kid in the world, if he was fifteen years older she'd commit bigamy and marry him. Sully-John blushed until he was purple.
Use bigamy when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Bigamy means The state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously..
Common synonyms include deuterogamy, digamy.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
But now we may find in S. Margarets life, who it is that is Chriſtes wife: whereby we are ſo much wiſer than we were before. But looke in the life of S. Katharine, in the golden legend, and you ſhall find that he was alſo married to S. Katharine, and that our ladie made the marriage, &c. An excellent authoritie for bigamie.
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