wife-carl

English

Noun

wife-carl (plural wife-carls)

1. (obsolete) A cot-quean.
   • 1865 [1863], David Lyndsay, “Ane discriptioun of Peder Coffeis”, in John Small, editor, The Monarche and Other Poems of Sir David Lyndesay, 2nd edition, volume I, London: N. Trübner & Co., page 589:

     A niggardly curmudgeon, a wife-carl, counts the cakes as they are baking, keeps the keys of the pantry, eats out of his pocket,

Further reading

• “wife-carl, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.