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Betroth

//bɪˈtɹəʊð// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    Of a man: to promise to take (a woman) as a future spouse; to plight one's troth to. archaic, formal, transitive

    "And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him goe and returne vnto his houſe, leſt he die in battel, and another man take her."

  2. 2
    give to in marriage wordnet
  3. 3
    Often of a parent or guardian: to promise that (two people) be married to each other; specifically and chiefly, to promise that (a woman) be given in marriage to a man; to affiance. archaic, formal, transitive

    "He betrothed his daughter to a distant relative."

  4. 4
    Of God: to enter into a relationship with (believers, or the church as a whole); also, of a priest: to pledge (himself) to the church prior to being consecrated as a bishop. archaic, figuratively, formal, transitive

    "And I [God] will betroth thee [his people] vnto me foreuer; yea, I will betroth thee vnto me in righteouſneſſe, and in iudgement, and in louing kindneſſe, and in mercies. I will euen betroth thee vnto me in faithfulneſſe, and thou ſhalt know the Lord."

  5. 5
    To pledge or promise oneself to (a cause); to espouse; also (sometimes reflexive), to pledge or promise (oneself or one's efforts) to a cause or to do something. figuratively, formal, obsolete, transitive

    "To priuate fight they haue betroutht themſelues, / Of which conflicte, the end muſt needes be this, / That one do liue, that other die the death."

Etymology

From Middle English bitrouthen, bitreuthen (“of a man: to pledge to marry; to give (a woman) in marriage, arrange the marriage of”), from bi- (prefix forming transitive verbs from nouns) + trouth, treuthe (“faithfulness, fidelity, specifically marital fidelity; promise, undertaking, specifically a promise of marriage; truth; etc.”) (from Old English trīewþ, trēowþ (“fidelity; good faith, honour; assurance of good faith, covenant, troth; truth”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiþō (“contract; promise”), from Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree; hence, firm, hard; faithful, true”)), possibly modelled after Old English trēowsian (“to pledge oneself; to prove oneself to be true”)). By surface analysis, be- + troth.

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