Housewifery
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The state or activity of being a housewife; household management, domestic skills. dated, uncountable, usually
"Meronym: housework"
- 2 the work of a housewife wordnet
- 3 Synonym of household goods. obsolete, uncountable, usually
"Holonym: householdry"
Example
More examples"1653, Margaret Cavendish, Poems and Fancies, London: J. Martin & J. Allestrye, “To the Reader,” […] I have no Children to imploy my Care, and Attendance on; And my Lords Estate being taken away, had nothing for Huswifery, or thrifty Industry to imploy my selfe in; having no Stock to work on. For Housewifery is a discreet Management, and ordering all in Private, and Household Affaires, seeing nothing spoil’d, or Profusely spent, that every thing has its proper Place, and every Servant his proper Work, and every Work to be done in its proper Time; to be Neat, and Cleanly, to have their House quiet from all disturbing Noise. But Thriftiness is something stricter; for good Housewifery may be used in great Expenses; but Thriftiness signifies a Saving, or a getting; as to increase their Stock, or Estate."
Etymology
From Middle English huswyfery, huswyffrye, howswyfry, equivalent to housewife + -ry.
More for "housewifery"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.