Wed″lock (?), n. [AS. wedlāc a pledge, be trothal; wedd a pledge + lāc a gift, an offering. See Wed, n., and cf. Lake, v. i., Knowledge.]
1. The ceremony, or the state, of marriage; matrimony. “That blissful yoke... that men clepeth spousal, or wedlock.” Chaucer.
For what is wedlock forced but a hell,
An age of discord or continual strife? Shak.
2. A wife; a married woman. B. Jonson.
Syn. — See Marriage.