Wed"lock (?), n. [AS. wedlac a pledge, be trothal; wedd a pledge + lac 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 [call] 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.
[Obs.]
B. Jonson.
Syn. -- See Marriage.
© Webster 1913.
Wed"lock, v. t.
To marry; to unite in marriage; to wed.
[R.] "Man thus
wedlocked."
Milton.
© Webster 1913.