Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A woman.
- noun An unmarried woman, whether a spinster or a widow.
- noun A married woman who with respect to property is as independent of her husband as if she were unmarried.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Old Law) A woman.
- noun (Law) a married woman. See
Covert , a., 3. - noun (Law) a single or unmarried woman; a woman who has never been married, or who has been divorced, or whose husband is dead.
- noun (Eng. Law) a married woman, who, by the custom of London, engages in business on her own account, inpendently of her husband.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun law, historical A
woman .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word feme.
Examples
-
An ancient con - cept called feme covert - an old idea, old spell - ing - denoted a covered woman, a married woman whose only legal rights were those under the pro - tection of her husband.
Legacy Michener, James 1987
-
a "feme" pronounced FEEM, a meme designed for Facebook here.
-
Under law, you are still a feme sole, not a feme covert.
The Dressmaker Posie Graeme-Evans 2010
-
Under English common law, an unmarried adult was considered to have the legal status of a feme sole (in law book French), while a married woman had the status of a feme covert.
The Snowbank 2009
-
Under the English common law of feme covert – which was also the law in Massachusetts – married women had no right to own property, and the personal property a married daughter inherited from her father immediately became the legal possession of her husband, who could exert full powers of ownership over it.
History of American Women Maggiemac 2008
-
When a woman married, her legal status became that of feme covert, meaning that the wife was covered by the civil identity of her husband – any property she might have became her husband's.
History of American Women Maggiemac 2008
-
So she went out to do this, and the Queen, turning to him, conversed with him in friendly fashion, and enforced herself to reassure his awe of her and do away his shame with speech blander than the zephyr, saying, “Art thou content to be to me baron and I to thee feme?”
-
January 18, 2008 at 3:50 pm akshullly……dis duz giv me an idear……..a series ov photoz from kittehz view…..but wat shood be teh overawl feme ov teh seriz ?
I has a sad. - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008
-
Ayase in look and temperament is very very feme so often times my guy friends do lose sleep after watching part of the anime.
Good news from h.naoto; Yaoi and images for your dreams Elizabeth McClung 2008
-
There were piecemeal reforms, and also private acts, to take care of particular situations—the legislature could give “feme sole” status to a married woman whose husband had abandoned her, making it possible for her to sell or mortgage her land.20
A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.