espouse

PRONUNCIATION: (i-SPOUZ)

MEANING: verb tr.:
1. To adopt or support a cause, idea, belief, etc.
2. To take as spouse: marry.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French espouser, from Latin sponsare (to betroth), from sponsus (betrothed). Ultimately from the Indo-European root spend- (to make an offering or perform a rite), which is also the source of sponsor, spouse, respond, and riposte. Earliest documented use: 1477.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In words as fashions the same rule will hold,
Alike fantastic if too new or old;
Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
-Alexander Pope, poet (21 May 1688-1744)

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eespouse - mrs cummings