uxorial

adj

1. (not-comparable, usually)Of or pertaining to a wife, or her genes or relatives.

   “We ſtill ſay that a huſband hangs out the broom when his wife goes from home for a ſhort time; and on ſuch occaſions a broom beſom has been exhibited as a ſignal that the houſe was freed from uxorial reſtraint, and where the maſter might be conſidered as a temporary bachelor.”

   “So that it appears, that while the man [of Ancient Greece or Rome] might, with impunity, prostitute his wife to all his connexions, the beautiful but enslaved victim was to be punished with death, if, after such prostitution of her person by the express command of her husband, her eye should stray to an object more agreeable to her fancy, than those appointed for her by her uxorial pander!”

   “To marry with bridewealth is known as kukwa, and this form of union involves the allocation of both uxorial and genetricial rights to the husband. He is entitled to compensation in the case of adultery and he both receives and pays the bridewealth for his sons and daughters.”

   “Both are middle-class wives and mothers who are socially isolated and disenchanted with their marriages. [...] Unable to escape their uxorial and maternal roles, both retreat into themselves.”

   “Jane [Eyre]'s nightmare of inarticulate desire suggests that more is at stake than common law, as Rochester seems to believe, or even ethical norms, such as she grapples with after learning his uxorial secret.”

2. (comparable, not-comparable, usually)Devoted to one's wife; uxorious.

   “Riccabocca, the wiliest and most relentless of men in his maxims, melted into absolute uxorial imbecility at the sight of that mute distress.”

   “He introduced the woman to his wife, feeling an unfamiliar uxorial pride as he did it, showing off Emily's angular beauty at forty-four to this worn and hollowed former girl, misshapen from labor and rural poverty, who might have been any age between thirty-five and fifty-five, and who had reached a plateau of endurance of which her body was a map.”