betrothed

Verb

betroth (third-person singular simple present betroths, present participle betrothing, simple past betrothed, past participle betrothed or betrothen)

1. (archaic, formal, transitive) Of a man: to promise to take (a woman) as a future spouse; to plight one's troth to.
   • And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him goe and returne vnto his houſe, leſt he die in battel, and another man take her.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 20:7, signature [S5], verso, column 2
2. (archaic, formal, transitive) Often of a parent or guardian: to promise that (two people) be married to each other; specifically and chiefly, to promise that (a woman) be given in marriage to a man; to affiance.
   • He betrothed his daughter to a distant relative.
3. (archaic, figuratively, formal, transitive) Of God: to enter into a relationship with (believers, or the church as a whole); also, of a priest: to pledge (himself) to the church prior to being consecrated as a bishop.
   • And I [God] will betroth thee [his people] vnto me foreuer; yea, I will betroth thee vnto me in righteouſneſſe, and in iudgement, and in louing kindneſſe, and in mercies. I will euen betroth thee vnto me in faithfulneſſe, and thou ſhalt know the Lord.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hosea 2:19–20, signature Eeee3, verso, column 2
4. (figuratively, formal, obsolete, transitive) To pledge or promise oneself to (a cause); to espouse; also (sometimes reflexive), to pledge or promise (oneself or one's efforts) to a cause or to do something.
   • To priuate fight they haue betroutht themſelues, / Of which conflicte, the end muſt needes be this, / That one do liue, that other die the death.1566, Euripides, “Iocasta: A Tragedie Written in Greke by Euripides, […]”, in George Gascoigne, Francis Kinwelmershe, transl., A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres Bounde up in One Small Poesie. […], London...