Boston marriage
/ˈbɒs.tən ˈmæ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/
Boston marriage noun: a long-term monogamous relationship between two unmarried women, especially in New England between the 18th and early 20th centuries.
Noun
Boston marriage (plural Boston marriages)
- A long-term monogamous relationship between two unmarried women, especially in New England between the 18th and early 20th centuries.
- Two women, as well known as Susan Channing and Edna D. Cheney, have made separate appeals for this new departure of female habit. A Boston marriage is described to be a sympathetic union of two women who have not been able to make good and agreeable matches with members of the opposite sex.[1894 May 3, “Vanity Fair”, in The Argonaut, page 9
- […] several times I was within an inch of coming down here and asking you out for a ride in my red convertible, but the Weird Sisters (indicating Meg and Louisa) told me not to disturb you. But I'm big enough to understand; I wasn't born yesterday. I understand this sort of menage, you know; it's...[1952, John Horne Burns, Cry of the Children
Examples of Boston marriage in a sentence
- I understand this sort of menage, you know; it's called a Boston Marriage.[1952, John Horne Burns, Cry of the Children:
- Often, in marked contrast to Boston marriages in previous times, these lesbians keep their asexuality hidden from the community.2002, Marilyn Yalom, Laura L. Carstensen, Inside the American Couple: New Thinking, New Challenges, University of California Press, page 81:
- Thus, unlike in contemporary relationships, participants in a Boston marriage may or may not have considered genital activity to be an important element in their relationship.2006, Laura Castañeda, Shannon B. Campbell, News and Sexuality: Media Portraits of Diversity, SAGE, page 217:
Forms of Boston marriage
| plural | Boston marriages |
|---|
Origin of Boston marriage
Unknown, first used in late 19th century New England, and sometimes connected to The Bostonians (1885) by Henry James, which describes such a relationship.
Questions about Boston marriage
- What does Boston marriage mean?
- Boston marriage means a long-term monogamous relationship between two unmarried women, especially in New England between the 18th and early 20th centuries.
- How do you use Boston marriage in a sentence?
- I understand this sort of menage, you know; it's called a Boston Marriage.
- What part of speech is Boston marriage?
- Boston marriage is a noun.
- How do you pronounce Boston marriage?
- Boston marriage is pronounced /ˈbɒs.tən ˈmæ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/.
- What is the plural of Boston marriage?
- The plural of Boston marriage is Boston marriages.
Words near Boston marriage in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Boston marriage (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Boston marriage.wav.
Cite this entry: “Boston marriage.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/boston_marriage. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.