consorts

Noun

consort (countable and uncountable, plural consorts)

1. The spouse of a monarch.
   • Wise, just, moderate, admirably pure of life, the friend of science, of freedom, of peace and all peaceful arts, the Consort of the Queen passes from our troubled sphere to that serene one where justice and peace reign eternal.1862 January, [William Makepeace Thackeray], “Roundabout Papers.—No. XVIII. On Letts’s Diary.”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume V, number 25, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], page 128
2. A husband, wife, companion or partner.
   • In his death was lost to his consort an affectionate and beloved husband; […]1814, Timothy Alden, “New Canaan, Con[necticut]”, in A Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions with Occasional Notes, volume I, New York, N.Y.: J. Seymour, […], →OCLC, page 35

   Synonyms:

   spouse

3. (euphemistic, humorous, sometimes) An informal, usually well-publicized sexual companion of a monarch, aristocrat, celebrity, etc.
   • Pygmalion loathing their laſcivious Life, / Abhorr’d all Womankind, but moſt a Wife: / So ſingle choſe to live, and ſhunn’d to wed, / Well pleas’d to want a Conſort of his Bed.1717, John Dryden, “Book X. [The Story of Pygmalion, and the Statue.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 343
4. A ship accompanying another.
5. (uncountable) Association or partnership.
   • That which gives diſtaſt to the Ear in it is a German by-word: and ſuch kind of things Lʳ. according to the humor of thoſe times, purſues with ſome fondneſs: take it ſingly, and it carries an air of levity, I confeſs; but, in conſort with the reſt, you ſee, has a meaning quite different from what...1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Sheldonian] Theater, →OCLC, page 22

   Synonyms:

   association, partnership

6. A group or company, especially of musicians playing the same type of instrument.
   • On thother ſide in one conſort there ſate, / Cruell Reuenge, and rancorous Deſpight, / Diſloyall Treaſon, and hart-burning Hate, […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 22, page 277

   Synonyms:

   band, group

See all 11 meanings of consort