coverture

coverture noun: concealing cover, disguise, veil; (also figurative). Also the alternative spelling of couverture.

Noun

coverture (countable and uncountable, plural covertures)

Concealing cover, disguise, veil; (also figurative).
(historical) A common law doctrine developed in England during the Middle Ages, whereby a woman's legal existence, upon marriage, was subsumed by that of her husband, particularly with regard to ownership of property and protection.
- Note that voting by widows did not raise some of the concerns that might have arisen from voting by wives subject to common-law coverture servitude to their husbands.2006, Akhil Reed Amar, America's Constitution: A Biography
Shelter, hiding place.
- URSULA. The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish
  Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,
  And greedily devour the treacherous bait:
  So angle we for Beatrice; who even now
  Is couched in the woodbine coverture.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

coverture is also the alternative spelling of couverture.

plural	covertures
alternative form	couverture

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French coverture, from covrir (“to cover”) or from Late Latin coopertura. Doublet of couverture.

What does coverture mean?: Coverture means concealing cover, disguise, veil; (also figurative).
What part of speech is coverture?: Coverture is a noun.
What is the plural of coverture?: The plural of coverture is covertures.

Adapted from Wiktionary: coverture (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: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “coverture.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coverture. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.