wifelet

Noun

wifelet (plural wifelets)

1. (colloquial, endearing) A wife.
   • Annie, wifelet, let me tell you of one of my foreign flirtations—one that I have never yet even hinted to you.1857 June, “Miss Caley”, in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine of American Literature, Science, and Art, volume IX, number LIV, New York, N.Y.: Miller & Company, […]; London: Sampson Low, Son & Co., →OCLC...
   • The third of veils again,— / So telleth Little Love,— / Is private in its skein, / For her exactest fane, / And for her special dove. / [...] / ’Tis made of wax of bees, / Of fairy wax, fay bees, / And in its charmful frieze, / Letteth no public breeze / Canvass the wifelet’s glees.1857, J[ames] J[ohn] G[arth] W[ilkinson], “The Fairy Veils”, in Improvisations from the Spirit, London: W. White, […]; Manchester: Dunnill and Palmer, →OCLC, pages 219 and 220

   Synonyms:

   wifekin, wifeling, wifelkin, wifie

2. (broadly, informal) A wife who is of small stature.
   • In stature the Manlet was dwarfish— / No burly big Blunderbore he: / And he wearily gazed on the crawfish / His Wifelet had dressed for his tea.1893, Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “To the Rescue!”, in Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 265
   • Old Kit is a painter, and so is his wife, or rather his wifelet, for "wife" always sounds too sober and matronly a word for so dainty a pocket Venus.1893, F. Mary Wilson, “A Landscape by Constable”, in Harper's Magazine, volume 87, page 455
3. (broadly, informal) A long-term girlfriend; a mistress (the “other woman” in an extramarital relationship).
   • The Marquess [Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath], now 74, who is best known for his remarkably unorthodox dress sense, his pornographic murals and his series of wifelets, is fixing me with a priapic eye while slurping wine from a beer glass. "I need some more," he declares loudly. "Wine?" I...2007 March 30, Petronella Wyatt, “The Marquess of Bath – on the prowl for ‘wifelet 76’”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Apr 2016
   • The multi-millionaire [Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath] named his numerous girlfriends wifelets when he embarked on his "polyamorous" lifestyle shortly after marrying in 1969. [...] The trouble between two of the women erupted on Sunday night as a fight broke out in his Wiltshire stately...2011 June 11, Sara Dixon, “Police called over love-tussle for the Loins of Longleat”, in Hugh Whittow, editor, Daily Express, London: Express Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on...

   Synonyms:

   bit on the side, concubine, doxy, dulcinea, goomah, leman, loon, minx, mistress, number two