betroth

1. (archaic) Of a man: to promise to take (a woman) as a future spouse; to plight one's troth to.Examples: "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."archaicformaltransitive

2. (archaic) 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.Examples: "He betrothed his daughter to a distant relative."; "The couple were betrothed not long after they met each other."; "You to remoue that ſiege of griefe from her [Juliet] / Betrothd and vvould haue married her perforce / To Countie Paris."archaicformaltransitive

3. (figurative)Examples: "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."; "God betrotheth thee in righteouſnes, and putteth righteouſnes into thee; […]"; "He [Jesus] has paid my Debts to thy [God the Father's] Juſtice, and thou vvill not be tvvice paid: Thou betrotheſt in Judgment, on mature Counſel; thy Gifts and Callings are vvithout Repentance: Thou foreſavveſt all Events, and hovv often I ſhould abuſe thy Mercy, grieve thy Spirit, and yet betrothedſt in Judgment: […]"archaicfigurativelyformaltransitive

4. (figurative)Examples: "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."; "[W]hat is he for a foole that betrothes himſelfe to vnquietneſſe?"; "He [John Donne] vvas novv entered into the eighteenth year of his age, and at that time had betrothed himſelf to no Religion that might give him any other denomination than a Chriſtian."figurativelyformalobsoletetransitive