uxor, ōris (for the form VXSOR in inscrr. v. the letter X), f. [etym. dub.; cf. Sanscr. vaca, wife], a wife, spouse, consort (syn. conjux).
- I. Lit.: licuit uxorem dotatam ducere, Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 86: duxit me uxorem liberorum sibi quaesendūm gratia, Enn. ap. Fest. s. v. quaeso, p. 258 (Trag. v. 161 Vahl.); so very freq. ducere uxorem, v. duco: uxorem adjungere, Cic. Fin. 3, 20, 68: ridicule illud L. Nasica censori Catoni, cum ille Ex tui animi sententiā tu uxorem habes? Non hercle, inquit, ex animi mei sententiā, id. de Or. 2, 64, 260: erus, quantum audio, uxore excidit, must go without a wife, Ter. And. 2, 5, 12; 1, 3, 11: quod tu dicis, mea uxor, non te mihi irasci decet, Plaut. Am. 1, 3, 24.
On the legal condition of Roman married women, v. Rein, Röm. Privatr. p. 182 sq.; Dict. of Antiq. s. v. uxor.
- II. Transf.
- A. Of animals: olentis uxores mariti, i. e. she-goats, Hor. C. 1, 17, 7.
- B. Humorously, of the cloak (abolla) as inseparable from the poor man, Mart. 4, 53, 5.