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Wordnet 3.0

VERB (1)

1. give to in marriage;
[syn: betroth, engage, affiance, plight]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

affiance \af*fi"ance\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. affianced ([a^]f*f[imac]"anst); p. pr. & vb. n. affiancing ([a^]f*f[imac]"an*s[i^]ng).] [Cf. OF. afiancier, fr. afiance.] 1. To betroth; to pledge one's faith to for marriage, or solemnly promise (one's self or another) in marriage. [1913 Webster] To me, sad maid, he was affianced. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] 2. To assure by promise. [Obs.] --Pope. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Affiance \Af*fi"ance\ ([a^]f*f[imac]"ans), n. [OE. afiaunce trust, confidence, OF. afiance, fr. afier to trust, fr. LL. affidare to trust; ad + fidare to trust, fr. L. fides faith. See Faith, and cf. Affidavit, Affy, Confidence.] 1. Plighted faith; marriage contract or promise. [archaic] [1913 Webster] 2. Trust; reliance; faith; confidence. [archaic] [1913 Webster] Such feelings promptly yielded to his habitual affiance in the divine love. --Sir J. Stephen. [1913 Webster] Lancelot, my Lancelot, thou in whom I have Most joy and most affiance. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

affiance v 1: give to in marriage [syn: betroth, engage, affiance, plight]
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

AFFIANCE, contracts. From affidare or dare fidem, to give a pledge. A plighting of troth between a man and woman. Litt. s. 39. Pothier, Traite du Mariage, n. 24, defines it to be a an agreement by which a man and a woman promise each other that they will marry together. This word is used by some authors as synonymous with marriage. Co. Litt. 34, a, note 2. See Dig. 23, 1 Code 5, 1, 4; Extrav. 4, 1.