different between housewifery vs housewifely

English

Alternative forms

• housewifry (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English huswyfery, huswyffrye, howswyfry, equivalent to housewife +? -ry.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ha?sw?f??i/, /?ha?sw?f?i/

Noun

housewifery (usually uncountable, plural housewiferies)

1. The state or activity of being a housewife; household management, domestic skills. [from 15th c.]
   • 1653, Margaret Cavendish, Poems and Fancies, London: J. Martin & J. Allestrye, “To the Reader,”^[1]

     […] I have no Children to imploy my Care, and Attendance on; And my Lords Estate being taken away, had nothing for Huswifery, or thrifty Industry to imploy my selfe in; having no Stock to work on. For Housewifery is a discreet Management, and ordering all in Private, and Household Affaires, seeing nothing spoil’d, or Profusely spent, that every thing has its proper Place, and every Servant his proper Work, and every Work to be done in its proper Time; to be Neat, and Cleanly, to have their House quiet from all disturbing Noise. But Thriftiness is something stricter; for good Housewifery may be used in great Expenses; but Thriftiness signifies a Saving, or a getting; as to increase their Stock, or Estate.

   • 1895, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure, Chapter 5,^[2]

     When the schoolmaster got back Sue was making a pretence of doing some housewifery as if she lived there.

   • 1918, Rebecca West, The Return of the Soldier, Virago 2014, p. 39:

     ‘How you've forgotten,’ she cried, and ran up to him, rattling her keys and looking grave with housewifery […]

   • 1936, William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! New York: Modern Library, 1951, Chapter 5, p. 156,^[3]

     […] drafted by circumstance at too soon an age into a pinch-penny housewifery which might have existed just as well upon a lighthouse rock […]

2. (obsolete) Household goods. [16th-19th c.]

Synonyms

• housewifeship

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English *houswyfely, *houswijfli, *houswiflich, suggested by houswifliche (adverb), equivalent to housewife +? -ly.

Adjective

housewifely (comparative more housewifely, superlative most housewifely)

1. Befitting a housewife.
   • c. 1550, Thomas Becon, The Flour of Godly Praiers, London: John Day, “A generalle prayer that all Men may walke in their vo[c]acion and callynge,”^[1]

     […] to make the yong women sobre minded, to loue their husbands to loue their children, to be discrete, chaste, housewifely, good and obediente vnto theyr owne husbands […]

   • 1676, Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso, London: Henry Herringman, Act I, p. 12,^[2]

     A wholesome good housewifely Countrey Wench is worth a thousand of you, in sadness.

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, p. 191,^[3]

     […] as for the Maid, she was […] very handy and housewifely in any Thing that was before her; an excellent Manager, and fit indeed to have been Governess to the whole Island […]

   • 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, London: Smith, Elder & Co., Volume 2, Chapter 18, p. 240,^[4]

     […] her stepfather […] waited on, looking into the fire and keeping the kettle boiling with housewifely care, as if it were an honour to have her in his house.

   • 1969, Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, 1971, Chapter 31, p. 207,^[5]

     […] I thought my father was mean and cruel. He had enjoyed his Mexican holiday, and still was unable to proffer a bit of kindness to the woman who had waited patiently, busying herself with housewifely duties.

See also

• huswifely