bigamy : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: bigamy	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for bigamy
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
bigamy n having two spouses at the same time the offense of marrying someone while you have a living spouse from whom no valid divorce has occurred
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Bigamy \Big"amy\, n. [OE. bigamie, fr. L. bigamus twice married; bis twice + Gr. [?] marriage; prob. akin to Skt. j[be]mis related, and L. gemini twins, the root meaning to bind, join: cf. F. bigamie. Cf. {Digamy}.] (Law) The offense of marrying one person when already legally married to another. --Wharton. Note: It is not strictly correct to call this offense bigamy: it more properly denominated polygamy, i. e., having a plurality of wives or husbands at once, and in several statutes in the United States the offense is classed under the head of polygamy. In the canon law bigamy* was the marrying of two virgins successively, or one after the death of the other, or once marrying a widow. This disqualified a man for orders, and for holding ecclesiastical offices. Shakespeare uses the word in the latter sense. --Blackstone. --Bouvier. Base declension and loathed bigamy. --Shak.