Wed"lock (?), n. [AS. wedlāc a
pledge, be trothal; wedd a pledge + lāc a gift, an
offering. See Wed, n., and cf. Lake,
v. i., Knowledge.]
1. The ceremony, or the state, of marriage;
matrimony. "That blissful yoke . . . that men clepeth [call]
spousal, or wedlock." Chaucer.
For what is wedlock forced but a hell,
An age of discord or continual strife?
Shak.
2. A wife; a married woman. [Obs.] B.
Jonson.
Syn. -- See Marriage.
Wed"lock, v. t. To marry; to unite in
marriage; to wed. [R.] "Man thus wedlocked."
Milton.