coverture

noun

1. Concealing cover, disguise, veil; (also figurative).

   countable, uncountable

2. A common law doctrine developed in England during the Middle Ages, whereby a woman's legal existence, upon marriage, was subsumed by that of her husband, particularly with regard to ownership of property and protection.

   countable, historical, uncountable

   Note that voting by widows did not raise some of the concerns that might have arisen from voting by wives subject to common-law coverture servitude to their husbands.

3. Shelter, hiding place.

   countable, uncountable

   Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, And greedily devour the treacherous bait: So angle we for Beatrice; who even now Is couched in the woodbine coverture.

   URSULA. The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish

Where it comes from

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French coverture, from covrir (“to cover”) or from Late Latin coopertura. Doublet of couverture.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry coverture (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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