espousals

Out of the lofty grove a sudden voice was uttered: 'Seek not, O my child, to unite thy daughter in Latin espousals, nor trust her to the bridal chambers ready to thine hand; foreigners shall come to be thy sons, whose blood shall raise our name to heaven, and the children of whose race shall see, where the circling sun looks on either ocean, all the rolling world swayed beneath their feet.'

The Aeneid of Virgil 70 BC-19 BC Virgil

The delight of the bridegroom in the day of his espousals is the height of what an expression of delight can be carried unto.

Of Communion with God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost 1616-1683 1965

But she was resolved that those guests who were asked to lend their countenance to her espousals should be the very best people.

Vixen, Volume II. 1875

The _Sposalizio_, or "espousals," or betrothing, is certainly a different ceremony from the marriage.

Notes and Queries, Number 192, July 2, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc Various

Then, yearning for her heavenly espousals, she peacefully sank to rest in the sweet love of the Lord, on the sixteenth day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventeen.

29 December -- St Thomas of Canterbury John 2008

MSNBC, Fox News, and even CNN prattle to themselves endlessly and then seem surprised when they are deviated from reality, seeming to believe their own espousals.

B.D. Gallof: How The East Was Lost: Tom Suozzi & Democrats Lose Long Island 2009

To policy makers elsewhere in the world, Washington's espousals of these priorities in the American South is one thing; pushing them globally is something else.

American Theocracy JDsg 2007

Bucklaw, and of his trusty associate Craigengelt, who arrived early in the morning for the completion of the proposed espousals, and for signing the necessary deeds.

The Bride of Lammermoor 2008

No sooner were the necessary expresses dispatched to summon up the forces who were selected to act as auxiliaries, than Louis was called upon by his host to give public consent to the espousals of the Duke of Orleans and Isabelle of Croye.

Quentin Durward 2008

But a friendly monitor, one of those who, like the lump of sugar which is found at the bottom of a tea cup, as well as the flavour of the souchong itself, has entered a bitter remonstrance, and insists that I should give a precise and particular account of the espousals of the young heir of Glen Houlakin and the lovely

Quentin Durward 2008