marriage

noun10

1. •
   the state of being someone's husband or wife under the law

   • You should enter marriage for love.
2. •
   A union of two or more people that creates a family tie and carries legal, social, or religious rights and responsibilities.

   • By his marriage to his two wives, Tapuwae quietly strengthened all of the pas of the Wairoa district, as many of them came under his control through these unions. — 1944
3. •
   The union of only two people, to the exclusion of all others.

   • My grandparents' marriage lasted for forty years.
   • Pat and Leslie's marriage to each other lasted forty years.
4. •
   The union of two people of opposite sex, to the exclusion of all others.
5. •
   A wedding; a ceremony in which people wed.

   • You are cordially invited to the marriage of James Smith and Jane Doe.
6. •
   (figurative) A close union.

   • And this marriage of poetry and history remained a solid relationship throughout the classical period. — 2000
7. •
   (figurative) A joining of two parts.
8. •
   A king and a queen, when held as a hand in some versions of poker or melded in pinochle.
9. •
   In solitaire or patience games, the placing a card of the same suit on the next one above or below it in value.
10. •
    (slang) A homosexual relationship between male prisoners.