Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun, plural big·a·mies.
- Law. the crime of marrying while one has a spouse still living, from whom no valid divorce has been effected.
- Ecclesiastical. any violation of canon law concerning marital status that would disqualify a person from receiving holy orders or from retaining or surpassing an ecclesiastical rank.
noun plural -mies
- the crime of marrying a person while one is still legally married to someone else
“state of having two wives or husbands at the same time,” mid-13c., from Old French bigamie (13c.), from Church Latin bigamia, from Late Latin bigamus “twice married,” a hybrid from bi- “double” (see bi-) + Greek gamos “marrying” (see gamete). The Greek word was digamos “twice married.”
Bigamie is unkinde ðing, On engleis tale, twie-wifing. [c.1250]
In Middle English, also of two successive marriages or marrying a widow.