Polygamise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To engage in or encourage the custom of having several spouses at the same time ; to bring about a situation in which a person takes multiple marriage partners
2. Practicing the custom of maintaining more than one wife or husband simultaneously ; arranging for someone to enter into several marriages at once
3. To adopt a system where a person keeps multiple spouses together ; to make another person take on more than a single marital partner

Etymology: Polygamy comes from Greek "polygamia," built from "polys" (many) and "gamos" (marriage), and the verb "polygamize" is simply that noun with the suffix "-ize" added. The suffix has a longer history than the verb: it passed from Greek "-izein," through Late Latin "-izare" and Middle French "-iser," into Middle English, so English speakers were attaching it to nouns and adjectives for centuries before this particular formation appeared. The verb "polygamise," the British spelling, therefore means to practise polygamy or to make someone take part in it. The base noun is much older than the verb, and the suffix that turns it into an action is what makes the word work as a verb.

Antonyms: monogamise