1. a covering or shelter
Usage: archaic; literary
2. the legal status of a married woman under common law whereby her rights and property were controlled by her husband
Usage: legal; historical

Examples

• The ancient law of coverture meant that married women could not own property in their own names.
• Under coverture, a wife’s legal identity was merged with that of her husband.
• The forest provided coverture from the storm.
• Women’s rights advocates fought to abolish the doctrine of coverture.
• The thick canopy offered natural coverture for the wildlife below.
• Coverture was gradually eliminated by married women’s property acts in the 19th century.