Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Husband \Hus"band\, n. [OE. hosebonde, husbonde, a husband, the
   master of the house or family, AS. h?sbonda master of the
   house; h?s house + bunda, bonda, householder, husband; prob.
   fr. Icel. h?sb[=o]ndi house master, husband; h?s house +
   b?andi dwelling, inhabiting, p. pr. of b?a to dwell; akin to
   AS. b?an, Goth. bauan. See {House Be}, and cf. {Bond} a
   slave, {Boor}.]
   1. The male head of a household; one who orders the economy
      of a family. [Obs.]

   2. A cultivator; a tiller; a husbandman. [Obs.] --Shak.

            The painful husband, plowing up his ground.
                                                  --Hakewill.

            He is the neatest husband for curious ordering his
            domestic and field accommodations.    --Evelyn.

   3. One who manages or directs with prudence and economy; a
      frugal person; an economist. [R.]

            God knows how little time is left me, and may I be a
            good husband, to improve the short remnant left me.
                                                  --Fuller.

   4. A married man; a man who has a wife; -- the correlative to
      wife.

            The husband and wife are one person in law.
                                                  --Blackstone.

   5. The male of a pair of animals. [R.] --Dryden.

   {A ship's husband} (Naut.), an agent representing the owners
      of a ship, who manages its expenses and receipts.