Cov·er·ture n.
1. Covering; shelter; defense; hiding.
Protected by walls or other like coverture. --Woodward.
Beatrice, who even now
Is couched in the woodbine coverture. --Shak.
2. Law The condition of a woman during marriage, because she is considered under the cover, influence, power, and protection of her husband, and therefore called a feme covert, or femme couverte.
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Feme n. Old Law A woman.
Feme covert Law, a married woman. See Covert, a., 3.
Feme sole Law, a single or unmarried woman; a woman who has never been married, or who has been divorced, or whose husband is dead.
Feme sole trader or Feme sole merchant Eng. Law, a married woman, who, by the custom of London, engages in business on her own account, inpendently of her husband.
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