Shift Marriage
Defined in 1 dictionary — Bouvier (1914)
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
“When a man died having debts which his widow was unable to pay, she was obliged, if she contracted a second marriage, to leave her clothes in the hands of the creditors, and to go through the ceremony In her shift. Gradually, however, the ceremony was mitigated by the bridegroom lending her clothes for the occasion.’’ Said by Lecky, Hist, of Eng. 18th Cent., IV, p. 23, to be a curious relic of a standard of commercial integrity which had long since passed away.