husband, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

husband n.

1. a prostitute’s client.

1761

Memoirs of [...] Jane D****s 22: In the meantime, added she, as I have got no husband for tonight, we’ll go and have some supper.

2. the supposedly ‘aggressive’ / ‘active’ partner of a male homosexual couple.

1726		Select Trials Old Bailey II 198: He had a back Room for for the Mollies to drink in, and a private Room betwixt that and the Kitchen. There is a Bed in that middle Room, for the use of the Company when they have a Mind to go there in Couples and be married, and for that Reason they call that Room, The Chappel. He has help’d me to two or three Husbands there.
1813		[R. Holloway] Phoenix of Sodom 29: This lump of diabolism..some time ago married a little Catamite, called Miss Read, according to the rites of the Vere-street church; and, of course, did that which all good husbands will do, took his precious spouse to live in the house with him, the better to secure himself from the effects of cuckoldom [Simes:DLSS].
1887		W.A. Hammond Sexual Impotence 57: At this time he formed an association for pederastic purposes with a young man who was to take the active while he himself took the passive part [...] and in which they were called, respectively, husband and wife [Simes:DLSS].
1898		P. Norroy Art of Child-Love 16: The present system is to allow two children to occupy [...] one bed. Among the other girls the elder is called the husband and the younger the wife [...] This system, of course, encourages private intercourse between the children of the most free and passionate description.
1912		Horsham Times (Vic.) 19 July 10/2: And after her experiences the ‘girl husband’ is all in favor of being a man. ‘It is,’ she says, ‘so much easier to live as a man than a girl’.
1932		Arrow (Sydney) 8 Jan. 5/4: During supper Mona flirted outrageously with Mavis, and Mavis’s ‘husband’ Edna was too drunk to notice. Soon Mona and Mavis disappeared into the bedroom, and the door was shut behind them.
1934		L. Berg Prison Nurse (1964) 62: Broadway Rose was transferred back, from the hospital. Of course, Lester her ‘husband’ was simply overjoyed to see ‘her’!
1949		‘Swasarnt Nerf’ et al. Gay Girl’s Guide 18: The following words or phrases are frequently used, seriously or facetiously, in a sense the same as, or equivalent to, their meaning in straight English (Slang) [...] husband.
1950		Patterson & Conrad Scottsboro Boy 94: Once a gal-boy was sold, the husband couldn’t touch him any more [Simes:DLSS].
1954		M. Bodenheim My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village (1961) 63: She is a lesbian and he is a ‘fairy’ and she obviously looks upon herself as the ‘husband’.
1961		‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 80: My husband is around here somewhere. I’d better find him.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 47: About five male couples were in the place – queens with their ‘husbands’.
1972		(con. 1965) E. Newton Mother Camp 80: Jeri and his butch ‘husband’ [...] were a handsome and well known couple.
1982		N. Aldyne Cobalt 25: ‘There’s a problem.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘His husband’s a jealous woman’ [Simes:DLSS].
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 60: Husband The dominant partner in a homosexual relationship.
1997		D. Farson Never a Normal Man 170: Moreover, the ‘husband’ was one of the handsomest young waiters on the ship.
2005		E. White My Lives 192: One was more honest with a ‘sister’ than with a ‘husband’.

3. as sense 2, of lesbian relationships.

1893		Alienist & Neurol. xiv 533: Marriages between females..occur of late more frequently; the ‘husband’ usually being a criminal in male attire, who leads a double life [Simes:DLSS].
1921		Medic. Rev. of Reviews xxvii 372/2: A physical examination of such people will in practically every instance disclose an abnormally prominent clitoris. This is particularly so in colored women. It is not at all unusual for such individuals to become lovers and to call one another husband and wife [Simes:DLSS].
1935		M. Chideckel Female Sex Perversion (1971) 148: A favorite present from the colored ‘husband’ to ‘his’ white ‘wife’ is a brassiere [Simes:DLSS].
1959		J.D. Mercer They Walk in Shadow 255: [T]hose curious marital unions [...] in which a woman has married another woman and, thereafter, lived intimately with the ‘husband’ [Simes:DLSS].
1967		N. Nash Sordid Side of London Town 73: ‘I am the feminine side of the partnership and I am just as faithful to my “husband” as is the average young wife’ [Simes:DLSS].

4. see hubby n. (2)

SE in slang uses

In compounds

husband beater (n.)

(Aus.) a long-handled parasol.

1895

Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 37: Husband Beater, a long handled parasol.

husband game (n.)

(US Und.) a confidence trick where a prostitute has her ‘husband’ knock on the door after she has been paid but before she has performed.

1859		Wkly Varieties (Boston, MA) 3 Sept. 5/2: He is a patron of prostitutes, having been bled upon one occasion [...] by that highly interesting and ingenious process called the ‘husband game’.
1868		James D. McCabe Secrets of the Great City 337: the ‘husband game’ The street-walkers are adepts in deceit. Their chief object is to procure money, and they do not hesitate to plunder their victims in order to obtain it. One of their favorite ‘dodges’ is called the ‘husband game.’ This is played as follows. A man is picked up on the street, after nine o’clock, and carried to the girl’s room. He is asked to pay his money in advance, which he does. The girl then turns the lights down, and seems about to prepare to retire for the night, when a loud knocking is heard. The girl, in alarm, informs him that she is a married woman, and that her husband has returned. She begs him to escape, or he will be killed. The visitor, terribly frightened, is glad to get off through a side door. His money is not returned, but the woman promises to meet him the next night, which engagement, of course, is never kept.
1869		G. Ellington Women of N.Y. 203: They open ‘panel-houses,’ or help play the ‘husband game’.

husband’s tea (n.) [? a husband’s inadequacy as opposed to that of a lover]

very weak tea.

1873		Sl. Dict.
1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

husband-tamer (n.)

(Aus.) a rolling pin [the stereotyped weapon of the aggrieved wife].

2012

(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] It took four goes before she dropped the husband-tamer and went limp.