a, m., pl. húsbændr; in mod. usage the æ is kept throughout the plural, but not so in old writers; húsbóndi is prop. a participle contracted from húsbóandi or húsbúandi; [see bóndi, p. 74, and búa, of which the older form is bóa, Dan. boe, p. 86; Engl. husband; Swed. husbonde]

I. prop. a house-master, master, the Scot. good man (= Swed. husbonde); sínum húsbóanda, Hom. 121; þann klæðnað er húsbóndi átti, Grág. i. 460; ek hefi áðr verit missáttr við húsbónda minn, Ld. 278, Fb. ii. 385, Nj. 97; hann var með þeim húsbónda lengi, he served that master long, Fms. i. 78: a household word in Icel., where the plural húsbændr is used collect. even of master and mistress = Germ. herrschaft, and is opp. to hjú, servants; biddu húsbændrna; húsbondi góðr! is an address of servants to the house-master. In Norway the húsbóndi as the landlord was opp. to the húsmaðr or garðsmaðr or cottager, N. G. L. ii. 207, D. N. v. 54: a host, Fms. vii. 30.

II. a husband, answering to húsfreya II; ef húsbóndi hennar er í brottu, Jd. 372; minn húsbóndi, Stj. 119; see bóndi I. 2; but not freq. in mod. usage in that sense: the household phrase being, maðrinn, or maðrinn minn!

COMPDS: húsbondahollr, húsbóndalauss.