Brewer's: Benedick

A sworn bachelor caught in the wiles of matrimony, like Benedick in Shakespeare's comedy of Much Ado about Nothing.

“Let our worthy Cantab be bachelor or Benedick, what concern is it of ours.” —Mrs. Edwards: A Girton Girl, chap. xv.

Benedick and Benedict are used indiscriminately, but the distinction should be observed.

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