Definition of "common-law marriage" []

• A marriage existing by mutual agreement between a man and a woman, or by the fact of their cohabitation, without a civil or religious ceremony. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It seemed he had been married twice before, in a manner of speaking: he had been "handfast" to Janet Beaton, and had lived in common-law marriage with the Norwegian woman."