office wife n. a female secretary or executive assistant; a female worker devoted to a powerful man to whom she is not married, especially a man in a hierarchically superior position; a female coworker who is a friend. Also office spouse, work wife. Editorial Note: The term office husband or uses of office spouse in which the “spouse” is male are less common. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...
Astronauts returning from space say they experience what’s called the overview effect, a new understanding of the fragility of our planet and our need to reflect on what humans all share as a species. A book about the end of the universe...
Among people I know, the term “office husband” is used just as frequently as “office wife” and, like the roles of most husbands and wives in the 21st century, is complex, and unrelated to specific hierarchical positions. It’s a person of the opposite sex (or the same sex, if you are gay) with whom you have a close daily interdependent relationship, except that it only takes place in the confines of the office and does not involve sex.