trailing spouse

trailing spouse
 n.— «Another personnel man remembers the promising executive he lost because her husband was a dentist who couldn’t find a good practice to join in the area. To cope with this problem, some 150 northern New Jersey employers participate in an employer job bank. The bank is designed to provide job leads for “the trailing spouse” of a newly hired or transferred executive.» —“Problems of Two-Career Families Start Forcing Businesses to Adapt” by Mary Bralove Wall Street Journal July 15, 1981. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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