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esposa.

(a loanword from Spanish)

Headword: 
esposa.
Principal English Translation: 

a wife; also, when plural, can mean handcuffs
(a loanword from Spanish)

Attestations from sources in English: 

oquimotzacuilili yn imahuan yca esposas (Puebla, circa 1680–1700)
Frances Karttunen and James Lockhart, Nahuatl in the Middle Years: Language Contact Phenomena in Texts of the Colonial Period, Linguistics 85 (Los Angeles, University of California Publications, 1976), Doc. 9.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

niman ompa oquilpi, oquitzacuili in imahuan ica esposas = allí mismo en el instante lo aprisionó, cerrándole las manos con esposas (Puebla, 1797)
Anales del Barrio de San Juan del Río; Crónica indígena de la ciudad de Puebla, xiglo XVII, eds. Lidia E. Gómez García, Celia Salazar Exaire, y María Elena Stefanón López (Puebla: Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, BUAP, 2000), 108.