marriageable• Young women of conspicuously marriageableage never sat there.• Originally they remained priestesses for only five years: that is, until they reachedmarriageable age.• Humbleclerks who have gone a bust on clothes for marriageabledaughters are outraged but too timid to protest.• Zuwaya men, for instance were extremely careful not to touch the marriageable daughters of their kin, friends and neighbours.• How many marriageablegirls does a man meet?• But there were few marriageable girls left.• All too often she merely gives up her remainingmarriageable years to them.• There was as a result a shortage of marriageable young men among the lower Patels.