My Websters gives definition #4 as "any close or intimate union."

Jimmy C, you only have a problem with the word 'marriage', but nothing else? Semantics? Folks want a ceremony, a ritual. Folks want and something they can invite friends and family to. Folks want social and legal recognition and the rights that such a committment should grant them. Call it 'official union', 'hand-fasting', 'Fred', or whatever. It's the rights that matter to the vast majority of people, not the word. (At least I think so. Now watch this thread go to 200 posts while people argue about the meaning of a word!)