Hope wife lives with husband (4)
I believe the answer is:
wish
'hope' is the definition.
(I know that hope is a more specific form of the action the wish)
'wife lives with husband' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'lives' becomes 'is' ('be' can be a synonym of 'live').
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'husband' becomes 'h' (abbreviation).
'w'+'is'+'h'='WISH'
(Other definitions for wish that I've seen before include "Request - yen" , "Want (to do something)" , "Desire (to pull this bone?)" , "Something desired" , "prayer" .)