Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A widow who holds a title or property derived from her deceased husband.
- noun An elderly woman of high social station.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In law, a widow endowed or possessed of a jointure.
- noun A title given to a widow to distinguish her from the wife of her husband's heir bearing the same name: applied particularly to the widows of princes and persons of rank.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Eng. Law) A widow endowed, or having a jointure; a widow who either enjoys a dower from her deceased husband, or has property of her own brought by her to her husband on marriage, and settled on her after his decease.
- noun A title given in England to a widow, to distinguish her from the wife of her husband's heir bearing the same name; -- chiefly applied to widows of personages of rank.
- noun the widow of a king.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
widow holdingproperty ortitle derived from her latehusband . - noun Any
lady ofdignified bearing .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a widow holding property received from her deceased husband
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I guess a dowager is actually always a woman who inherits property from her dead husband.
Dru Blood - I believe in the inherent goodness of all beings: Today's Vocabulary Lesson. 2005
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I guess a dowager is actually always a woman who inherits property from her dead husband.
Dru Blood - I believe in the inherent goodness of all beings: June 2005 Archives 2005
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Now the maid had never heard the word dowager in her life, but thought she would make a shot for it, so when his reverence asked if Mrs. MacCarthy was at home, she blurted out: --
The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent S.M. Hussey
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It distinguished the dowager Mrs. Smith from the wife of her eldest son; today the word dowager, imitating the English usage, is frequently employed in fashionable society.
Chapter 4. American and English Today. 4. Euphemisms Henry Louis 1921
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Now the maid had never heard the word dowager in her life, but thought she would make a shot for it, so when his reverence asked if Mrs. MacCarthy was at home, she blurted out: ” 'No, sir, but the badger is.'
The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent Hussey, S M 1904
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Mrs. Booker T. Washington, but they were women that were more like what you would call the dowager or the ladylike type of thing.
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A dowager is a woman who doesn't dance: and her male attendant is -- what is he?
Evan Harrington — Volume 5 George Meredith 1868
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A dowager is a woman who doesn't dance: and her male attendant is -- what is he?
Evan Harrington — Complete George Meredith 1868
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A dowager is a woman who doesn't dance: and her male attendant is -- what is he?
Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith George Meredith 1868
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I fully admit that I just now had to look up the word "dowager" in the dictionary, and he's sort of correct.
Dru Blood - I believe in the inherent goodness of all beings: Today's Vocabulary Lesson. 2005
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