dower

See also: Dower

English

Etymology

From Middle English dower, dowere, from Old French doeire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs.

Pronunciation

• enPR: dauʹ-ər, IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊ.əɹ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): [ˈdaʊ.ə(ɹ)]

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): [ˈdaw.ɚ]
• Homophone: dour (for some speakers)
• Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ)

Noun

dower (plural dowers)

1. (law) The part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate.
2. (law) Property given by a groom directly to his bride at or before their wedding in order to legitimize the marriage; dowry.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     […] how features are abroad, / I am skill-less of; but, by my modesty,— / The jewel in my dower,—I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you […]

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 6:

     In New Bedford, fathers, they say, give whales for dowers to their daughters, and portion off their nieces with a few porpoises a-piece.

3. (obsolete) That with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift.
   • c. 1600, John Davies, The Dignity of Man:

     How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower!

   • 1793, William Wordsworth, Descriptive Sketches:

     Man in his primeval dower arrayed.

Synonyms

• bride price
• bride token
• bridewealth
• mahr
• reverse dowry

Antonyms

• curtesy

Related terms

• dow
• dowager
• dower house
• dowral
• dowry
• endow

 

Translations

part of deceased's property

• Dutch: lijftocht m, leeftocht (nl) m
• Finnish: lesken osuus
• French: dot (fr) f
• German: Leibzucht (de) f, Leibgedinge (de) n
• Italian: legittima (it) f

property given to wife at marriage

• Breton: trederann
• Bulgarian: зестра (bg) f (zestra)
• Czech: věno (cs) n
• Dutch: weduwgift (nl) f
• Finnish: huomenlahja
• French: douaire (fr) m
• German: Wittum n
• Irish: tionscra m, tochra m
• Italian: dotario m
• Welsh: cynhysgaeth f

gift

• Czech: nadání (cs) n, talent (cs) m, dar (cs) m

See also

• bride price
• dower on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

dower (third-person singular simple present dowers, present participle dowering, simple past and past participle dowered)

1. (transitive) To give a dower or dowry to.
   • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

     He had married a lady well educated and softly nurtured, but not dowered with worldly wealth.

2. (transitive) To endow. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Anagrams

• e-word, rowed, worde

Middle English

Alternative forms

• dowere, douweer, dowaire, dowaire, dowayr, douere

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French doeire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium; equivalent to dowen +‎ -er. Doublet of dowarye.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /duːˈɛːr(ə)/, /ˈduːər(ə)/

Noun

dower (plural dowers)

1. A dower; a life estate of a male spouse's property.
2. (rare) A gift given by the bride's family to the groom or his relatives; dowry.
3. (rare, figurative) An intrinsic or inherent property or attribute.
4. (rare, astrology) A portion of the world under the domination of a particular star sign.

Descendants

• English: dower
• Scots: dower

References

• “dǒuē̆r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-12.