dower

See also: Dower

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English dower, dowere, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French doeire, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  dōtārium, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin dōs.

Pronunciation

• enPR: dauʹ-ər, IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊ.əɹ/
• IPA^(key): [ˈdaʊ.ə(ɹ)]
• IPA^(key): [ˈdaʊ.ɚ]
• Rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ)
• Homophone: dour (for some speakers)

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, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 1

     […] 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.
   • Sir J. Davies

     How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower!

   • Wordsworth

     Man in his primeval dower arrayed.

Antonyms

• curtesy

Related terms

• dowager
• endow

Translations

part of deceased's property

• Dutch: lijftocht m, leeftocht (nl) m
• Finnish: lesken osuus
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Leibzucht (de), Leibgedinge (de) n
• Italian: legittima (it) f

property given to wife at marriage

• Breton: trederann
• Dutch: weduwgift (nl) f
• Finnish: huomenlahja
• French: douaire (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Wittum n
• Irish: tionscra m, tochra m
• Italian: dotario m, dote (it) f
• Welsh: cynhysgaeth

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. To give a dower or dowry.
2. To endow.

Anagrams

• rowed, worde

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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) A 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.