grass widow

English[edit]

Grass perhaps relates to casual bedding.^[1] Compare Dutch grasweduwe, Swedish gräsänka, German Strohwitwe.

grass widow (plural grass widows)

An unmarried woman who has lived with several different men; a former mistress. [from 16th c.]
A married woman whose spouse is away. [from 19th c.]
- 1941, James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce, New York, Random House:
  Then Mrs. Gessler shook her head. "Well, you've joined the biggest army on earth. You're the great American institution that never gets mentioned on Fourth of July -- a grass widow with two small children to support. The dirty bastards."
- Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated by Marian Magid and Elizabeth Pollet Collected stories : Gimpel the fool to The letter writer: Gimpel the fool & other stories, The Spinoza of Market Street, Short Friday & other stories, The séance & other stories, "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy", New York : Library of America : Distributed in the United States by Penguin Putnam, p. 461:
  And who ever heard of a demon sending his wife a divorce? When a demon marries a daughter of mortals,he usually lets her remain a grass widow.
- 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, p. 226:
  I was disappointed when it was her who opened the door and said, ‘Ah, I had a feeling you were thinking about me! Come in, come in, do! I am a grass widow.’

woman whose husband is away

W. Martin; G[uy] A. J. Tops, et al. (1998) Van Dale Groot Woordenboek Engels–Nederlands [Van Dale Great Dictionary, English–Dutch], volume I, 3rd edition, Utrecht; Antwerp: Van Dale Lexicografie, →ISBN.