dowager
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle French douagere, douagiere, from douage (“dower”), from the verb douer (“to endow”), from Latin dōtō (“to endow”), from dōs (“dowry”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdaʊədʒə/
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈdaʊəd͡ʒɚ/
Audio (Southern England): (file) Audio (US): (file)
Noun
[edit]dowager (plural dowagers)
- a widow holding property or title derived from her late husband
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital, the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, […]!”
- any lady of dignified bearing
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]widow
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lady of dignified bearing
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