Dower

Definitions

1. The part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate.
2. Alternative spelling of dougher.
   alt-of, alternative
3. A surname.
4. Property given by a groom to his bride or her family, at or before their wedding, in order to legitimize the marriage
5. That with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift.
   obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“[…] 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 […]”

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

“How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower!”

“Man in his primeval dower arrayed.”

“For though God had bestowed on her the rare dower of a fine mind⟳, He had not added to it the much more common, though infinitely less precious gift, of a quick intellect.”

CEFR level