dower

plural dowers

1. lawThe part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate.

   Antonyms: curtesy

2. lawProperty given by a groom to his bride or her family, at or before their wedding, in order to legitimize the marriage

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

   1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 6

   1 more example

   […] 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 […]

   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]

   Synonyms: bride price, reverse dowry, dowry · Antonyms: dowry

3. obsoleteThat with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift.

   Man in his primeval dower arrayed.

   1793, William Wordsworth, Descriptive Sketches

   2 more examples

   How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower!

   c. 1600, John Davies, The Dignity of Man

   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.

   1856, Julia Kavanagh, chapter III, in Rachel Gray, London: Hurst and Blackett, page 49

present singular third person dowers · participle present dowering · participle past dowered · past dowered

1. transitiveTo give a dower or dowry to.

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

   1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage

2. transitiveTo endow.

   It was nothing of this earth, but a piece of the great outside; and as such dowered with outside properties and obedient to outside laws.

   1927, H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space

plural dowers

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of dougher.

plural Dowers

1. A surname.