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Dunmow

noun

Used with reference to a tradition in Little Dunmow, Essex, according to which a flitch of bacon would be awarded by the priory to a couple who could swear after a year of marriage that they had never had an argument or regretted getting married.

UncommonScrabble 12

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Meanings

nounDunmow (uncountable)

uncountableUsed with reference to a tradition in Little Dunmow, Essex, according to which a flitch of bacon would be awarded by the priory to a couple who could swear after a year of marriage that they had never had an argument or regretted getting married.
The bacon was nat fet for hem, I trowe, / That som men han in Essex at Dunmowe.
1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “(please specify the story via the 'title' parameter)”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC
1 more example
Nor let the supposition of matrimonial differences frighten you: honey-moon lasts not now-a-days above a fortnight; and Dunmow flitch, as I have been informed, was never claimed; though some say once it was.
1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC

proper noun

Both Great Dunmow and Little Dunmow; the former Dunmow railway station was in Great Dunmow.

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Cite this entry

APA

Dunmow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dunmow

MLA

“Dunmow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dunmow. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Dunmow,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dunmow.

Source: Dunmow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.