grass widow

plural grass widows

1. A married woman whose spouse is away.First known use 19th c.

   "Can't help it. I'm a lone, lorn grass-widow, dear, but I will not sleep in my stays."

   1889, Rudyard Kipling, “A Second-rate Woman”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 115

   3 more examples

   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."

   1941, James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce, New York: Random House

   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.

   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

   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.’

   1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 226

2. obsoleteAn unmarried woman who has had premarital sexual relations; a former mistress.First known use 16th c.