DOWER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Dower

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/daʊr/ Listen

noun

Dower n.

That with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift. "How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower!" "Man in his primeval dower arrayed."

The property with which a woman is endowed; especially:

(a)

That which a woman brings to a husband in marriage; dowry. (Obs.) "His wife brought in dower Cilicia's crown."

(b)

(Law) That portion of the real estate of a man which his widow enjoys during her life, or to which a woman is entitled after the death of her husband. Note: Dower, in modern use, is and should be distinguished from dowry. The former is a provision for a widow on her husband's death; the latter is a bride's portion on her marriage.

Assignment of dower. See under Assignment.

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Etymology of 'Dower'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Dower" Quotes from Famous Books

... for there's treason in the wind. They'll keep her dower, and send her home with shame Before the ...

— The Saint's Tragedy • Charles Kingsley

... love! Nought can withstand the power Of thy divine, o'ermastering force, To man heaven's richest dower. All know who own thy sovereign sway, No wealth can equal thine, Inspiring and ...

— Home Lyrics • Hannah. S. Battersby

... Palace—M. Aubert and Angele, De la Foret, Lempriere, and Buonespoir—the Queen made Michel de la Foret the gift of a chaplaincy to the Crown. To Monsieur Aubert she gave a small pension, and in Angele's hands she placed a deed of dower worthy of a ...

— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... discussed before her mother and herself, and even the twins and Miss Bird, though not before the servants, during the last few days. Lord and Lady Alistair MacLeod, she a newly wed American, had motored through Kencote, lunched at the inn and fallen in love with the dower-house. Lady Alistair—he would have nothing to do with it—had made an offer through the Squire's agent for a lease of the house, at a rental about four times its market value. The Squire did not want the money, but business was business. And the MacLeods would be "nice people to have about the ...

— The Squire's Daughter - Being the First Book in the Chronicles of the Clintons • Archibald Marshall

... of Antinous to send the mother away, Telemachus makes a noble, yes, a heroic response. It would be wrong all around, wrong to the mother, wrong to her father, unless he (Telemachus) restored the dower, wrong to the Gods; vengeance from the Erinyes, and nemesis from man would come upon him for such a deed. Thus the young hero appeals to the divine order and puts himself in harmony with its behests. Boldly he declares, that if the ...

— Homer's Odyssey - A Commentary • Denton J. Snider

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