Meaning

(law) The part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate..

Definitions by Sense

1. (law) The part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate.
2. (law) Property given by a groom to his bride or her family, at or before their wedding, in order to legitimize the marriage
3. (obsolete) That with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift.
4. (transitive) To give a dower or dowry to.
5. (transitive) To endow.
6. Alternative spelling of dougher.

Example Sentences

[…] 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.

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

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.

Word Forms

• dowers
• dowering
• dowered

Synonyms for dower

Antonyms for dower

Related Words

When Should You Use Dower?

Use dower when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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