dowager


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Related to dowager: dowager hump, Empress Dowager Cixi

dow·a·ger

 (dou′ə-jər)
n.
1. A widow who holds a title or property derived from her deceased husband.
2. An elderly woman of high social station.

[Obsolete French douagière, from douage, dower, from douer, to endow, from Latin dōtāre, from dōs, dōt-, dowry; see dō- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dowager

(ˈdaʊədʒə)
n
1.
a. a widow possessing property or a title obtained from her husband
b. (as modifier): the dowager duchess.
2. a wealthy or dignified elderly woman
[C16: from Old French douagiere, from douage dower]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dow•a•ger

(ˈdaʊ ə dʒər)

n.
1. a woman who holds some title or property from her deceased husband.
2. an elderly woman of stately dignity.
adj.
3. pertaining to or characteristic of a dowager.
[1520–30; < Middle French douag(i)ere, derivative of douage dower]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.dowager - a widow holding property received from her deceased husbanddowager - a widow holding property received from her deceased husband
widow, widow woman - a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

dowager

[ˈdaʊədʒəʳ]
A. Nviuda f de un noble
B. CPD dowager duchess Nduquesa f viuda
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dowager

[ˈdaʊədʒər] ndouairière f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dowager

n(adlige) Witwe; dowager duchessHerzoginwitwe f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dowager

[ˈdaʊədʒəʳ] nvedova titolata
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
The Bath paper one morning announced the arrival of the Dowager Viscountess Dalrymple, and her daughter, the Honourable Miss Carteret; and all the comfort of No.
Neither Lady Russell nor Mr Elliot could admire the letter; but it did all that was wanted, in bringing three lines of scrawl from the Dowager Viscountess.
"But tell me," he added with studied carelessness as if it had only just occurred to him, though the question he was about to ask was the chief motive of his visit, "is it true that the Dowager Empress wants Baron Funke to be appointed first secretary at Vienna?
Prince Vasili wished to obtain this post for his son, but others were trying through the Dowager Empress Marya Fedorovna to secure it for the baron.
One wintry Saturday when Clennam was at the cottage, the Dowager Mrs Gowan drove up, in the Hampton Court equipage which pretended to be the exclusive equipage of so many individual proprietors.
The demd old dowager will faint with grief and rage; the other two will say "He is married, he has made away with himself, it is a demd thing, it is all up!" They will hate each other demnebly, and wish you dead and buried.
But the three most distinguished--partly, perhaps, because the tallest figures of the band--were the Dowager Lady Ingram and her daughters, Blanche and Mary.
His last position had been with the Dowager Duchess of Waveney, the well-known political hostess, who--even had the somewhat generous lines on which she was built not prevented the possibility of such a thing--would have perished rather than dance barefooted in a public restaurant.
Just at the very moment of their entrance, the Dowager Lady Snuphanuph and two other ladies of an ancient and whist-like appearance, were hovering over an unoccupied card-table; and they no sooner set eyes upon Mr.
"Where can all the strength of those medicines go, my dear?" said the mild but stately dowager, turning to Mrs.
Whilst the wax-lights were burning in the castle of Blois, around the inanimate body of Gaston of Orleans, that last representative of the past; whilst the bourgeois of the city were thinking out his epitaph, which was far from being a panegyric; whilst madame the dowager, no longer remembering that in her young days she had loved that senseless corpse to such a degree as to fly the paternal palace for his sake, was making, within twenty paces of the funeral apartment, her little calculations of interest and her little sacrifices of pride; other interests and other prides were in agitation in all the parts of the castle into which a living soul could penetrate.
Honeychurch, which is, I believe, a social blunder, but it pleased her, and she introduced Cecil rather indiscriminately to some stuffy dowagers.