dowager
nounUK /ˈdaʊədʒə/ · CA, US /ˈdaʊəd͡ʒɚ/
Etymology From Middle French douagere, douagiere, from douage (“dower”), from the verb douer (“to endow”), from Latin dōtō (“to endow”), from dōs (“dowry”).
1
A widow holding property or title derived from her late husband.
- A reclusive dowager owned the pastures across the river, and her farmhands ran beef cattle on them.
- “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital, the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts,[…]!”1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
2
The widow of the holder of a title (usually a member of the peerage or a baronet); used in combination with the title she held during her husband's lifetime.
- the Earl and Countess of Whiteacre, and the Earl's mother, the dowager Countess of Whiteacre
- Sir George Sitwell, Bt. and Lady Sitwell, and Sir George's mother, the dowager Lady Sitwell
3
Any lady of dignified bearing, especially an older one.
- A stately dowager entered the ballroom, and all eyes were upon her.
- Derived terms
- dowagerish, dowagerism, dowagerlike, dowagerly, dowager's hump, empress dowager, queen dowager
- Related terms
- dower