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Webster 1913 Edition

Dowry

Dow′ry

(dou′ry̆)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Dowries
(dou′rĭz)
.
[Contr. from
dowery
; cf. LL.
dotarium
. See
Dower
.]
1.
A gift; endowment.
[Obs.]
Spenser.
2.
The money, goods, or estate, which a woman brings to her husband in marriage; a bride’s portion on her marriage. See Note under
Dower
.
Shak. Dryden.
3.
A gift or presents for the bride, on espousal. See
Dower
.
Ask me never so much
dowry
and gift, and I will give . . .; but give me the damsel to wife.
Gen. xxxiv. 12.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dowry

DOWRY

,
Noun.
[See Dower. This word differs not from dower. It is the same word differently written, and the distinction made between them is arbitrary.]
1.
The money, goods or estate which a woman brings to her husband in marriage; the portion given with a wife.
2.
The reward paid for a wife.
3.
A gift; a fortune, given.

Definition 2024

dowry

dowry

English

Noun

dowry ‎(plural dowries)

  1. Payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage.[1]
  2. (less common) Payment by the groom or his family to the bride's family: bride price.
    • 2009, Peter Uvin, Life after Violence: A People's Story of Burundi, page 125:
      The family of the groom makes sure the new couple has a house to live in and land to cultivate; they will also pay for the dowry (crucial, for without dowry the new father has no rights over his children; Trouwborst 1962: 136ff.)
  3. (obsolete) Dower.
  4. A natural gift or talent.

Antonyms

Hypernyms

  • marriage portion

Related terms

Translations

Verb

dowry ‎(third-person singular simple present dowries, present participle dowrying, simple past and past participle dowried)

  1. To bestow a dowry upon.
    • 1999, Judith Everard, Michael C. E. Jones, Charters Duchess Constance Br, Page xvi
    • 2013 Noreen Giffney, Margrit Shildrick, Theory on the Edge: Irish Studies and the Politics of Sexual Difference, Page 62
    • 1911, Aida Rodman De Milt, Ways and Days Out of London, Page 108
    • 1976, Graham Anderson, Studies in Lucian's Comic Fiction, Page 19

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gary Ferraro & Susan Andreatta, Cultural Anthropology, 8th edn. (Belmont, Cal: Wadsworth, 2010), 223.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English dowerie, from Anglo-Norman dowarie, douarie, from Old French douaire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs.

Pronunciation

Similar Results