dowager

From Middle French douagere, douagiere, from douage (“dower”), from the verb douer (“to endow”), from Latin dōtō (“to endow”), from dōs (“dowry”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊədʒə/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊəd͡ʒɚ/

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dowager (plural dowagers)

2. 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.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “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, […]!”

3. Any lady of dignified bearing, especially an older one.

   A stately dowager entered the ballroom, and all eyes were upon her.

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