dower house

American  

noun

British.

1. the dwelling that is intended for or occupied by the widowed mother of the owner of an ancestral estate.

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dower house British  

noun

1. a house set apart for the use of a widow, often on her deceased husband's estate

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Etymology

Origin of dower house

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dower house

David shivered a little as he threw in the clutch, passed on round the back of the building and through the iron gates of the ancient dower house.

From The Wicked Marquis by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)

It was the inkyo, the "shadow dwelling" or dower house.

From Kimono by Paris, John

A dower house now, it had once been the principal mansion of his family.

From The Tenants of Malory Volume 1 of 3 by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan

Mr. Robert Arbuthnot is a retired Anglo-Indian official, and he and his wife have now lived for two years in the dower house which forms part of the Barwell Moat estate.

From The End of Her Honeymoon by Lowndes, Marie Belloc

This dower house Mrs. Gladstone converted into a training home for the girls, under the charge of a very charming nurse of her own children, who had lately married.

From McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 3, August, 1893 by Various