grass widow

American  

noun

1. a woman who is separated, divorced, or lives apart from her husband.

2. a woman whose husband is away from home frequently or for a long time, as on business or to pursue a sport or hobby.

3. Archaic.

   1. a discarded mistress.

   2. a woman who has borne an illegitimate child.

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grass widow British  

noun

1. a woman divorced, separated, or living away from her spouse

2. a woman whose spouse is regularly away for short periods

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grass widow Idioms  

1. A woman who is separated from her husband, either by divorce or temporary absence. For example, She's a grass widow these days, with Herb traveling to golf tournaments all over the country. The expression dates from the 16th century, when it referred to the mother of an illegitimate child, grass presumably alluding to the open-air setting of the child's conception.

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Other Word Forms

• grasswidowhood noun

Etymology

Origin of grass widow

1520–30; the first element perhaps originally alluding to a bed of grass, hay, or the like; compare Dutch grasweduwe, German Strohwittwe literally, straw-widow

Example Sentences

“There’s grass widows, yellow bells, spring gold and many species of desert parsley bloom in the spring, including the vibrant purple-red Columbia desert parsley.”

From Seattle Times

The conservancy maintains miles of pathways inside the ranch and at Cowiche Canyon Uplands, with shrub-steppe habitat zones for stunning spring-summer wildflower shows of prairie star flower, grass widow and other ornaments.

From Seattle Times

Though he is frequently on the road — making Eve, in one of the novel’s rich vernacular details, a “grass widow” — he disdains Leon at home.

From New York Times

There were one or two soldiers on leave; there was a Cambridge don; there were three grass widows.

From Project Gutenberg

Mary," he said, looking at her sternly, "if you neglect me this way again I shall go off and marry a grass widow.

From Project Gutenberg