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• half mourning
  half mourning

  noun

  a mourning garb less somber than deep mourning, usually following a period of deep mourning.
• half-mourning
  half-mourning

  noun

  dark grey clothes worn by some during a period after full formal mourning

half mourning

American  

noun

1. a mourning garb less somber than deep mourning, usually following a period of deep mourning.

2. the period during which it is worn.

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half-mourning British  

noun

1. dark grey clothes worn by some during a period after full formal mourning

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Etymology

Origin of half mourning

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

half mourning half-mourning

Her husband sits on one end of the frilly sofa, half asleep from the long night, half mourning.

From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee

To-day grays and bays are matched, and a person in half mourning recently appeared on a leading thoroughfare with a black trap and harness and white horses.

From The Complete Bachelor Manners for Men by Walter Germain

The western sky wore a rather ominous look of half mourning, and heavy grey and black clouds were whirling about and forming up in close order in a manner suggestive of rising wind.

From Above the Snow Line by Clinton Thomas Dent

To stand on a platform with her was to be made conspicuous, and Ruth generally found herself unconsciously going into half mourning for the day, when she went anywhere by rail with her aunt.

From The Danvers Jewels, and Sir Charles Danvers by Mary Cholmondeley

Her changed toilet was a matter of significance, almost a challenge to her aunt, who would readily construe a transformation from half mourning to violet crepe and amethysts.

From The Higher Court by Mary Stewart Daggett

Perhaps he would slide truffle slices under the skin for poulet en demi-deuil, the rarely seen chicken in half-mourning made famous by Eugènie Brazier, the chef who founded La Mère Brazier.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2020

In a white dress, with dark trimming, as in a beautiful half-mourning, she sat at the drawing-table with her eyes sharper than usual, buried in a picture.

From Titan: A Romance v. 1 (of 2) by Jean Paul Friedrich Richter

Accordingly, when O'Grady returned at night to the Castle, he laughingly told me that the house was in half-mourning.

From Jack Hinton The Guardsman by Charles James Lever

There was really a village called Nutgall; that was the one fact that the respectable person in half-mourning had brought along with his black leather bag and silk umbrella.

From Lost Sir Massingberd, v. 2/2 A Romance of Real Life by James Payn

During the shortest period black should be worn for two months, half-mourning for two months.

From Manners and Rules of Good Society or Solecisms to be Avoided by Anonymous