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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

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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

There I sat down, finding a sad significance in the delicate suggestion of half mourning.

From In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield

In France, etiquette prescribes mourning for a husband for one year and six weeks—that is, six months of deep mourning, six of ordinary, and six weeks of half mourning.

From Manners and Social Usages by Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood

The French have three grades of mourning—deep, ordinary, and half mourning.

From Manners and Social Usages by Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood

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

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

She travels from one watering-place to another, wears mourning or half-mourning, is quite interesting, and always has a crowd buzzing around her.

From Waldfried A Novel by Berthold Auerbach

But a woman, a woman in half-mourning, was different, and besides, this was a different woman.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 13 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers by Elbert Hubbard

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

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