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.

---

dower house British  

noun

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

---

Etymology

Origin of dower house

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dower house

The question was whether I should be taken to the house her step-mother occupied at Bedley Corner, the Carnaby dower house, or down to Carnaby's place at Easting.

From Tono Bungay by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Would Aldous insist on carrying his wife off to the dower house on the other side of the estate? or would they be content to stay in the old place with the old people?

From Marcella by Mrs. Humphry Ward

Used to be a kind of dower house once upon a time, they say.”

From The Jervaise Comedy by J. D. (John Davys) Beresford

Your uncle says your grandmother left your father her dower house and estate, because she knew his father would cut him off.

From Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter

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 Marie Belloc Lowndes