widow’s weeds

American  

[wid-ohz weedz] / ˈwɪd oʊz ˈwidz /

plural noun

1. mourning clothes worn by a woman after the death of her spouse.

   She was still in widow’s weeds, but starting to attend more social engagements.

---

Etymology

Origin of widow’s weeds

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

Trina wears her wampum beads She fills her drawing book with line Sewing lace on widow’s weeds And filigree on leaf and vine.

From New York Times • Apr. 10, 2024

Glazed with jet lag, I found myself staring unabashedly into the cart of an old woman in widow's weeds.

From Salon • Jun. 4, 2019

Please stop imposing some Victorian mandate that she must wear widow’s weeds for some period of time that you dictate.

From Slate • Jul. 1, 2014

Victoria was already dead, but had lived into the 20th century as Britain's longest-surviving monarch, still dressed in her archaic widow's weeds.

From The Guardian • Jun. 2, 2012

Judy, still wearing her widow’s weeds, was singing a doleful ballad when Molly hurried in, called “By the Bonnie Milldams o’ Binnorie.”

From Molly Brown's Junior Days by Speed, Nell