grass widow
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grass widow
n.
1. A woman who is divorced or separated from her husband.
2. A woman whose husband is temporarily absent.
3. An abandoned mistress.
4. The mother of a child born out of wedlock.
[Perhaps in allusion to a bed of grass or straw.]
Word History: Grass widow is first recorded in 1528, and originally referred to an unmarried woman who has lived with one or more men, a discarded mistress, or a woman who has borne a child out of wedlock. The grass in grass widow seems to have originally made reference to the makeshift bed of grass or hay (as opposed to a real bed with a mattress and sheets) on which a woman might lie with her lover before he rises and abandons her—leaving her a widow, so to speak, in the grass. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, grass and the color green in general had sexual connotations, in allusion to the green stains left on clothing after rolling in the hay. (The lyrics of the 16th-century song Greensleeves, for example, give voice to the sufferings of an abandoned lover.) By the middle of the 19th century, however, grass widow had come to refer mainly to a wife whose husband is temporarily absent or one who is living apart from her husband. In colonial India, for example, it was used of British women who, during the hot season, went off to enjoy the cool of the hills while their husbands were stuck at their jobs in the heat of the plains. Although the reason for the change in meaning is not known with any certainty, people may have interpreted the grass in grass widow as equivalent to pasture, as in the expression out to pasture. Nowadays, the term grass widow can also refer to a wife who has separated from her husband and to a divorced woman.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
grass widow
n
1. a woman divorced, separated, or living away from her spouse
2. a woman whose spouse is regularly away for short periods
[C16, meaning a discarded mistress: perhaps an allusion to a grass bed as representing an illicit relationship; compare bastard; C19 in the modern sense]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
grass′ wid′ow
n.
1. a woman who is separated, divorced, or lives apart from her husband.
2. a woman whose husband is often away from home.
3. Chiefly Dial.
a. a mistress who has been cast aside.
b. a woman who has borne an illegitimate child.
[1520–30; the first element perhaps orig. alluding to a bed of grass, hay, or the like; compare Dutch grasweduwe, German Strohwitwe literally, straw-widow]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| Noun | 1. | grass widow - a divorced woman or a woman who is separated from her husband adult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
gescheidengroene weduwemoederonbestorven weduweongetrouwde
grass widow
n → vedova biancaCollins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995