| 释义 |
▪ I. dowry|ˈdaʊərɪ|
Forms: 4–5 dowary(e, doweri(e, -rye, 7 dowarie, 6 (9) dowery; 4–7 dowrie, -rey, -rye, 5– dowry.
[a. AF. dowarie fem. = OF. douaire masc., dower, dowry: cf. med.L. doāria fem. (1273 in Du Cange), beside doārium, dōdārium, dōtārium, neut.: see dower.]
†1. = dower 1. Obs.
[1292Britton ii. xix. §3 Le garraunt de sa dowarie avaunt le assignement..de sa certeyne dowarrie. Ibid. v. iii. §5 Dowarie deit estre assigné entierement et ne mie par parcelerie.] c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6538 Ffrensche wymen wolde þey non take..To haue cleym þorow heritage, Ne dowarye þorow mariage. 1418E.E. Wills (1882) 32 Here Dowerye &..here parte belonging to here of al my godes. 1584D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 217 Who had for her Dowrie Lhannerchheidol. 1609Skene Reg. Maj. Table 76 The dowarie or great terce, perteining to ane woman. 1713Steele Englishman No. 28. 182 His wife is deprived of her Dowry. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. 76 If he replies that he accepts her, and gives her a dowry.
2. The money or property the wife brings her husband; the portion given with the wife; tocher, dot; cf. dower 2.
c1400Cato's Morals 58 in Cursor M. App. iv, Fle to take wife..take hir for na doweri. 1513Douglas æneis xi. vii. 182 Gif..this hald ryall Suld be thy drowry, and rich gift dotall. 1530Palsgr. 358 She that is good and fayre nede none other dowrie. 1644Milton Judgm. Bucer (1851) 333 That the Husband wrongfully divorcing his Wife, should give back her dowry. 1728Morgan Algiers I. iii. 36 Augustus married her to his Royal captive, and for a Dowry bestowed on him the Mauritanian and Numidian crowns. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. vi. 221 [He] has impoverished himself to provide his daughters' dowries.
†3. A present or gift given by a man to or for his bride. (In quot. 1717 given by the woman.) Obs.
c1450Henryson Compl. Creseide (R.) This roiall ring set with this rubie redd Which Troilus in dowrie to me sende. 1611Bible Gen. xxxiv. 12 Aske mee neuer so much dowrie and gift..but giue me the damsell to wife. 1717Croxall Ovid's Met. viii. i, To his dear tent I'd fly..confess my flame And grant him any dowry that he'd name.
4. fig. A ‘gift’ or talent with which any one is endowed by nature or fortune: an endowment.
c1440Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) ii. iv, The body of man..shall receyue fully the ryche dowary of vndedlynes. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 95 So are those crisped snakie golden locks..often knowne To be the dowrie of a second head. 1625Bacon Ess., Greatness Kingd. (Arb.) 491 Strength at Sea (which is one of the Principall Dowries of this Kingdome). 1841–4Emerson Ess., Prudence Wks. (Bohn) I. 97 Beauty should be the dowry of every man and woman. 1857H. Reed Lect. Brit. Poets ii. 73 A taste for poetry brings a rich dowry of intellectual and moral happiness.
5. Comb., as dowry-money; dowryless, dowry-seeking adjs.
1675tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. (1688) 67 Her Dowry-money not payed out of France. 1886W. J. Tucker E. Europe 267 The love-sick or dowry-seeking soldier. 1925Glasgow Herald 31 Dec. 4 The ‘Army man’..outraged the conventions of Breffne by marrying a dowryless maiden for love. 1949M. Mead Male & Female xv. 303 She came to be chosen in marriage for her dowryless self alone.
▪ II. † ˈdowry, v. Obs.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To give a dowry to.
1588Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 45 a, For to dowrie their wiues with whom they shalbe married. |