| 释义 |
grass widow
grass widown.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 The grass in grass widow seems to have originally made reference to the makeshift bed of grass or hay (as opposed to a real bed with a mattress and sheets) on which a woman might lie with her lover before he rises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.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]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] Thesaurus| Noun | 1. | grass widow - a divorced woman or a woman who is separated from her husbanddivorceeadult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted" |
Translationsvedova biancagescheidengroene weduwemoederonbestorven weduweongetrouwdegrass widow
grass widow1. A woman who lives apart from her spouse for long periods due to a job location or other circumstances. The politician's wife has become a grass widow ever since he started campaigning for office.2. A woman who is divorced, separated, or estranged from or abandoned by her spouse. If you never get married, you'll never have to worry about becoming a grass widow.3. A mistress who is abandoned by her lover. The town referred to Judy as a grass widow after the man she was seeing decided to return to his wife.4. An unmarried mother. When they discovered that Maria had had her son out of wedlock, they cruelly called her a grass widow.See also: grass, widowgrass widowa woman abandoned by her husband. (The origin of this is not clear.) Jane's husband isn't dead, but she's a widow just the same—a grass widow. Bill ran off and left Mary a grass widow.See also: grass, widowgrass widowA woman who is separated from her husband, either by divorce or temporary absence. For example, She's a grass widow these days, with Herb traveling to golf tournaments all over the country . The expression dates from the 16th century, when it referred to the mother of an illegitimate child, grass presumably alluding to the open-air setting of the child's conception. See also: grass, widowgrass widowA woman temporarily or permanently separated from her husband. Many times during and after the American West was settled, farmers decided that they had enough of such a bleak life, whereupon they left their wives and children. These abandoned women were known as grass widows, left out to grass on the Great Plains. (The phrase is, however, much older. It was first used in 16th-century England to describe women of easy virtue who “slept” on beds of grass instead of mattresses and bed linen.) “Grass widow” came to be applied to the wives of traveling salesmen, professional athletes, and other men who spent much of their year on the road. As that usage became obsolete, similar phrases appeared: golf widow, fishing or hunting widow, and any other sport that claimed their hubby's attention.See also: grass, widowgrass widow
Synonyms for grass widownoun a divorced woman or a woman who is separated from her husbandSynonymsRelated Words |