dowerless en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈdaʊ.ə(ɹ).ləs/
Etymology
Etymology tree English dower Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English dowerless From dower + -less.
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Lacking a dowry; dowryless.
A carol (Greene no. 315) which relates how St. Nicholas helped three dowerless girls employs, in stanzas 4-6, a type of incremental repetition in which each daughter speaks in turn […]
1980, Mary Diane McCabe, “Chapter Three: The Miracle of the Cock”, in A critical study of some traditional religious ballads, Durham University, page 37: