grass widow

== English == === Etymology === The word appears in the Germanic languages in different forms and senses, evidently being ancient, but the oldest (both 16th century) are English grasse wydowe and Middle Low German grasswēdewe, both meaning “girl who has lost her virginity, harlot”. Therefore “grass” in all likelihood refers to a bedding for premarital sex. Compare the expression green gown (“loss of virginity”). The girl became a “widow” in the sense that she was neither married nor a virgin. The sense then developed through “married woman who has relations in her husband’s absence” to the contemporary, softened meaning. Compare Dutch grasweduwe, Swedish gräsänka, German Strohwitwe. Etymonline cites the book Vocabulary of East Anglia (1830) by Rev. Robert Forby, which records the term in that region as essentially referring to a woman abandoned after an informal marriage. === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹɑːs ˌwɪdəʊ/ === Noun === grass widow (plural grass widows) A married woman whose spouse is away. [from 19th c.] Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated by Marian Magid and Elizabeth Pollet Collected stories : Gimpel the fool to The letter writer: Gimpel the fool & other stories, The Spinoza of Market Street, Short Friday & other stories, The séance & other stories, "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy", New York : Library of America : Distributed in the United States by Penguin Putnam, p. 461: And who ever heard of a demon sending his wife a divorce? When a demon marries a daughter of mortals,he usually lets her remain a grass widow. (obsolete) An unmarried woman who has had premarital sexual relations; a former mistress. [from 16th c.] ==== Derived terms ==== grass-widowed grass widower grass widowhood ==== Translations ==== === References === W. Martin with G[uy] A. J. Tops, et al. (1998), Van Dale Groot Woordenboek Engels–Nederlands [Van Dale Great Dictionary, English–Dutch], 3rd edition, volume I, Utrecht; Antwerp: Van Dale Lexicografie, →ISBN. === Further reading === Anatoly Liberman (18 February 2009), “Grass Widows and Straw Men”, in OUPblog‎[1], archived from the original on 28 June 2010 Michael Quinion (1996–2026), “Grass widow”, in World Wide Words.