1789: Grass-Widow Nov 7, 2019

'Widow' now refers to a woman whose husband has died, but in older compounds, it meant anything but. Indeed, the word originally referred to any lonely person, but eventually extended to loneliness or separation from marriage. In compounds like 'grass-widow' or 'straw-widow', however, the resulting meaning was 'mistress', with grass and straw here referring to basic bedding, but these words too eventually connoted a woman who had children out of marriage. Moreover, 'grass-gown' in the phrase "give a woman a grass-gown' was a euphemism for the loss of virginity.
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