dower

The part of or interest in a deceased husband's property provided to his widow, usually in the form of a life estate.

Property given by a groom to his bride or her family, at or before their wedding, in order to legitimize the marriage

• […] how features are abroad, / I am skill-less of; but, by my modesty,— / The jewel in my dower,—I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you […]
• In New Bedford, fathers, they say, give whales for dowers to their daughters, and portion off their nieces with a few porpoises a-piece.

That with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift.obsolete

• How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower!
• Man in his primeval dower arrayed.

To give a dower or dowry to.transitive

• He had married a lady well educated and softly nurtured, but not dowered with worldly wealth.

To endow.transitive

• It was nothing of this earth, but a piece of the great outside; and as such dowered with outside properties and obedient to outside laws.

Alternative spelling of dougher.alt-ofalternative