Definition

Noun: * Widow's weeds: A black garment, typically a dress or ensemble of clothing, worn by a widow as a sign of mourning. The term specifically denotes the traditional, somber attire associated with bereavement.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • In Victorian times, a woman was expected to wear widow's weeds for at least two years after her husband's death.
  • The painting depicted a somber figure in full widow's weeds, standing alone by the graveside.
  • The custom of wearing widow's weeds has become much less common in modern society.

Advanced Usage

• The phrase is often used historically or in literary contexts to evoke a specific image of formal, prolonged mourning.
• While "weeds" here refers to garments, it is an archaic usage unrelated to the common word for unwanted plants. It originates from the Old English (garment).

Variants and Related Words

• Weeds (archaic, plural noun): Garments or clothing, especially of a specified kind (e.g., ). In modern English, this sense is only preserved in the fixed phrase "widow's weeds."
• Mourning clothes/attire (noun phrase): A more general, modern term for clothing worn to express bereavement.

Synonyms

• Mourning dress
• Black (in the context of mourning attire, e.g., "She was dressed in black.")
• Funeral attire

Related Idioms

• In mourning: The state of grieving, often signaled by wearing dark or black clothing.
  • After the loss, the entire family was in mourning for several months.
• Wear black: To dress in black clothing, often for a funeral or as a sign of mourning.
  • It is customary to wear black to the funeral service.

Noun

1. a black garment (dress) worn by a widow as a sign of mourning