Chapter Doughtiness to Down of D by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

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

How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower!

Sir J. Davies.

Man in his primeval dower arrayed.

Wordsworth.

2. The property with which a woman is endowed; especially: (a) That which a woman brings to a husband in marriage; dowry. [Obs.]

His wife brought in dower Cilicia's crown.

Dryden.

(b) (Law) That portion of the real estate of a man which his widow enjoys during her life, or to which a woman is entitled after the death of her husband. Blackstone.

Dower, in modern use, is and should be distinguished from dowry. The former is a provision for a widow on her husband's death; the latter is a bride's portion on her marriage. Abbott.

Assignment of dower. See under Assignment.

Dowered
(Dow"ered) p. a. Furnished with, or as with, dower or a marriage portion. Shak.

Dowerless
(Dow"er*less), a. Destitute of dower; having no marriage portion. Shak.

Dowery
(Dow"er*y) n. See Dower.

Dowitcher
(Dow"itch*er) n. (Zoöl.) The red-breasted or gray snipe (Macrorhamphus griseus); - - called also brownback, and grayback.

Dowl
(Dowl) n. Same as Dowle.

Dowlas
(Dow"las) n. [Prob. fr. Doullens, a town of Picardy, in France, formerly celebrated for this manufacture.] A coarse linen cloth made in the north of England and in Scotland, now nearly replaced by calico. Shak.

Dowle
(Dowle) n. [Cf. OF. douille soft. Cf. Ductile.] Feathery or wool-like down; filament of a feather. Shak.

No feather, or dowle of a feather.

De Quincey.

Down
(Down) n. [Akin to LG. dune, dun, Icel. dunn, Sw. dun, Dan. duun, G. daune, cf. D. dons; perh. akin to E. dust.]

1. Fine, soft, hairy outgrowth from the skin or surface of animals or plants, not matted and fleecy like wool; esp.: (a) (Zoöl.) The soft under feathers of birds. They have short stems with soft rachis and bards and long threadlike barbules, without hooklets. (b) (Bot.) The pubescence of plants; the hairy crown or envelope of the seeds of certain plants, as of the thistle. (c) The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear.

And the first down begins to shade his face.

Dryden.

2. That which is made of down, as a bed or pillow; that which affords ease and repose, like a bed of down

When in the down I sink my head,
Sleep, Death's twin brother, times my breath.

Tennyson.

Thou bosom softness, down of all my cares!

Southern.

Down tree (Bot.), a tree of Central America the seeds of which are enveloped in vegetable wool.