Grasswidow

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A Grasswidow (or Grass-widow, grass widow) is a wife whose husband will return after a limited period of time away, usually after a voyage. In a second sense it can refer to a woman divorced or separated from her husband. The male equivalent is a grasswidower.

Contents 1 Term 2 See also 2.1 Other uses 2.2 Arts 2.3 Music 3 Sources

[edit] Term

The "grass" refers to the mattress, which used to be filled with grass: The "widow" is left back on the grass/mattress. "Grasswidower" can carry the implication that the husband is helpless when left home alone by his wife, especially in the kitchen. In dialect, it can also refer to a discarded mistress, or a woman who has an illegitimate child.

[edit] See also

[edit] Other uses

• Olsynium, or "Grasswidow" (plant)

[edit] Arts

• Gustave Kerker, The Grass Widows
• Teri Holbrook, The Grass Widow
• Edith Pargeter, The Grass-Widow's Tale
• Snoo Wilson, The Grass Widow
• Max Linder, Troubles of a Grasswidower (silent film short, 1908)

[edit] Music

• Povel Ramel, Gräsänkling Blues (Grasswidower Blues, Sweden)

[edit] Sources

• Merriam-Webster on the term grasswidow