Matron vs Dowager - What's the difference?
matron | dowager | Related terms |
A mature woman; a wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children; a woman of staid or motherly manners.
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:your wives, your daughters, your matrons , and your maids
*(Thomas Fuller) (1606-1661)
*:grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a matron before she was a mother
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*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron ; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,.
A housekeeper; especially, a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public institution; a head nurse in a hospital.
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A widow holding property or title derived from her late husband.
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*:“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers , the worn-out, passionless men, the enervated matrons of the summer capital, the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts,!”
Any lady of dignified bearing.