dowry /ˈdaʊəɹi/noun 5verb 1forms 3 noun5 •Payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. •Payment by the groom or his family to the bride's family. •A natural gift or talent. •(informal) A large amount.But no palace had so fair a ceiling; for from the wooden beams were suspended a whole dowry of copper vessels—pails, cauldrons, water pots, of every colour from lustrous black to the palest pink. — 1928 •(no longer used) Inheritance from a deceased husband to his widow. verb1 •To bestow a dowry upon.1976, Graham Anderson, Studies in Lucian's Comic Fiction, Page 19 — 1911 formsdowried · dowrying · dowries
