grass widow

Grass perhaps relates to casual bedding.[1] Compare Dutch grasweduwe, Swedish gräsänka, German Strohwitwe.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɑːs ˌwɪdəʊ/

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grass widow (plural grass widows)

1. An unmarried woman who has lived with several different men; a former mistress. [from 16th c.]
2. A married woman whose spouse is away. [from 19th c.]
   • 1941, James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce, New York: Random House:

     Then Mrs. Gessler shook her head. "Well, you've joined the biggest army on earth. You're the great American institution that never gets mentioned on Fourth of July -- a grass widow with two small children to support. The dirty bastards."

   • Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated by Marian Magid and Elizabeth Pollet Collected stories : Gimpel the fool to The letter writer: Gimpel the fool & other stories, The Spinoza of Market Street, Short Friday & other stories, The séance & other stories, "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy", New York : Library of America : Distributed in the United States by Penguin Putnam, p. 461:

     And who ever heard of a demon sending his wife a divorce? When a demon marries a daughter of mortals,he usually lets her remain a grass widow.

   • 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 226:

     I was disappointed when it was her who opened the door and said, ‘Ah, I had a feeling you were thinking about me! Come in, come in, do! I am a grass widow.’

• grass-widowed
• grass widower
• grass widowhood

• W. Martin; G[uy] A. J. Tops, et al. (1998) Van Dale Groot Woordenboek Engels–Nederlands [Van Dale Great Dictionary, English–Dutch], volume I, 3rd edition, Utrecht; Antwerp: Van Dale Lexicografie, →ISBN.

• Anatoly Liberman (2009-02-18), “Grass Widows and Straw Men”, in OUPblog‎, archived from the original on 2010-06-28
• Michael Quinion (1996–2024), “Grass widow”, in World Wide Words.