Chelsea Handler

I started my own business because my parents had no dowry for me, and I was worried. I ran it from their Martha Vineyard's summer house. I baby-sat for a 14-year-old boy all summer and was giving him time-outs, even though I was two years younger than him.

American Comedian

Sheikh Hasina

Dowry is still pervasive and spreading like cancer in the society. Apart from legal sanctions, there should be more social awareness on the issue so that people start to practice what they preach.

Bangladeshi Statesman

David Denman

Petruchio is a very clever guy and clearly has a lot of bravado and confidence. My feeling is that he's broke at the beginning of the play and needs a dowry to save face back home.

American Actor

Preston Sturges

Much as I disliked the un-American idea of marrying a lady with a dowry, I must admit that little Mrs. Godfrey's little private income put everything in a faintly different light.

American Writer

The concept of dowry is specific to certain cultures and may be unfamiliar or practiced differently elsewhere.

Cultural Specificity

Dowry can be a sensitive topic because it is linked to gender and economic dynamics within a family.

Sensitivity Required

Don't confuse 'dowry' with 'bride price'; dowry is given by the bride's family, bride price is paid to them.

Not a Bride Price

When used metaphorically, 'dowry' refers to a natural ability like beauty or intelligence, not actual wealth.

Figurative Use

This metaphorical definition is less common and primarily found in literary works or high-flown language.

Uncommon Usage

The figurative dowry usually highlights positive qualities or traits that are valued and admired.

Positive Attributes

 and I was conscious of the fact that what my parents were giving me was something unique. Because all of my best school friends were getting dolled up to get married with a lot of dowry, and here I was with a tennis racket and going to school and doing all kinds of extracurricular activities. I thought I must tell you this. Why I said this, is the background.

Kiran Bedi: How I remade...

 chil you know children they don't want to send their girls because the girls are mostly the resource of you know for dowry so when they do the marriage there is no money so they have to pay the cattles so and the young boys are very important

Lale Labuko: Rescuing...

 and grooms families to give their formal endorsement of the marriage we are sent by mr. Ellie who wants your daughter to marry his son do you agree my daughter from today to the end the bride's family paid a dowry months ago this is a final

The Man with Three Wives...

 them if they believe they get leprosy from from eating giraffe meat they only cut the tail and they will use that tail as a dowry to the bride's father if they want to ask for the for the hand of a bride so having the tails cut only

These Rare Giraffes Were...

 someday with a rich dowry and they would be married and off he went to the Caribbean the Whydah which was a slave ship that was built to carry slaves back from witih were 2 to 3 million slaves were exported from this part of Africa

Barry Clifford: Pirate...

 And I read her everything that I could, and we laughed, and we loved it, and it was the most important stage that I've ever stood on, surrounded by family, by remnants of a people who were given as a dowry to a relentless war

A young poet tells the...

 It's common among a privileged class capable of paying numerous dowries and keeping multiple homes. Instances of prominent social and political figures in polygamous relationships has led to the perception of polygamy

Taryn Simon: The stories...

 The couple are grateful to the gods that three of their four children, a son and two daughters, have survived past infancy. Many parents see daughters as a liability since they require dowries to find husbands.

A day in the life of an...

 a dowry of celebration Sunita has not one husband not two systems but three all brothers what must their life be like Westerners might find the practice shocking but for this community it works

Multiple Husbands PIPE...

 sinners will help him you sweet heaven so das Perry I'll give you this place my dowry for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them go to a nunnery up quickly to farewell