Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
DOWRY, in the Eastern acceptation of the word, means that which the husband pays for his wife, instead of that which the wife receives from her father and brings to her husband. Gen 29:18; Gen 34:12; 1 Sam 18:25. So, Ex 22:16-17; Josh 15:18, a man was required to pay a certain sum as dowry or a nuptial-present, and this was to be according to the rank the woman sustained, and such as the fathers of virgins of the same rank were accustomed to
receive for their daughters. Hos 3:2. See Marriage.