Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PAR-A-PHER'NA, or PAR-A-PHER-NA'LIA, n. [Gr. παραφερνα; παρα, beyond and φερνη, dower.]

The goods which a wife brings with her at her marriage, which she possesses beyond her dower or jointure, and which remain at her disposal after her husband's death. Such are her apparel and her ornaments, over which the executors have no control, unless when the assets are in sufficient to pay the debts. – Blackstone.