Brewer's: Weeping Brides

A notion long prevailed in this country that it augured ill for a matrimonial alliance if the bride did not weep profusely at the wedding.

As no witch could shed more than three tears, and those from her left eye only, a copious flow of tears gave assurance to the husband that the lady had not “plighted her troth” to Satan, and was no witch.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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