widow
- a woman who has lost her spouse by death and has not remarried.
- Cards. an additional hand or part of a hand, as one dealt to the table.
- Printing.
- a short last line of a paragraph, especially one less than half of the full measure or one consisting of only a single word.
- the last line of a paragraph when it is carried over to the top of the following page away from the rest of the paragraph.Compare orphan(def 4).
- a woman often left alone because her husband devotes his free time to a hobby or sport (used in combination).Compare golf widow.
- to make (someone) a widow: She was widowed by the war.
- to deprive of anything cherished or needed: A surprise attack widowed the army of its supplies.
- Obsolete.
- to endow with a widow's right.
- to survive as the widow of.
Origin of widow
Examples from the Web for widow
Contemporary Examples
That was accomplished by cops such as the one whose picture was clutched so tightly by his widow on Sunday.
Marjorie Wilkes Huntley was a New Age feminist, a widow, and a librarian.
Wonder Woman’s Creation Story Is Wilder Than You Could Ever ImagineTom Arnold-Forster
November 3, 2014
The truth is likely closer to what the widow told The Daily Beast in late July.
The results would aid in the criminal investigation surrounding the widow, who stands accused of elder abuse.
Invasion of the Celebrity Body Snatchers, From Charlie Chaplin to Casey KasemMelissa Leon
July 19, 2014
Last year, his widow and his brother pulled 150 of them for posthumous publication, with a plan to release eight to 10 per year.
Historical Examples
The rest of the estate went to the testator's widow for life, and then to charity.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
I am in the habit of boarding at a quiet house kept by a widow.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
"I don't believe we shall quarrel on that point," said the widow, smiling.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Since 1830 the widow again supplicated the Tribune des Chambres.
She was a widow, and had loved her husband, and her sky was still tinged with grey.
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
widow
- a woman who has survived her husband, esp one who has not remarried
- (usually with a modifier) informal a woman whose husband frequently leaves her alone while he indulges in a sport, etca golf widow
- printing a short line at the end of a paragraph, esp one that occurs as the top line of a page or columnCompare orphan (def. 3)
- (in some card games) an additional hand or set of cards exposed on the table
- to cause to become a widow or a widower
- to deprive of something valued or desirable
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for widow
n.
Old English widewe, widuwe, from Proto-Germanic *widewo (cf. Old Saxon widowa, Old Frisian widwe, Middle Dutch, Dutch weduwe, Dutch weeuw, Old High German wituwa, German Witwe, Gothic widuwo), from PIE adj. *widhewo (cf. Sanskrit vidhuh "lonely, solitary," vidhava "widow;" Avestan vithava, Latin vidua, Old Church Slavonic vidova, Russian vdova, Old Irish fedb, Welsh guedeu "widow;" Persian beva, Greek eitheos "unmarried man;" Latin viduus "bereft, void"), from root *weidh- "to separate" (cf. second element in Latin di-videre "to divide;" see with).
As a prefix to a name, attested from 1570s. Meaning "short line of type" (especially at the top of a column) is 1904 print shop slang. Widow's mite is from Mark xii:43. Widow's peak is from the belief that hair growing to a point on the forehead is an omen of early widowhood, suggestive of the "peak" of a widow's hood. Widow maker "anything lethally dangerous" first recorded 1945, originally among loggers, in reference to dead trees, etc. The widow bird (1747) so-called in reference to the long black tail feathers of the males, suggestive of widows' veils.
v.
c.1300; see widow (n.). Related: Widowed; widowing.
Idioms and Phrases with widow
widow
see grass widow.