widow

[ wid-oh ]

/ ˈwɪd oʊ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR widow ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

verb (used with object), wid·owed, wid·ow·ing.

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.

RELATED WORDS

dowager, relict

Nearby words

widgeon, widget, widgie, widish, widnes, widow, widow bird, widow woman, widow's benefit, widow's cruse, widow's mite

Origin of widow

before 900; (noun) Middle English wid(e)we, Old English widuwe, wydewe; cognate with German Witwe, Gothic widuwo, Latin vidua (feminine of viduus bereaved), Sanskrit vidhavā widow; (v.) Middle English, derivative of the noun

Related formswid·ow·ly, adjectiveun·wid·owed, adjective

Can be confusedwidow widower

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for widow

That was accomplished by cops such as the one whose picture was clutched so tightly by his widow on Sunday.
Funeral Protest Is Too Much for NYPD Union Boss|Michael Daly|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Marjorie Wilkes Huntley was a New Age feminist, a widow, and a librarian.
Wonder Woman’s Creation Story Is Wilder Than You Could Ever Imagine|Tom Arnold-Forster|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The truth is likely closer to what the widow told The Daily Beast in late July.
How Bureaucrats Let Ebola Spread to Nigeria|Michael Daly|August 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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 Kasem|Melissa Leon|July 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Last year, his widow and his brother pulled 150 of them for posthumous publication, with a plan to release eight to 10 per year.
The Drunken Downfall of Evangelical America's Favorite Painter|Zac Bissonnette|June 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I have already explained to Lawrence and Basswood that it is a mistake, and that the widow will be paid all that is due her.
Dave Porter and the Runaways|Edward Stratemeyer
Wasn't that the young man who married the Widow Finkelstein?'
The Grandchildren of the Ghetto|Israel Zangwill
When she became a widow she resumed her place with renewed power.
Gordon Keith|Thomas Nelson Page
The widow's hands were clasped and her eyes wandered vacantly from one to the other of her strange visitors.
Choice Readings for the Home Circle|Anonymous
The great question now was whether they could approach the widow and her daughter otherwise than through Serjeant Bluestone.
Lady Anna|Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for widow

widow

/ (ˈwɪdəʊ) /

noun

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

verb (tr; usually passive)

to cause to become a widow or a widower

to deprive of something valued or desirable

Derived Formswidowhood, noun

Word Origin for widow

Old English widuwe; related to German Witwe, Latin vidua (feminine of viduus deprived), Sanskrit vidhavā

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for widow (1 of 2)

widow

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.

widow

noun

verb (used with object), wid·owed, wid·ow·ing.

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RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of widow

Examples from the Web for widow

British Dictionary definitions for widow

widow

noun

verb (tr; usually passive)

Word Origin for widow

Word Origin and History for widow (1 of 2)

widow

Word Origin and History for widow (1 of 2)

widow

Idioms and Phrases with widow

widow