widow

[wid-oh]

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.

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

Related Words for widow

dowager, relict

Examples from the Web for widow

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
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
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

Historical Examples of widow

The rest of the estate went to the testator's widow for life, and then to charity.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
I am in the habit of boarding at a quiet house kept by a widow.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
"I don't believe we shall quarrel on that point," said the widow, smiling.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Since 1830 the widow again supplicated the Tribune des Chambres.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
She was a widow, and had loved her husband, and her sky was still tinged with grey.
Viviette
William J. Locke

British Dictionary definitions for widow

widow

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

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.

c.1300; see widow (n.). Related: Widowed; widowing.

Idioms and Phrases with widow

widow

see grass widow.