Wiktionary

widow

English

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Etymology

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PIE word
*dwóh₁

From Middle English widwe, from Old English widuwe, from Proto-West Germanic *widuwā, from Proto-Germanic *widuwǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂, possibly from *h₁weydʰh₁-, *widʰ- (“to separate, split, cleave, divide”), whence also wood from Old English widu, wudu.

Cognates include German Witwe, Dutch weduwe, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍅𐍉 (widuwō), Old Irish fedb, Latin vidua, Old Church Slavonic въдова (vŭdova), Sanskrit विधवा (vidhavā) and Persian بیوه (bive, bêva), Middle Persian wēwag, Avestan viðavā- "widow" .

Pronunciation

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Noun

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widow (plural widows)

 
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A widow spider (sense 4)
  1. A person whose spouse is absent:
    1. A person who has lost a spouse and not remarried:
      1. A woman whose spouse (traditionally husband) has died (and who has not remarried); a woman in relation to her late spouse; feminine of widower.
      2. (uncommon) Any person whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried).
    2. (by extension, informal, often humorous or sarcastic, in combination) A woman whose husband is often away pursuing a hobby, career, etc.
      My aunt is a football widow in the fall and a basketball widow in the winter and early spring.
  2. (card games) An additional hand of cards dealt face down in some card games, to be used by the highest bidder.
  3. (typography) A single line of type that ends a paragraph but is separated from it by being carried over to the next page or column.
    Antonym: orphan
    Hyponym: runt
  5. Any venomous spider of the genus Latrodectus (called "widows" because of the practice of sexual cannibalism observed among many of these species).

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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single line of type carried over to the next page

Verb

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widow (third-person singular simple present widows, present participle widowing, simple past and past participle widowed)

  1. (transitive) To make a widow or widower of someone; to cause the death of the spouse of.
  2. (transitive, figurative) To strip of anything valued.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto IX:
      Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now,
      My friend, the brother of my love.
      My Arthur! whom I shall not see
      ⁠Till all my widow’d race be run;
      ⁠Dear as the mother to the son,
      More than my brothers are to me.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To endow with a widow's right.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To be widow to.

Translations

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