widow

[ wid-oh ]

noun

1. a woman who has lost her spouse by death and has not remarried.
2. Cards. an additional hand or part of a hand, as one dealt to the table.
3. Printing.
   1. a short last line of a paragraph, especially one less than half of the full measure or one consisting of only a single word.
   2. 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 ).
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.

1. to make (someone) a widow:

   She was widowed by the war.

2. to deprive of anything cherished or needed:

   A surprise attack widowed the army of its supplies.

3. Obsolete.
   1. to endow with a widow's right.
   2. to survive as the widow of.

widow

/ ˈwɪdəʊ /

noun

1. a woman who has survived her husband, esp one who has not remarried
2. informal.
   usually with a modifier a woman whose husband frequently leaves her alone while he indulges in a sport, etc

   a golf widow

3. printing a short line at the end of a paragraph, esp one that occurs as the top line of a page or column Compare orphan
4. (in some card games) an additional hand or set of cards exposed on the table

verb

1. to cause to become a widow or a widower
2. to deprive of something valued or desirable

Derived Forms

• ˈwidowhood, noun

Other Words From

• wid·ow·ly adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of widow¹

First recorded 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”; (verb) Middle English, derivative of the noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of widow¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

see grass widow .

Example Sentences

McConville, a widow ripped from her home as her 10 crying children helplessly watch, personifies what happens when the battlefield extends into civilian neighborhoods.

From Salon

We see a widow struggling to raise her kids in West Belfast’s Divis Flats, a public housing complex.

From Salon

More than 15 years after the death of heavy metal icon Ronnie James Dio, his widow and friends are continuing the fight against cancer on his behalf.

From Los Angeles Times

The family returned to Devon, with Phyllis eventually moving to Red Lodge, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, as a widow, to live with her son, Peter, and daughter-in-law Etwin.

From BBC

Soe Soe Aye, a widow in her 60s, has been left without word from her son, who was conscripted six months ago.

From BBC