View synonyms for widow

widow

[ wid-oh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

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

widow

/ ˈwɪdəʊ /

noun

a woman who has survived her husband, esp one who has not remarried
informal.
usually with a modifier a woman whose husband frequently leaves her alone while he indulges in a sport, etc
a golf widow
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
(in some card games) an additional hand or set of cards exposed on the table

verb

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

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Derived Forms

ˈwidowhood, noun

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Other Words From

wid·ow·ly adjective

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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

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Word History and Origins

Origin of widow¹

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

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Idioms and Phrases

see grass widow .

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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