widow

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" .

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪd.əʊ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪd.oʊ/

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• Rhymes: -ɪdəʊ
• Hyphenation: wid‧ow

widow (plural widows)

1. A woman whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried); a woman in relation to her late spouse; feminine of widower.
2. (uncommon) A person whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried).
   • 2016 June 23, Traciy Reyes, “‘The Wedding March’: Hallmark Movie — June Bride Unwittingly Hires Wedding Singer Who Is Her Ex, Starring Josie Bissett, Jack Wagner”, in The Inquisitr News:

     Now that he is a widow, he tries to win Olivia back through the songs and the music that brought them together all those years ago, leaving Olivia torn between moving forward with Josh or falling into the arms of the man she truly loves.

3. (informal, in combination) A woman whose husband is often away pursuing a sport, etc.
   • 1988 November 27, Emily Parry, “For a Bowling Widow, a Split Isn't Just Two Lonely Pins”, in New York Times:

     I had been feeling like a bowling-alley widow, but knew he loved the game, so I suggested we join a mixed league.

4. (card games) An additional hand of cards dealt face down in some card games, to be used by the highest bidder.
5. (typography) A single line of type that ends a paragraph, carried over to the next page or column.

   Antonym: orphan

   Hyponym: runt

6. A venomous spider, of the genus Latrodectus.

• (woman whose spouse has died): widowess

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.