Widow

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Widow \Wid"ow\, a.
     Widowed. "A widow woman." --1 Kings xvii. 9. "This widow
     lady." --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Widow \Wid"ow\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Widowed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Widowing}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To reduce to the condition of a widow; to bereave of a
        husband; -- rarely used except in the past participle.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Though in thus city he
              Hath widowed and unchilded many a one,
              Which to this hour bewail the injury. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To deprive of one who is loved; to strip of anything
        beloved or highly esteemed; to make desolate or bare; to
        bereave.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The widowed isle, in mourning,
              Dries up her tears.                   --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Tress of their shriveled fruits
              Are widowed, dreary storms o'er all prevail. --J.
                                                    Philips.
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              Mourn, widowed queen; forgotten Sion, mourn.
                                                    --Heber.
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     3. To endow with a widow's right. [R.] --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To become, or survive as, the widow of. [Obs.]
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              Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and
              widow
              them all.                             --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Widow \Wid"ow\ (w[i^]d"[-o]), n. [OE. widewe, widwe, AS.
     weoduwe, widuwe, wuduwe; akin to OFries. widwe, OS. widowa,
     D. weduwe, G. wittwe, witwe, OHG. wituwa, witawa, Goth.
     widuw[=o], Russ. udova, OIr. fedb, W. gweddw, L. vidua, Skr.
     vidhav[=a]; and probably to Skr. vidh to be empty, to lack;
     cf. Gr. "hi`qeos a bachelor. [root]248. Cf. {Vidual}.]
     A woman who has lost her husband by death, and has not
     married again; one living bereaved of a husband. "A poor
     widow." --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Card Playing) In various games (such as "hearts"), any
        extra hand or part of a hand, as one dealt to the table.
        It may be taken by one of the players under certain
        circumstances.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     {Grass widow}. See under {Grass}.
  
     {Widow bewitched}, a woman separated from her husband; a
        grass widow. [Colloq.]
  
     {Widow-in-mourning} (Zool.), the macavahu.
  
     {Widow monkey} (Zool.), a small South American monkey
        ({Callithrix lugens}); -- so called on account of its
        color, which is black except the dull whitish arms, neck,
        and face, and a ring of pure white around the face.
  
     {Widow's chamber} (Eng. Law), in London, the apparel and
        furniture of the bedchamber of the widow of a freeman, to
        which she was formerly entitled.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  widow
       n : a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not
           remarried [syn: {widow woman}]
       v : cause to be without a spouse; "The war widowed many women in
           the former Yugoslavia"

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  WIDOW. An unmarried woman whose husband is dead. 
       2. In legal writings, widow is an addition given to a woman who is 
  unmarried and whose husband is dead. The addition of spinster is given to a 
  woman who never was married. Lovel. on Wills, 269. See Addition. As to the 
  rights of a widow, seq Dower. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  WIDOW, n.  A pathetic figure that the Christian world has agreed to
  take humorously, although Christ's tenderness towards widows was one
  of the most marked features of his character.