Link Centre Dictionary

widow

wi·dow

UK/ˈwɪd.əʊ/ US/ˈwɪd.oʊ/ common informal
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried

Synonyms

verb

1.

cause to be without a spouse

  • “The war widowed many women in the former Yugoslavia”

Origin

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

Phrases

  • alpha widow
  • black widow
  • Dutch widow
  • false widow
  • golf widow
  • grass widow
  • hempen widow
  • merry widow

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.