widow
Meanings
Plural: widows
Noun
- a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
- A person whose spouse is absent:
- A person who has lost a spouse and not remarried:
- A woman whose spouse (traditionally husband) has died (and who has not remarried); a woman in relation to her late spouse; feminine of widower.
- A person whose spouse is absent:
- A person who has lost a spouse and not remarried:
- Any person whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried).
- A person whose spouse is absent:
- A woman whose husband is often away pursuing a hobby, career, etc.
- An additional hand of cards dealt face down in some card games, to be used by the highest bidder.
- A single line of type that ends a paragraph but is separated from it by being carried over to the next page or column.
- Any venomous spider of the genus Latrodectus (called "widows" because of the practice of sexual cannibalism observed among many of these species).
Verb
- cause to be without a spouse
- "The war widowed many women in the former Yugoslavia"
- To make a widow or widower of someone; to cause the death of the spouse of.
- To strip of anything valued.
- To endow with a widow's right.
- To be widow to.
Origin / Etymology
PIE word
*dwóh₁
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" .
Synonyms
widow woman, widowess
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 12
widow is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordwidow is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
widow is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary