widow
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (1)widows
- a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarriedSynonyms: widow womanType of woman, adult femaleKinds war widow, dowager, queen dowager
Verb (1)widows, widowed, widowing
- cause to be without a spouse“The war widowed many women in the former Yugoslavia”More general leave, leave behind
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Noun woman whose spouse has died
- Spanish
- viuda
- French
- veuve
- German
- Witwe
- Italian
- vedova
- Portuguese
- viúva
- Turkish
- dul
- Russian
- вдова́ vdová
- Arabic
- أَرْمَلَة ʔarmala
- Chinese
- 寡妇 guǎfù
- Japanese
- 未亡人 mibōjin
31 more languages
- Dutch
- weduwe
- Polish
- wdowa
- Swedish
- änka
- Greek
- χήρα chíra
- Korean
- 홀어미 horeomi
- Indonesian
- janda
- Vietnamese
- quả phụ
- Hungarian
- özvegy
- Portuguese (PT)
- viúva
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 寡婦 guǎfù
- Albanian
- ve
- Catalan
- vídua
- Czech
- vdova
- Danish
- enke
- Esperanto
- vidvino
- Estonian
- lesk
- Finnish
- leski
- Georgian
- ქვრივი kvrivi
- Hebrew
- אַלְמָנָה almaná
- Icelandic
- ekkja
- Kurdish
- jinebî
- Malagasy
- ampelam-bantotra
- Norwegian
- enke
- Romanian
- văduvă
- Scottish Gaelic
- banntrach
- Serbo-Croatian
- udovica
- Slovak
- vdova
- Slovenian
- vdova
- Swahili
- mjane
- Welsh
- gweddw
- Yiddish
- אַלמנה almone
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: OE. widewe, widwe, AS. weoduwe, widuwe, wuduwe; akin to OFries. widwe, OS. widowa, D. weduwe, G. wittwe, witwe, OHG. wituwa, witawa, Goth. widuwō, Russ. udova, OIr. fedb, W. gweddw, L. vidua, Skr. vidhavā; and probably to Skr. vidh to be empty, to lack; cf. Gr. ἡίθεος a bachelor. √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.” Geoffrey Chaucer
2. Card games 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.
Grass widow. See under Grass. — Widow bewitched, a woman separated from her husband; a grass widow. colloquial — Widow-in-mourning Zoology, the macavahu. — Widow monkey Zoology, 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 English law, in London, the apparel and furniture of the bedchamber of the widow of a freeman, to which she was formerly entitled.
Widowed. “A widow woman.” 1 Kings xvii. 9. “This widow lady.” William Shakespeare
1. To reduce to the condition of a widow; to bereave of a husband; — rarely used except in the past participle.
Though in thus city he Hath widowed and unchilded many a one, Which to this hour bewail the injury.— William Shakespeare
2. To deprive of one who is loved; to strip of anything beloved or highly esteemed; to make desolate or bare; to bereave.
The widowed isle, in mourning, Dries up her tears.— John Dryden
Tress of their shriveled fruits Are widowed, dreary storms o'er all prevail.— John Philips
Mourn, widowed queen; forgotten Sion, mourn.— Reginald Heber
3. To endow with a widow's right. rare William Shakespeare
4. To become, or survive as, the widow of. obsolete
Let me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all.— William Shakespeare
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: 1913 supplement