widow

UK: /ˈwɪdəʊ/ US: /ˈwɪdoʊ/ ,(wid′ō)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

wid•ow /ˈwɪdoʊ/   n. [countable]

1. Anthropology a woman whose husband has died and who has not remarried.
2. a woman who is often left alone because her husband devotes his free time to a hobby or sport:
   a golf widow.

wid•ow•hood, n. [uncountable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

wid•ow  (wid′ō), n. 

1. Anthropology a woman who has lost her husband by death and has not remarried.
2. Games [Cards.] an additional hand or part of a hand, as one dealt to the table.
3. Printing
   • Printing a short last line of a paragraph, esp. one less than half of the full measure or one consisting of only a single word.
   • Printing the last line of a paragraph when it is carried over to the top of the following page away from the rest of the paragraph. Cf. orphan (def. 4).
4. a woman often left alone because her husband devotes his free time to a hobby or sport (used in combination). Cf. golf widow. 

v.t. 

5. to make (someone) a widow:
   She was widowed by the war.
6. to deprive of anything cherished or needed:
   A surprise attack widowed the army of its supplies.
7. [Obs.]
   • to endow with a widow's right.
   • to survive as the widow of.

• bef. 900; (noun, nominal) Middle English wid(e)we, Old English widuwe, wydewe; cognate with German Witwe, Gothic widuwo, Latin vidua (feminine of viduus bereaved), Sanskrit vidhavā widow; (verb, verbal) Middle English, derivative of the noun, nominal

wid′ow•ly, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

widow / ˈwɪdəʊ/ noun

1. a woman who has survived her spouse, esp one who has not remarried
2. (usually with a modifier) a woman whose spouse is often away from home indulging in a sport, etc: a golf widow
3. a short line at the end of a paragraph, esp one that occurs as the top line of a page or column
   Compare orphan3
4. (in some card games) an additional hand or set of cards exposed on the table

verb (tr; usually passive)

1. to cause to become a widow or a widower
2. to deprive of something valued or desirable

Etymology: Old English widuwe; related to German Witwe, Latin vidua (feminine of viduus deprived), Sanskrit vidhavā

ˈwidowhood noun