Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A man who has lost his wife by death.
- noun See the quotation.
- noun One who or that which widows or bereaves.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A man who has lost his wife by death, and has not married again.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
man whosewife hasdied (and who has not re-married); masculine ofwidow .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a man whose wife is dead especially one who has not remarried
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The story sounds familiar enough, widower is framed by killer, widower goes on the run.
Flixnjoystix.com! » New Release Tuesday! Bobert Takes A Look At The DVD/Blu-rays Of The Week! 2009
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Ramsey Ryker, a retired widower, is having nightmares and seeing a ghost in "Horrible Imaginings".
REVIEW: Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories edited by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan 2010
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The widow or widower is released from the marriage contract by death ( 'til death do us part), but may continue to have an emotional connection to the deceased.
The Reality of Family drewan 2004
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If we had known that I don't suppose we would have called him, for a widower is even worse in a congregation than a single man.
Rainbow Valley Lucy Maud 1919
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The widower is at liberty when his wife dies; but he mourns for her in the same way, by cutting his hair off.
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49 I am not aware that this vivisepulture of the widower is the custom of any race, but the fable would be readily suggested by the Sati (Suttee) - rite of the Hindus.
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Royce alleged that since the widower is the slayer of Juliana M.
In the Still of the Night Ann Rule 2010
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Royce alleged that since the widower is the slayer of Juliana M.
In the Still of the Night Ann Rule 2010
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Royce alleged that since the widower is the slayer of Juliana M.
In the Still of the Night Ann Rule 2010
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Even if St. Joseph was an older widower, which is in doubt, his marriage to the Blessed Virgin, who at fourteen was of marriagable age, was not contrary to either Natural Law or the civil law of his country.
Jon Stewart vs. Mike Huckabee on Gay Marriage James F. McGrath 2008
madmouth commented on the word widower
an intriguing exception to the tradition of tacking feminine suffices onto 'default' masculine nouns (e.g. actress; executrix). one imagines women to be those bereaved of spouses as a rule, though a Victorian-era historian once told me that during the 19th century, most men (in Canada and presumably America as well) re-married because their wives died early of various hazards of the era (e.g. nasty loads of housework in corsets and the gaseous excretions of early lamps).
May 29, 2009
john commented on the word widower
Not to mention childbirth.
May 29, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word widower
A new formation in the 1300s, replacing 'widow', which had distinct masculine and feminine endings in Old English.
It has been said that the female is the default value here because widowhood was traditionally more important as an indicator of social status (dependence, availability etc.) in females.
May 29, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word widower
Right--who ever heard of a widower's walk?
In past centuries (not just 19th), most women who survived childbearing years ended up outliving their husbands by sometimes very significant margins. Corsets didn't kill women (just deformed them), and gas lamps would have killed men just as often. It was childbirth. That, and the burgeoning profession of medicine (only men could practice it, of course) that just about stamped out midwifery and replaced competent female birth attendants with men who scientifically dissected corpses just before (not washing their hands and then) delivering women--and then wondering why a huge percentage of them died of infection.
I'm a little touchy on this subject currently, so forgive me if this comment comes off as attacking anyone or anything on Wordie. It is not meant that way.
May 29, 2009