different between widow vs orphan

English

Etymology

From Middle English widwe, from Old English widuwe, from Proto-West Germanic *widuw?, from Proto-Germanic *widuw?, from Proto-Indo-European *h?wid?éwh?, possibly from *h?weyd?h?-, *wid?- (“to separate, split, cleave, divide”), whence also wood from Old English widu, wudu.

Cognates include German Witwe, Dutch weduwe, Gothic ???????????????????????? (widuw?), Old Irish fedb, Latin vidua, Old Church Slavonic ?????? (v?dova), Sanskrit ????? (vidhav?) and Persian ???? (b?ve / b?wa) , Middle Persian w?wag, Avestan viðav?- "widow" .

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w?.d??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?w?.do?/
• Rhymes: -?d??
• Hyphenation: wid?ow

Noun

widow (plural widows)

1. A woman whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried); feminine of widower.
2. (uncommon) A person whose spouse has died (and who has not remarried).
   • 2016, Traciy Reyes, "‘The Wedding March’: Hallmark Movie — June Bride Unwittingly Hires Wedding Singer Who Is Her Ex, Starring Josie Bissett, Jack Wagner", The Inquisitr News, June 23, 2016.

     Now that he is a widow, he tries to win Olivia back through the songs and the music that brought them together all those years ago, leaving Olivia torn between moving forward with Josh or falling into the arms of the man she truly loves.

3. (informal, in combination) A woman whose husband is often away pursuing a sport, etc.
   • 1988, Emily Parry, "For a Bowling Widow, a Split Isn't Just Two Lonely Pins", New York Times, November 27, 1988.

     I had been feeling like a bowling-alley widow, but knew he loved the game, so I suggested we join a mixed league.

4. (card games) An additional hand of cards dealt face down in some card games, to be used by the highest bidder.
5. (printing) A single line of type that ends a paragraph, carried over to the next page or column.
6. A venomous spider, of the genus Latrodectus.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

widow (third-person singular simple present widows, present participle widowing, simple past and past participle widowed)

1. (transitive) To make a widow or widower of someone; to cause the death of the spouse of.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To strip of anything valued.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To endow with a widow's right.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To be widow to.

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• orphane (obsolete)

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Late Latin orphanus, from Ancient Greek ??????? (orphanós, “without parents, fatherless”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?órb?os.

Cognate with Sanskrit ???? (árbha), Latin orbus (“orphaned”), Old High German erbi, arbi (German Erbe (“heir”)), Old English ierfa (“heir”). More at erf.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???f?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???f?n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)f?n
• Homophone: often (non-rhotic accents with the lot–cloth split)

Noun

orphan (plural orphans)

1. A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.
2. A person, especially a minor, whose parents have permanently abandoned them.
3. A young animal with no mother.
4. (figuratively) Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon.
5. (typography) A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.
6. (computing) Any unreferenced object.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

orphan (not comparable)

1. Deprived of parents (also orphaned).

2. (by extension, figuratively) Remaining after the removal of some form of support.

Translations

Related terms

• orphan drug

Verb

orphan (third-person singular simple present orphans, present participle orphaning, simple past and past participle orphaned)

1. (transitive) To deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive)

2. (transitive, computing) To make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to.

Conjugation

References

• "orphan" at OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Orphan in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• harp on