different between widow vs widowlike

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

Etymology

widow +? -like

Adjective

widowlike (comparative more widowlike, superlative most widowlike)

1. Resembling or characteristic of a widow.