| 释义 |
▪ I. widower1|ˈwɪdəʊə(r)|
Forms: 4 wid(e)wer, wydewer, 4–5 wedewer, 5 wyduare, 5–6 wydower, (wydward), 6 wedower, wydoer, 7 widdower, 9 dial. widver, 7– widower.
[A new formation with -er1 on widow n.1, appearing in late ME. and substituted as an unequivocal form for widow n.2 Cf. MHG. witewære, G. wittwer, MDu. wedewâre.]
1. a. A man whose wife is dead (and who has not married again); a husband bereaved of his wife.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 194 Widewers and widewes [1377 B. ix. 174 Widwes and widwers]. 1393Ibid. C. xi. 282 Wydewers and wydewes weddeth ayther othere. 1477Paston Lett. III. 178 Sir T. Greye..is a wydower now late. c1482Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 75 His wyfe dide afore him..after hoys dethe he leuyd continent and chaste, in a wydwardys lyfe. c1500Melusine 187 That pucelle reffused hym bycause he had be wedded tofore, & of late he was wydower. 1601Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 70 Heere wee'l stay To see our widdowers second marriage day. 1635J. Taylor (Water P.) Old, Old Man B 3 b, She dead, he ten yeares did a Widdower stay. 1694Act 6 & 7 Will. & Mary c. 6. §46 The several duties..upon Batchelors and Widdowers by this Act granted. 1778Johnson in Boswell Life (1904) II. 184 He was not content as a widower; for he married again. 1856Kane Arctic Expl. II. xi. 119 The mourners came together to weep and howl, while the widower recited his sorrows and her praise. 1905Daily Chron. 14 Apr. 4/6 Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, widower of the late Jenny Lind.
b. widower bewitched: a husband separated from or deserted by his wife. colloq. (Cf. widow n.1 1 d.)
1705Dunton Life & Err. (1818) I. 405 If my marrying a fortune has made me a scoundrel,..it is but while I continue a Widower bewitched.
c. The counterpart of widow n.1 1 d in allusive use, as football widower, etc. colloq.
1969Listener 17 Apr. 534/3 He's a football widower because I'm the one who's always trooping away to football matches. 1971A. Nixon Attack on Vienna xi. 109 Mr Fletcher had had a quiet drink with another bridge widower. 1973Guardian 25 May 11/2 The age of golf widowers is developing.
†2. One of an ecclesiastical class or order of men corresponding to the order of ‘widows’. Obs.
1587D. Fenner Def. Ministers 141 As they had their Leuiticall dispensors, or orderers of the holy Treasurie,..So we haue as members of the Church, as set of God as helpers, the Deacons, Church-seruauntes, Widowers and widowes. 1610Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists §19 Let there be Widdowers (which you call relieuers) appointed euery where to the Church-seruice. Let certaine discreete and able men which are not Ministers be appointed to preach the Gospell.
Hence ˈwidowered |-əd| a. rare [after widowed], made or become a widower, bereaved of one's wife; ˈwidowerˌhood [after widowhood], the condition of a widower, or the time during which a man is a widower; so ˈwidowerˌship, ˈwidowery (rare) in same sense; in quot. 1886 transf. the condition of being absent from one's wife.
1852Rock Ch. Fathers III. i. viii. 31 The splendid signet of gold..which a weeping husband had drawn from off his *widowered finger. 1880M. B. Betham-Edwards Forestalled ii. xviii, Norland..felt more than ever widowered, orphaned, and forlorn.
a1796Burns Let. in Pearson's 76th Catal. (1894) 7 Bred a zealous Antiburger; but during his *widowerhood, he has found their strictness incompatible with certain compromises he is often obliged to make. 1834Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 829 She makes an attempt..on the widowerhood of the Centenarian. 1883Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Ione xv, Pledged to eternal widowerhood and constancy. 1889― Thro' Long Night iii. xv, This first year of his widowerhood.
1641Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Wars i. 29 As if Fortune had conspired to make all the Princes of the bloud, accompany the King in his *widowership.
1886Stevenson Let. 13 Feb., My wife is at Bath with my father and mothers and the interval of *widowery explains my writing.
▪ II. ˈwidower2 rare.
[f. widow v. + -er1.]
One who or that which widows, or bereaves (a woman) of her husband.
1818Milman Samor xi. 360 Hengist begirt with that fam'd falchion call'd The ‘Widower of Women’. |