widowern.1
/ˈwɪdəʊə/, U.S. /ˈwɪdoʊər/ 1. A man whose spouse has died and who has not married again.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > widow or widower > [noun] > widower
widowOE
widowerc1390
widow man?1555
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. x. l. 194 Widewers and widewes [B text c1400 Laud 581 Widwes and widwers].
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xi. l. 282 (MED) Wydewers and wydewes weddeþ ayþer oþere.
1477 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 499 Syr T. Greye..is a wydowere now late.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope f. cxlij A wydower wowed a wydowe for to haue and Wedde her to his wyf, and at the last they were agreed and sured to gyder.
c1500 Melusine (1895) 187 That pucelle reffused hym bycause he had be wedded tofore, & of late he was wydower.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. cxxvii. f. cxlii/2 Ye duke of Berrey and his sonne were wodowers bothe their wyues deed.
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) v. iii. 71 Heere wee'l stay To see our widdowers second marriage day. View more context for this quotation
1635 J. Taylor Olde, Old, very Olde Man sig. C She dead, he ten yeares did a Widdower stay.
1714 R. Steele Lover (1715) No. 1. 5 A Widower, who has within these few Months buried a most agreeable Woman, who was his beloved Wife.
1778 S. Johnson in J. Boswell Life Johnson (1904) II. 197 Johnson: He was not content as a widower; for he married again.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xi. 119 The mourners came together to weep and howl, while the widower recited his sorrows and her praise.
1889 M. J. Schaack Anarchy & Anarchists ix. 150 He was a widower, having lost his wife just before joining the force.
1905 Daily Chron. 14 Apr. 4/6 Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, widower of the late Jenny Lind.
1963 W. E. Moore Man, Time & Society iii. 57 The ideal of the monogamous union..is impaired by a great excess of widows compared with widowers.
2015 Radio Times 25 July (South/West ed.) 88/1 A shy woman working as a magazine agony aunt falls in love with a widower seeking advice.
2. Christian Church. One of a class or order of widowers (in sense 1) having a special role or status within the Church, corresponding to that of widows (see widow n. 2). Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > widow > [noun] > male
widower1587
1587 D. Fenner Def. Godlie Ministers sig. Tiii We haue as members of the Church, as set of God as helpers, the Deacons, Church-seruauntes, Widowers and widowes.
1610 Bp. J. Hall Common Apol. against Brownists xix. 52 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.
1989 S. H. Tenison tr. G. Minois Hist. Old Age vi. 151 The early Church gave old men a special place in the order of widowers, recruited from among those over the age of 60.
3. † a. widower bewitched n. Obsolete a man separated from or abandoned by his spouse, or whose spouse is away for a prolonged period. Cf. widow bewitched at widow n. 5a.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > divorce or dissolution > [noun] > separation > person separated > man
widower bewitched1705
1705 J. Dunton Life & Errors Afterthought 238 If my Marrying a Fortune has made me a Scoundrel,..'tis but while I continue a Widdower bewitch'd.
1776 Emma; or, Child of Sorrow II. liii. 64 I will here conclude the history of the young Widower-bewitched.
1814 J. Battersby Tell-tale Sophas II. 42 Carotty Dick is a widower bewitched: he married an outlandish player on the hurdy-gurdy; but she ran away with a French drummer.
1855 E. J. Worboise Wife's Trials III. xii. 155 I came, expecting to find the poor Colonel a widower bewitched.
b. With preceding modifying noun: a man whose spouse or partner is often away participating in a specified sport, activity, or pastime. Frequently humorous.
ΚΠ
1898 Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly Dec. 180 Why should there be any such thing as a golf widow? Nobody ever heard of a golf widower.
1952 N.Y. Times 5 Oct. x13/1 Then there's Mr. Dudley. He's the P. T. A. widower.
1969 Listener 17 Apr. 534/3 He's a football widower because I'm the one who's always trooping away to football matches.
1971 A. Nixon Attack on Vienna xi. 109 Mr Fletcher had had a quiet drink with another bridge widower.
1984 A. Maupin Babycakes (1989) iii. 14 It's a bitch, isn't it?..Being a media widower.
2012 Day (New London, Connecticut) (Nexis) 24 Nov. A couple of men chatted outside a store their wives had entered. ‘We're shopping widowers,’ Steve..quipped.
Derivatives
ˈwidowered adj. [after widowed adj.] that is or has become a widower; of or belonging to a widower.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > widow or widower > [adjective] > made or become a widower
widowered1806
1806 M. Sleater Introd. Ess. New Syst. Civil & Eccl. Topography 92 The widowered father might with unimpeached veracity assert of his boys and girls,..‘hæc mea sunt Ornamenta.’
1852 D. Rock Church our Fathers III. i. viii. 31 The splendid signet of gold..which a weeping husband had drawn from off his widowered finger.
1968 Punch 23 Oct. 596/3 Simpkins, middle-aged, long widowered, successful businessman.
2002 Renaissance Q. 55 299 Chiara..had been the widowered Lanfredino's mistress for about 17 years.
ˈwidowership n. now somewhat rare the state or condition of being a widower; = widowerhood n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > widow or widower > [noun] > widower > condition of
widowhoodOE
widowheadc1450
widowership1641
widowerhood1788
1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. F. Biondi Hist. Civil Warres Eng. I. i. 29 As if Fortune had conspired to make all the Princes of the bloud, accompanie the King in his widowership [It. rendere vedoui co'l Re].
1836 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 94/1 Mr Joyce was yet in the garb of widowership.
1998 C. S. Ola One Child, One Woman ii. 47 I..suggested that widowership would reduce the quality of life of the family.
ˈwidowery n. rare the state or condition of being a widower; the period of time during which a man is a widower; (in extended use) the state or condition of having a spouse who is absent.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married man > [noun] > husband > husband whose wife is absent > condition of
grass-widowerhood1861
widowery1886
1886 R. L. Stevenson Let. 13 Feb. (1911) II. 320 My wife is at Bath with my father and mothers and the interval of widowery explains my writing.
1962 V. Nabokov Pale Fire 240 Donne's famous Holy Sonnet X composed in his widowery.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
widowern.2
/ˈwɪdəʊə/, U.S. /ˈwɪdoʊər/ Now rare.
A weapon or implement which causes or is likely to cause a man's death, thereby making his wife a widow.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > killing > killer for specific reason or type of person > [noun] > of a husband
widower1818
1818 H. H. Milman Samor xi. 360 Hengist begirt with that fam'd falchion call'd The ‘Widower of Women’.
1822 G. Croly Catiline v. ii. 142 Who draws this [i.e. a sword] for good!..The orphan-maker—widower of brides.
1969 Observer 29 June 32/4 Known as ‘The Widower’ in underground slang, the guillotine is nowadays a compact package of scaffolding and blade usually delivered to the prison at night in a laundry van.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1c1390
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