widowingn.
/ˈwɪdəʊɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈwɪdoʊɪŋ/ The action of widow v. 1a; an instance of this.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > widow or widower > [noun] > fact of becoming
widowing1791
1791 Universal Mag. Oct. 284/2 The widowing of wives, and the ruin of an orphan'd family.
1870 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 374/2 The French officers..who were en route to help at the widowing of the one million Prussian matrons.
1906 Athenæum 17 Nov. 614/3 The widowing of the hero is a valueless shadow upon a vigorously improbable..story.
1921 Public Opinion 18 Feb. 157/2 She had earned her widowing by eight years' happiness.
2008 B. Markovits Quiet Adjustment ix. 91 There had been several shipwrecks, with all their attendant widowings and orphanings.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
widowingadj.
/ˈwɪdəʊɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈwɪdoʊɪŋ/ Chiefly poetic. Now somewhat rare.
Reminiscent of widows or widowhood; mournful, funereal. Also of a weapon, blow, etc.: that causes or is likely to cause a man's death, thereby making his wife a widow.
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?1606 M. Drayton Eglog vi, in Poemes sig. F Nor mournefull Cipresse nor sad widowing yew.
1786 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 249/2 With ruthless whirl, and widowing stroke.
1841 L. Osborn Arthur Carryl 299 The widowing slaughter of battle.
1899 A. Crowley Jephthah 28 The ways of the anger of lords Are bloody with widowing swords.
1990 D. Walcott Omeros xlvi. 233 He saw Helen Standing alone and veiled in the widowing light.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1791adj.?1606