widowhood
(ˈwɪdəʊhʊd)
Forms: see widow n.1 and -hood; also 5 wydewood; 3 (Orm.) widdwesshad.
[OE. widewanhád, f. gen. of widow n.1 or n.2 + -hád -hood.]
1. The state or condition of a widow or widower, or (contextually) the time during which one is a widow or widower; the condition of a wife bereaved of her husband, or of a husband bereaved of his wife. a. of a woman.
| c 1000 Ags. Hom. (Assmann) 114 Iudith..þurhwunode on hire wudewanhade. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 85 Meiden þet hire meiden-hat wit and haldeþ..and widewe of hire widewe-had. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 320 Anneys, þat was þ⊇ wyfe of henry sclatter of Eynysham, in her pur weduhod & lauful power beynge, gaf, grauntyd, & confirmyd [etc.]. c 1450 Knt. de la Tour cxix. 163 Them that worshipfully and perfitly kepe thaire wedwhode. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 2139 The quene for her husbande..Remayned in wydohode and mournynge vesture. 1535 Coverdale Judith x. 3 She..put of the garmentes of hir wyddowhode. 1653 Vaux tr. Godeau's St. Paul 184 He exhorts Widows to continue in their widow-hood. 1753 Scots Mag. XV. 54/1 In the 96th year of her age, and 71st of her widowhood. 1827 Jarman Powell's Devises II. 283 An annuity during widowhood..is good. 1841 James Corse de Leon iv, I little dreamed that my mother, in her widowhood, would willingly wed a stranger. 1846 Lytton Lucretia ii. xviii, Lucretia..was in the deep weeds of widowhood. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal i, Mrs. Tregonell had never been to London since her widowhood. |
b. of either sex, or of a man (
= widowerhood). Also
transf. of an animal,
esp. a bird.
| c 1000 Ags. Hom. (Assmann) 20 Wudewanhad is, þæt man wuniᵹe on clænnysse for godes lufon..æfter his ᵹemacan..æᵹðer ᵹe weras ᵹe wif. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 45 Þre hodes of bilefulle men, on is meidhod, þat oðer spushod, þe þridde widewehod. c 1200 Ormin 4624 Forr maȝȝdennhad & widdwesshad & weddlac birrþ ben clene. 1340 Ayenb. 48 Of man oþer of wyfman þet ne habbeþ nenne bend ne of wodewehod ne of spoushod. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶842 Chastitee in mariage and chastitee of widwehode. 1528 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 250 In my wedowhode, afore I maried this gentilwoman. 1539 Act 31 Hen. VIII c. 14 §1 Vowes of Chastitye or Wydowhood, by Man or Woman made to God advisedly ought to be observed. a 1652 Brome Queenes Exch. i. ii, What have I done at home, since my Wife died? No Turtle ever kept a widowhood, More strict then I have done. 1768 Boswell Corsica iii. 222 Signor Clemente, being in a state of widowhood. 1866 Mrs. H. Wood St. Martin's Eve vii, During Mr. St. John's widowhood. |
c. fig.| c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxi. 207, & ðæs bismeres ðines wuduwanhades [Isa. liv. 4 viduitatis] ðu ne ᵹemansð, forðæm ðæt is ðin Waldend ðe ðe ᵹeworhte. |
| 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. xi, The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord;..The Bucentaur lies rotting unrestored, Neglected garment of her widowhood! 1821 ― Sardan. iv. i. 227 Which I have worn in widowhood of heart. 1853 Ruskin Stones Ven. II. ii. §2 Mother and daughter, you behold them both in their widowhood,—Torcello, and Venice. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. vi. 565 note, The canons of Durham are met to choose a Bishop after the three years' widowhood of the see. |
† 2. An estate settled on a widow, a widow's right.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 125 And for that dowrie, Ile assure her of Her widdow-hood. |