Widowhood

Forms: see WIDOW sb.¹ and -HOOD]; also 5 wydewood; 3 (Orm.) widdwesshad. [OE. widewanhád, f. gen. of WIDOW sb.¹ or 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^e 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 perfily 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, trans. 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.  G. P. R. 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.  Miss 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 wuniʓe on clænnysse for godes lufon … æfter his ʓemacan … æʓðer ʓe weras ʓe 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.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxi. 207. & ðæs bismeres ðines wuduwanhades [Isa. liv. 4 viduitatis] ðu ne ʓemansð, forðam ðæt is ðin Waldend ðe ðe ʓeworhte.

1818.  Byron, Ch. Harold, IV. xi. The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord;… The Bucentaur lies rotting unrestored, Neglected garment of her widowhood! Ibid. (1821), Sardanap., IV. i. 227. Which I have worn in widowhood of heart.

1853.  Ruskin, Stones Venice, 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.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 125. And for that dowrie, Ile assure her of Her widdow-hood.