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1. The quality or state of being wide; breadth; width; great extent from side to side; as, the wideness of a
room. "I landed in a small creek about the wideness of my canoe." Swift.
2. Large extent in all directions; broadness; greatness; as, the wideness of the sea or ocean.
Widespread
(Wide"spread`) a. Spread to a great distance; widely extended; extending far and wide; as,
widespread wings; a widespread movement.
Widewhere
(Wide"where`) adv. [See Wide, and Where.] Widely; far and wide. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Widgeon
(Widg"eon) n. [Probably from an old French form of F. vigeon, vingeon, gingeon; of uncertain
origin; cf. L. vipio, -onis, a kind of small crane.] (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of fresh-water ducks,
especially those belonging to the subgenus Mareca, of the genus Anas. The common European widgeon
(Anas penelope) and the American widgeon (A. Americana) are the most important species. The latter
is called also baldhead, baldpate, baldface, baldcrown, smoking duck, wheat, duck, and whitebelly.
Bald-faced, or Green-headed, widgeon, the American widgeon. — Black widgeon, the European
tufted duck. — Gray widgeon. (a) The gadwall. (b) The pintail duck. — Great headed widgeon,
the poachard. — Pied widgeon. (a) The poachard. (b) The goosander. — Saw-billed widgeon,
the merganser. — Sea widgeon. See in the Vocabulary. — Spear widgeon, the goosander. [Prov.
Eng.] — Spoonbilled widgeon, the shoveler. — White widgeon, the smew. — Wood widgeon,
the wood duck.
Widish
(Wid"ish) a. Moderately wide. Tyndall.
Widmanstätten figures
(Wid"man*stät`ten fig"ures) (Min.) Certain figures appearing on etched meteoric
iron; — so called after A. B. Widmanstätten, of Vienna, who first described them in 1808. See the Note
and Illust. under Meteorite.
Widow
(Wid"ow) n. [OE. widewe, widwe, AS. weoduwe, widuwe, wuduwe; akin to OFries. widwe,
OS. widowa, D. weduwe, G. wittwe, witwe, OHG. wituwa, witawa, Goth. widuw, Russ. udova, OIr.
fedb, W. gweddw, L. vidua, Skr. vidhava; and probably to Skr. vidh to be empty, to lack; cf. Gr. a
bachelor. . Cf. Vidual.] A woman who has lost her husband by death, and has not married again; one
living bereaved of a husband. "A poor widow." Chaucer.
Grass widow. See under Grass. — Widow bewitched, a woman separated from her husband; a
grass widow. [Colloq.] — Widow-in-mourning (Zoöl.), the macavahu. — Widow monkey (Zoöl.),
a small South American monkey (Callithrix lugens); — so called on account of its color, which is black
except the dull whitish arms, neck, and face, and a ring of pure white around the face. — Widow's
chamber (Eng. Law), in London, the apparel and furniture of the bedchamber of the widow of a freeman,
to which she was formerly entitled.
Widow
(Wid"ow), a. Widowed. "A widow woman." 1 Kings xvii. 9. "This widow lady." Shak.
Widow
(Wid"ow), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Widowed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Widowing.]
1. To reduce to the condition of a widow; to bereave of a husband; — rarely used except in the past
participle.
Though in thus city he
Hath widowed and unchilded many a one,
Which to this hour bewail the injury. Shak.
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