Widow bird to Wild
Widow bird
(Wid"ow bird`) (Zoöl.) See Whidan bird.
Widower
(Wid"ow*er) n. A man who has lost his wife by death, and has not married again. Shak.
Widowerhood
(Wid"ow*er*hood) n. The state of being a widower.
Widowhood
(Wid"ow*hood) n.
1. The state of being a widow; the time during which a woman is widow; also, rarely, the state of being a
widower.
Johnson clung to her memory during a widowhood of more than thirty years.
Leslie Stephen. 2. Estate settled on a widow. [Obs.] "I 'll assure her of her widowhood . . . in all my lands." Shak.
Widow-hunter
(Wid"ow-hunt`er) n. One who courts widows, seeking to marry one with a fortune. Addison.
Widowly
(Wid"ow*ly), a. Becoming or like a widow.
Widow-maker
(Wid"ow-mak`er) n. One who makes widows by destroying husbands. [R.] Shak.
Widow-wail
(Wid"ow-wail`) n. (Bot.) A low, narrowleaved evergreen shrub (Cneorum tricoccon) found
in Southern Europe.
Width
(Width) n. [From Wide.] The quality of being wide; extent from side to side; breadth; wideness; as,
the width of cloth; the width of a door.
Widual
(Wid"u*al) a. Of or pertaining to a widow; vidual. [Obs.] Bale.
Widwe
(Wid"we) n. A widow. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Wield
(Wield) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wielded; p. pr. & vb. n. Wielding.] [OE. welden to govern, to have
power over, to possess, AS. geweldan, gewyldan, from wealdan; akin to OS. waldan, OFries. walda,
G. walten, OHG. waltan, Icel. valda, Sw. vålla to occasion, to cause, Dan. volde, Goth. waldan to
govern, rule, L. valere to be strong. Cf. Herald, Valiant.]
1. To govern; to rule; to keep, or have in charge; also, to possess. [Obs.]
When a strong armed man keepeth his house, all things that he wieldeth ben in peace.
Wyclif (Luke xi.
21).
Wile [ne will] ye wield gold neither silver ne money in your girdles.
Wyclif (Matt. x. 9.) 2. To direct or regulate by influence or authority; to manage; to control; to sway.
The famous orators . . . whose resistless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democraty.
Milton.
Her newborn power was wielded from the first by unprincipled and ambitions men.
De Quincey. 3. To use with full command or power, as a thing not too heavy for the holder; to manage; to handle; hence,
to use or employ; as, to wield a sword; to wield the scepter.
Base Hungarian wight! wilt thou the spigot wield!
Shak.
Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed.
Milton.
Nothing but the influence of a civilized power could induce a savage to wield a spade.
S. S. Smith.
