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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WIDOW, n., v. Also Sc. forms widou, widdow, widaw, widda, widdie; weedow, weadow, weeda(w), weedie, -y, weedae. Hence weedowt, weadowt, widowed (Wgt. 1732 Session Bk. Wgt. (1934) 436, 1912 A.O.W.B. Fables frae French 102). [′widə]

Sc. usages:

I. n. 1. As in Eng., freq. attrib. as in Eng. dial., e.g. widow-body, -lass, -sister, -wife, -woman. Phrs. here's a poor widow from Babylon, a girls' game, from the first line of the accompanying rhyme (see 1897 quot.).Sc. 1745 S.C. Misc. (1841) 414:
I have more widow wimen that hase tacks in my intrest then in severale perishes round me.Lth. a.1889 Ellis E.E.P. V. 725:
She's a ceevil weedow woman.Sth. 1897 E. W. B. Nicholson Golspie 158:
“Here's a poor widow from Babylon”. A girl acts the widow, and behind her are other girls acting the children. She advances, repeating the rime up to ‘Please take one out.' After these last words have been spoken, one of the line of girls in front takes one of the widow's children and says ‘This poor Bella &c.,' after which the widow's child goes into the line, and the girl who took her out becomes one of the widow's children — the game beginning again.s.Sc. 1898 Border Mag. (June) 113:
There's naebuddy surely wad wrang a weedy wumman.Dmf. 1912 J. L. Waugh Robbie Doo 6:
Nancy keepit a weeda sister, Mrs Tamson, as a duty.Abd. 1909 C. Murray Hamewith 21:
A dream beuk 'at the weeda wife had hankered after lang.Sc. 1930 Weekly Scotsman (25 Oct .) 10:
Aff tae a weedywife trachled wi' weans. . . . She's kamed his braw pow has the weedy lass Nance.Kcd. 1934 L. G. Gibbon Grey Granite 286:
To them she was just a widow-body.Ork. 1952 R. T. Johnston Stenwick Days (1984) 27:
"That shaws on shae his mair honesty than thee. Shae'll be mairried, no doot?"
"A weedow. Shae lost her man in the war. He wur itten be a shark." Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 4:
Aroon the time o her brither's waddin, auld Attie hissel hid merriet again, on the keeper's widda frae the Lochside.

Hence weedower (Dmf. 1920 J. L. Waugh Heroes 19), weedaoor (Arg. 1914 J. M. Hay Gillespie iv. xvii.), weedier (Lnk. 1927 Scots Mag. (July) 243), a widower, weediehood (Sc. 1843 Chambers's Jnl. (4 Feb.) 18), widowity, widewity, widowhood, formed after viduity.Sc. 1706 W. Fraser Hist. Carnegies (1867) 261:
To my wife, not only in her widouity, but thereafter, whylst she lives.Gsw. 1715 Records Trades Ho. (1934) 22:
My relict Jean Tran shall be free of all locality and quartering of soldiers during her widewity.Sc. 1792 Session Papers, Petition C. Miller (17 Nov.) App. 2:
To have sixty creels of peats led to her yearly, during her widowity.

2. A widower (Sc. 1787 J. Beattie Scoticisms 101, 1808 Jam.; Cai. 1905 E.D.D.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., weeda; I., ne.Sc.. Ags., wm.Sc., Rxb. 1974). Also in Eng. and Ir. dial.Sc. 1710 R. Wodrow Analecta (M.C.) I. 317:
Shee pretended shee was with child to her master, J. F. a widou.Ayr. 1726 Ayr Presb. Reg. MS. (8 Feb.) 257:
The said John had called himself a widdow.Mry. 1746 Elchies Letters (McWilliam) 265:
Depriv'd by a feaver of the most indulgent. the best of mothers, who hath left my father a destress'd widow.Rnf. 1786 Session Papers, Campbell v. Douglas (5 Dec.) App. 2. 9:
David Owen, nurseryman at Renfrew, aged 60 years, a widow.Sc. 1827 C. I. Johnstone Eliz. de Bruce III. v.:
Deacon Daigh's a widow too — better a bein baxter than a poor preacher.Lth. 1853 M. Oliphant Harry Muir xxiv.:
He was ninety year auld when he died, and lived a widow three score years and five.Kcb. 1893 Crockett Raiders xxii.:
I [Samuel Tamson] had been a widow three years.Bwk. 1912 J. Burleigh Ednam 128:
My son's a weeda'.

Also attrib. in widow-man, a widower (Dmf. 1917; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Mry. 1925; I., ne., m.Sc., Uls. 1974). Also in Eng. dial.Ags. 1860 A. Whamond James Tacket xviii.:
My faither's a widow-man, wi' a lot o' litlins.Abd. 1880 W. Robbie Yonderton xi.:
A widow man an' a single lass maun be a heap b' them leens.Lth. 1928 S. A. Robertson With Double Tongue 12:
The miller himsel, a weeda man, Was makin e'en at Janet.Ags. 1956 Forfar Dispatch (24 May):
Ma'colm wiz a widow-man aboot forty wi ae loon.