Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WID'EN, v.t.

To make wide or wider; to extend in breadth as, to widen a field; to widen a breach. Note. In America, females say, to widen a stocking.

WID'EN-ED, pp.

Made wide or wider; extended in breadth.

WIDE'NESS, n.

1. Breadth; width; great extent between the sides; as, the wideness of a room.
2. Large extent in all directions; as, the wideness of the sea or ocean.

WID'EN-ING, ppr.

Extending the distance between the sides; enlarging in all directions.

WIDE'-SPREAD, a.

Extending far.

WIDE'-SPREAD-ING, a.

Spreading to a great extent distance.

WID'GEON, n.

A fowl of the duck kind, or genus Anas, having a black bill, the head and upper part of the neck of a bright bay, the back and sides waved with black and white, and the belly white. – Dict. Nat. Hist.

WID'OW, n. [Sax. widew; G. wittwe; D. weduwe; Dan. vidue; L. vidua; Fr. veuve; It. vedova; Sp. viuda; Sans. widhava; Russ. vdova; from the root of wide, void. See Wide.]

A woman who has lost her husband by death. Luke ii. Widow's chamber, in London, the apparel and furniture of the bed-chamber of the widow of a freeman, to which she is entitled. – Cyc.

WID'OW, v.t.

1. To bereave of a husband; but rarely used except in the participle. – Dryden.
2. To endow with a widow's right. [Unusual.]
3. To strip of any thing good. – Shak. The widow'd isle in mourning. – Dryden.

WID'OW-BENCH, n. [widow and bench.]

In Sussex, that share which a widow is allowed of her husband's estate, besides her jointure. – Cyc.

WID'OW-ED, pp.

1. Bereaved of a husband by death.
2. Deprived of some good; stripped. Trees of their shrivel'd fruits / Are widow'd. – Philips.

WID'OW-ER, n.

A man who has lost his wife by death.

WID'OW-HOOD, n.

1. The state of being a widow.
2. Estate settled on a widow. [Not in use.] – Shak.

WID'OW-HUNT-ER, n. [widow and hunter.]

One who seeks or courts widows for a jointure or fortune. Addison.

WID'OW-ING, ppr.

Bereaving of a husband; depriving; stripping.

WID'OW-MAK-ER, n. [widow and maker.]

One who makes widows by destroying lives. – Shak.

WID'OW-WAIL, n.

In botany, a plant of the genus Cneorum. – Lee.

WIDTH, n. [from wide; G. weite; D. wydte.]

Breadth; wideness; the extent of a thing from side to side; as, the width of cloth; the width of a door. – Dryden.

WIELD, v.t. [Sax. wealdan, waldan; Goth. ga-waldan, to govern; wald, power, dominion; Dan. vælde, power; gevalt, force, authority; Sw. välde, power; allied to L. valeo, Eng. well. The primary sense of power and strength is to stretch or strain. This seems to be the Russ. vladyu, to rule, and wald or vlad, in names, as Waldemir, Vlademir.]

1. To use with full command or power, as a thing not too heavy for the holder; to manage; as, to wield a sword; to wield the scepter. Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed. – Milton.
2. To use or employ with the hand. Nothing but the influence of a civilized power could induce a savage to wield a spade. – S. S. Smith.
3. To handle; in an ironical sense. Base Hungarian wight, wilt thou the spigot wield? – Shak. To wield the scepter, to govern with supreme command.

WIELD-ED, pp.

Used with command; managed.

WIELD-ING, ppr.

Using with power; managing.

WIELD-LESS, a.

Unmanageable. – Spenser.

WIELD-Y, a.

That may be wielded; manageable.

WI'ER-Y, a. [from wire.]

1. Made of wire; having the properties of wire. It would be better written Wiry.
2. [Sax. wær, a pool.] Wet; marshy. [Not in use.] – Shak.

WIFE, n. [plur. Wives. Sax. wif; D. wyf; G. weib, woman.]

1. The lawful consort of a man; a woman who is united to a man in the lawful bonds of wedlock; the correlative of husband. The husband of one wife. 1 Tim. iii. Let every one of you in particular, so love his wife even as himself, and let the wife see that she reverence her husband. – Eph. v.
2. A woman of low employment; as, strawberry wives. [Not in use.] – Shak.