"widow-maker" meaning in English

See widow-maker in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈwɪ.ɾoʊˌmeɪ.kɚ/ [General-American], /-də-/ [General-American] Audio: En-au-widow-maker.ogg Forms: widow-makers [plural]
enPR: wĭʹdō-mā'kər [General-American], -də- [General-American] Etymology: From widow + maker. Etymology templates: {{af|en|widow|maker}} widow + maker Head templates: {{en-noun}} widow-maker (plural widow-makers)
  1. (idiomatic) Something which or someone who takes the lives of men; a lethal hazard that affects mostly men or is specific to a primarily male trade. Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): Death Translations (something which or someone who takes the lives of men): enkemager [common-gender] (Danish), weduwenmaker [masculine] (Dutch), leskentekijä (Finnish), Witwenmacher (German), ウィドウ・メーカー (widō mēkā) (Japanese), kuku raho (Maori), вдоводе́л (vdovodél) [masculine] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-widow-maker-en-noun-oOCJJz2H Disambiguation of Death: 40 18 30 12 Disambiguation of 'something which or someone who takes the lives of men': 91 2 1 5
  2. (forestry) The detached or broken limb of a tree, a hazard to those walking underneath. Categories (topical): Forestry Synonyms: fool killer
    Sense id: en-widow-maker-en-noun-wWsKG6y4 Topics: business, forestry
  3. (medicine, informal) The left coronary artery, or its anterior interventricular branch, occlusion of which is likely to cause a fatal heart attack. Tags: informal Categories (topical): Medicine
    Sense id: en-widow-maker-en-noun-ke8SDhwY Topics: medicine, sciences
  4. (slang) The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. Tags: slang
    Sense id: en-widow-maker-en-noun-YbJYnpOc Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Danish translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with Japanese translations, Terms with Maori translations, Terms with Russian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 19 21 9 51 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 15 19 10 56 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 11 22 8 59 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 16 18 4 62 Disambiguation of Terms with Danish translations: 13 12 6 69 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 16 16 11 57 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 17 15 10 58 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 15 15 8 62 Disambiguation of Terms with Maori translations: 17 15 10 58 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 15 15 8 62
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: widow maker, widowmaker

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "widow",
        "3": "maker"
      },
      "expansion": "widow + maker",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From widow + maker.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "widow-makers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "widow-maker (plural widow-makers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "wid‧ow-mak‧er"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "40 18 30 12",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Death",
          "orig": "en:Death",
          "parents": [
            "Body",
            "Life",
            "All topics",
            "Nature",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:",
          "text": "O, it grieves my soul,\nThat I must draw this metal from my side\nTo be a widow-maker!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1906, Rudyard Kipling, Harp Song of the Dane Women:",
          "text": "What is a woman that you forsake her,\nAnd the hearth-fire and the home-acre,\nTo go with the old grey Widow-maker?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1973, Peter F. Drucker, Management: tasks, responsibilities, practices, published 1999, page 316:",
          "text": "Finally, jobs that are 'widow-makers' should be rethought and restructured. In the heyday of the great sailing ships, around 1850, just before the coming of steam, every shipping company had a widow-maker on its hands once in a while. ... One typical 'widow-maker' has been the job of international vice-president in the large American company.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something which or someone who takes the lives of men; a lethal hazard that affects mostly men or is specific to a primarily male trade."
      ],
      "id": "en-widow-maker-en-noun-oOCJJz2H",
      "links": [
        [
          "lethal",
          "lethal"
        ],
        [
          "hazard",
          "hazard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Something which or someone who takes the lives of men; a lethal hazard that affects mostly men or is specific to a primarily male trade."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "91 2 1 5",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "enkemager"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 2 1 5",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "weduwenmaker"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 2 1 5",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
          "word": "leskentekijä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 2 1 5",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
          "word": "Witwenmacher"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 2 1 5",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "widō mēkā",
          "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
          "word": "ウィドウ・メーカー"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 2 1 5",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
          "word": "kuku raho"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 2 1 5",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vdovodél",
          "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "вдоводе́л"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Forestry",
          "orig": "en:Forestry",
          "parents": [
            "Applied sciences",
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The detached or broken limb of a tree, a hazard to those walking underneath."
      ],
      "id": "en-widow-maker-en-noun-wWsKG6y4",
      "links": [
        [
          "forestry",
          "forestry"
        ],
        [
          "detached",
          "detached"
        ],
        [
          "broken",
          "broken"
        ],
        [
          "limb",
          "limb"
        ],
        [
          "tree",
          "tree"
        ],
        [
          "hazard",
          "hazard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(forestry) The detached or broken limb of a tree, a hazard to those walking underneath."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fool killer"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "forestry"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Medicine",
          "orig": "en:Medicine",
          "parents": [
            "Biology",
            "Healthcare",
            "Sciences",
            "Health",
            "All topics",
            "Body",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The left coronary artery, or its anterior interventricular branch, occlusion of which is likely to cause a fatal heart attack."
      ],
      "id": "en-widow-maker-en-noun-ke8SDhwY",
      "links": [
        [
          "medicine",
          "medicine"
        ],
        [
          "left",
          "left"
        ],
        [
          "coronary artery",
          "coronary artery"
        ],
        [
          "anterior",
          "anterior"
        ],
        [
          "interventricular",
          "interventricular"
        ],
        [
          "branch",
          "branch"
        ],
        [
          "occlusion",
          "occlusion"
        ],
        [
          "fatal",
          "fatal"
        ],
        [
          "heart attack",
          "heart attack"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(medicine, informal) The left coronary artery, or its anterior interventricular branch, occlusion of which is likely to cause a fatal heart attack."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "medicine",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "19 21 9 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 19 10 56",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 22 8 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 18 4 62",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 12 6 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Danish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 16 11 57",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 15 10 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 15 8 62",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 15 10 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Maori translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "15 15 8 62",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter."
      ],
      "id": "en-widow-maker-en-noun-YbJYnpOc",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "wĭʹdō-mā'kər",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "-də-",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈwɪ.ɾoʊˌmeɪ.kɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-də-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-widow-maker.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/40/En-au-widow-maker.ogg/En-au-widow-maker.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/En-au-widow-maker.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "widow maker"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
      "word": "widowmaker"
    }
  ],
  "word": "widow-maker"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Danish translations",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with Japanese translations",
    "Terms with Maori translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "en:Death"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "widow",
        "3": "maker"
      },
      "expansion": "widow + maker",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From widow + maker.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "widow-makers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "widow-maker (plural widow-makers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "wid‧ow-mak‧er"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:",
          "text": "O, it grieves my soul,\nThat I must draw this metal from my side\nTo be a widow-maker!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1906, Rudyard Kipling, Harp Song of the Dane Women:",
          "text": "What is a woman that you forsake her,\nAnd the hearth-fire and the home-acre,\nTo go with the old grey Widow-maker?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1973, Peter F. Drucker, Management: tasks, responsibilities, practices, published 1999, page 316:",
          "text": "Finally, jobs that are 'widow-makers' should be rethought and restructured. In the heyday of the great sailing ships, around 1850, just before the coming of steam, every shipping company had a widow-maker on its hands once in a while. ... One typical 'widow-maker' has been the job of international vice-president in the large American company.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something which or someone who takes the lives of men; a lethal hazard that affects mostly men or is specific to a primarily male trade."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "lethal",
          "lethal"
        ],
        [
          "hazard",
          "hazard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Something which or someone who takes the lives of men; a lethal hazard that affects mostly men or is specific to a primarily male trade."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Forestry"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The detached or broken limb of a tree, a hazard to those walking underneath."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "forestry",
          "forestry"
        ],
        [
          "detached",
          "detached"
        ],
        [
          "broken",
          "broken"
        ],
        [
          "limb",
          "limb"
        ],
        [
          "tree",
          "tree"
        ],
        [
          "hazard",
          "hazard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(forestry) The detached or broken limb of a tree, a hazard to those walking underneath."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "fool killer"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "business",
        "forestry"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "en:Medicine"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The left coronary artery, or its anterior interventricular branch, occlusion of which is likely to cause a fatal heart attack."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "medicine",
          "medicine"
        ],
        [
          "left",
          "left"
        ],
        [
          "coronary artery",
          "coronary artery"
        ],
        [
          "anterior",
          "anterior"
        ],
        [
          "interventricular",
          "interventricular"
        ],
        [
          "branch",
          "branch"
        ],
        [
          "occlusion",
          "occlusion"
        ],
        [
          "fatal",
          "fatal"
        ],
        [
          "heart attack",
          "heart attack"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(medicine, informal) The left coronary artery, or its anterior interventricular branch, occlusion of which is likely to cause a fatal heart attack."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "medicine",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "wĭʹdō-mā'kər",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "-də-",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈwɪ.ɾoʊˌmeɪ.kɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-də-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-widow-maker.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/40/En-au-widow-maker.ogg/En-au-widow-maker.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/En-au-widow-maker.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "widow maker"
    },
    {
      "word": "widowmaker"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "enkemager"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "weduwenmaker"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
      "word": "leskentekijä"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
      "word": "Witwenmacher"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "widō mēkā",
      "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
      "word": "ウィドウ・メーカー"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
      "word": "kuku raho"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vdovodél",
      "sense": "something which or someone who takes the lives of men",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "вдоводе́л"
    }
  ],
  "word": "widow-maker"
}

Download raw JSONL data for widow-maker meaning in English (5.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (b941637 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.