widow-maker en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /-də-/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈwɪ.doʊˌmeɪ.kəɹ/ (General-American)
- (Australia) audio
- /-də-/ (General-American)
- /ˈwɪ.dəʊˌmeɪ.kəɹ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From widow + maker. For sense 4, compare German Witwenmacher.
Meanings
-
(idiomatic) Something which or someone who takes a person's life, particularly men; a lethal hazard that affects mostly men or is specific to a primarily male trade.
O, it grieves my soul, / That I must draw this metal from my side / To be a widow-maker!
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]: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.
1973, Peter F. Drucker, Management: tasks, responsibilities, practices, published 1999, page 316:What is a woman that you forsake her, / And the hearth-fire and the home-acre, / To go with the old grey Widow-maker?
1906, Rudyard Kipling, Harp Song of the Dane Women:
- The detached or broken limb of a tree, a hazard to those walking underneath.
- (informal) An occlusion of the left coronary artery or its anterior interventricular branch, which is likely to cause a fatal heart attack.
- (slang) The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| widowmaker | alternative | lexicographic | |
| widow-makers | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| widow maker | alternative | lexicographic |
Synonyms
Translations (6)
nl weduwenmaker (something which or someone who takes a person's life) · de Witwenmacher (something which or someone who takes a person's life) · mi kuku raho (something which or someone who takes a person's life) · ja ウィドウ・メーカー (something which or someone who takes a person's life) · fi leskentekijä (something which or someone who takes a person's life) · da enkemager (something which or someone who takes a person's life)