A widow is a woman whose spouse has died. A man whose spouse has died is a widower. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or viduity.
Widowhood has been an important social issue, particularly in the past. In families in which the husband was the sole provider, widowhood could plunge the family into poverty, and many charities had as a goal the aid of widows and orphans. This was aggravated by women's longer life spans.
However, in some patriarchal societies, widows were among the most independent women. Widows sometimes carried on their husbands' businesses and were consequently accorded certain rights, such as the right to enter guilds.
There were implications for sexual freedom as well; although some wills contained dum casta provisions (requiring widows to remain unmarried in order to receive inheritance), in societies preventing divorce, widowhood permitted women to remarry and have a greater range of sexual experiences. The Wife of Bath in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales refers to having been widowed five times, permitting her greater sexual experience.
widow's ox for a pledge is considered a wicked action (xxiv,3), from which commentators generally gather that the law of
widows was made a special duty by the Apostles, who collected alms for them and gave care of them to the deacons (Acts 6:1).
widows were employed in certain capacities in the ministry of the Church, directing that one to be chosen must be "of no less than threescore years of age, who hath been the wife of one husband.
The female fl widow spider is the most venomous spider in North America, but it seldom causes death to humans, because it only injects a very small amount of poison when it bites.
Black Widows comprise about six species and inhabit most of the warmer regions of the world to a latitude of about 45 degrees N. The female fl widow spider, though it is the most venomous spider in North America, seldom causes death as it injects a very small amount of poison when it bites.
The female Black Widow is shiny fl, usually with a reddish hourglass shape on the underside of her spherical abdomen.
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