Widdy, subs. (colloquial).—1. A widow.
1900. White, West End, 354. If my name appears there, in the worst place—I mean, making you a widdy—you must write to old Rupert.
2. See Widow.
Widdle. See Oliver.
Widdy-waddy, adj, phr. (colloquial).—Trifling,
insignificant.
Wide, adv, (common).—1. Well-informed,
knowing (q.v.), keen,
alert, up to snuff (q.v.): also
wide-awake and wido: cf.
narrow.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Two milling coves, each vide avake, Vere backed to fight for heavy stake.
1836. The Thieves' Chaunt [Farmer, Musa Pedestris (1896), 121]. She's wide-awake, and her prating cheat, For humming a cove was never beat.
1856. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 'Watkins Tottle.' Our governor's wide awake, he is: I'll never say nothin' agin him nor no man, but he knows what's o'clock, he does.
1841. Catlin, North Am. Indians, i. 71. Bogard . . . was a Yankee and a wide-awake fellow.
1854-5. Thackeray, Newcomes, xx. 'Your aunt is a woman who is uncommon wide awake, I can tell you.' 'I always knew, sir, that my aunt was perfectly aware of the time of day,' says Barnes, with a low bow.
1856. Stowe, Dred, i. 210. Miss Harriet had more clothes and more money than the rest; because she was always wide-awake, and looking out for herself.
1874. Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece, 48. The Homeric Greeks were too shrewd and wide-awake a people to sow where they did not reap; and the increase of communication, and consequent frequency of visitors, were sure to close quickly the open door, and the unasked right of entry.
1877. Horsley, Jottings front Jail. I got in company with some of the widest people in London.
1897. Marshall, Pomes, 8. But the knight of the pencil was wide-awake, and was not to be had with 'kid.' Ibid., 49. Wide, sir? I believe yer! Far too wide for Honest Bill. Ibid., 120. Although she was quite the lady In deportment and in dress, Were you asked, as a wide-'un, 'Shady?' You would have to answer 'Yes.'
2. (old).—Indifferent, wide of the mark, out of the running, adrift: hence generic for bad.
1612-5. Hall, Contempl., 'Aaron and Miriam.' God eyther denyes or defers the grant of our requests for our good; it were wide for us if our suites should be euer heard.
Wide-awake, subs. phr. (common).—A
soft felt hat with a
broad brim. 'So-called (Grose)
because it never had a nap and
never wants one.'
1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, Int. 'Then the fairy knight is extinct in England?' asked Stangrave, smiling. 'No man less; only he . . . has found a wide-awake cooler than an iron kettle.'
1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, xliii. She was one of the first who appeared in the Park in a low-crowned hat—a wide-*awake.
1884. Clark Russell, Jack's Courtship, iii. 'My democratic wide-awake, and the republican cut of my jib,' said he, looking down at his clothes.
1890. Daily Graphic, 7 Jan., 9. 4. Then the crowd go mad. Up fly headgear, chimney-pot, and wide-a-wake alike, their owners careless of their fate.
See Wide.
Widgeon, subs. (common).—A
simpleton: see Buffle.
