Widow, subs. (Old Cant).—The gallows: see Nubbing-cheat. Also (Scots) the widdy, and Fr. veuve (formerly the gallows, now applied to the guillotine).
d. 1796. Burns, Poems (Globe), 50. Her dove had been a Highland laddie, But weary fa' the waefu' woodie!
Widow-bewitch ed, subs. phr.
(old).—A woman separated from
her husband: cf. Grass-widow.
1725. Bailey, Erasmus, 136. They should see you divorced from your husband—a widow, nay, to live (a widow bewitched) worse than a widow; for widows may marry again.
1863. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxxix. Who'd ha' thought of yo'r husband . . . makin' a moonlight flittin' and leavin' yo' to be a widow-bewitched.
Widow's-man, subs. phr. (various).—See
quots.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, iii. vi. As to Square, who was in his person what is called a jolly fellow, or a widow's man, he easily reconciled his choice to the eternal fitness of things.
1834. Marryat, Peter Simple, vii. Widow's men are imaginary sailors, borne on the books, and receiving pay and prize money, which is appropriated to Greenwich Hospital.
Widow's-weeds, subs. phr. (old).—1.
An unmarried mother, a
deserted mistress (B. E. and
Grose).
2. See Weed, 3.
Wife, subs. (prison).—A leg-shackle.
As much need of a wife as a dog of a side-pocket, phr. (old).—'Said of a weak, old debilitated man' (Grose).
Wife in water-colours, subs. phr. (common).—(1) A morganatic wife; and (2) a mistress or concubine: cf. Fr. collage à la détrempe.
Wifey, subs. (colloquial).—A wife:
an endearment.
1897. Marshall, Pomes, 66. As wifey was out.
Wiffle-woffle, subs. (common).—In
pl. = the stomach-ache,
sorrow, the dumps (q.v.):
generic.
Wig, verb (North Country Cant).—1.
'To move off, go away'
(Hotten).
2. (colloquial).—To rate, scold, 'carpet': spec. 'to call over the coals' publicly. Whence wigging = a public rebuke or reprimand: ear-wigging = a more or less private calling over the coals.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Leg., ii. 386. If you wish to 'scape wigging, a dumb wife's the dandy.
1888. Echo, 26 Mar. So alarmed at the prospect of being wigged from home.
1897. Marshall, Pomes, 84. They both had a wigging at Marylebone For attempting to kiss a policeman.
1902. Pall Mall Gaz., 26 July, 2. 2. 'Discipline must be maintained, and now that the lads know that they are not to suffer for a crime they never committed they will not mind the C.-in-C.'s wigging.
Wig-block, subs. phr. (common).—The
head.
Wigsby, subs. (old).—A jocular
appellation for a man wearing a
wig: cf. Rudesby, Four-eyes,
Barnacles, etc. (Grose).
Wild, subs. (tramps').—A village,
the country: cf. 'Weald.'
[1598. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., ii. 1. 60. A franklin in the Wild of Kent.]
Wild-brain, subs. phr. (old).—A
harebrain, silly, soft (q.v.) fellow.
