Checking saved dictionary data and trusted language sources. This will stop automatically if a source does not respond.
/ˈwɪ.dəʊˌmeɪ.kəɹ/ · noun
(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!
What is a woman that you forsake her, / And the hearth-fire and the home-acre, / To go with the old grey Widow-maker?
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.
Use widow-maker when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Widow-maker means (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..
Common synonyms include fool killer.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
O, it grieves my soul, / That I must draw this metal from my side / To be a widow-maker!
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.