noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   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. idiomatic

   "O, it grieves my soul, / That I must draw this metal from my side / To be a widow-maker!"

2. 2
   The detached or broken limb of a tree, a hazard to those walking underneath.
3. 3
   An occlusion of the left coronary artery or its anterior interventricular branch; which is likely to cause a fatal heart attack. informal
4. 4
   The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. slang

Synonyms

All synonyms

fool killer

Example

More examples

"O, it grieves my soul, / That I must draw this metal from my side / To be a widow-maker!"

Etymology

From widow + maker. For sense 4, compare German Witwenmacher.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.