Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Widowhood

Widowhood , noun

1.
The state of being a widow; the time during which a woman is widow; also, rarely, the state of being a widower.
Johnson clung to her memory during a widowhood of more than thirty years. — Leslie Stephen
2.
Estate settled on a widow. [Obsolete]
I 'll assure her of her widowhood... in all my lands. — Shakespeare