Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Widowhood
Wid′ow·hood (wĭd′ō·ho͝od), n. 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. [Obs.] "I 'll assure her of her widowhood . . . in all my lands." Shak.