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A.Word.A.Day--widow's peak

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: whose what?

widow's peak (WID-oz peek) noun

A V-shaped hairline at the center top of the forehead.

[From the former belief that this feature in a woman was an omen that she'd outlive her husband, as in those days a widow wore a mourning hood with a pointed crest.]

Earlier, this feature in a man was known as a widower's peak, though today widow's peak is a unisex term. It's not known what the superstition said when two people with widow's peak married each other. Examples of people with widow's peaks: John Travolta, Count Dracula.

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus.

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"Tall, slim and more Draculesque than ever with his sunken cheeks, widow's peak and grey sidewings, [Jan] Garbarek led a virtuosic quartet by example." Jack Massarik; The Enigma Soars to a Sparky Beat; The Evening Standard (London, UK); Nov 19, 2007.

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Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason. -Henry Fielding, author (1707-1754)

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