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Dictionary.com defines a widow's peak as a "v-shaped point formed by the hair near the top of the human forehead." Evan Morris' Word Detective site goes on to explain that according to English folklore, a woman with a widow's peak is destined to outlive her husband. The male counterpart being, naturally, a widower's peak, à la Jack Nicholson. We found the origin of the term in the newsletter of the East Meadow Kiwanis Meeting at Potter's Pub on January 2, 2001. Author Robert Manson explains, "the use of 'peak' to refer to the beak
or bill of a headdress, particularly a widow's hood, dates to 1530. So the term derives from a mourning hood." The etymology journal Take Our Word For It also sites the hood worn by widows, a biquoquet, as the origin of the term and mentions another expression, a "widow's lock," which refers to a distinct lock of hair on a woman's head. Sadly, this is another omen of imminent widowhood.
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