1. A meta-thing. Used to stand fOR a real object in didactic examples (especially database tutORials). Legend has it that the ORiginal widgets were holders fOR buggy whips. "But suppose the parts list fOR a widget has 52 entries..." 2. [possibly evoking "window gadget"] In graphical user interfaces, a combination of a graphic symbol and some program code to perfORm a specific function. E.g. a scroll-bar OR button. Windowing systems usually provide widget libraries containing commonly used widgets drawn in a certain style and with consistent behaviour. [Jargon File]