What does widows son in freemasonry mean?

Answer 1

One of the central characters in Masonic legend is the man who was the chief architect at the building of The Temple of The Lord at Jerusalem by Solomon, the King of Israel. His name, according to The Bible, was Hiram, and he was recorded as having trained in Tyre, working for the King of Tyre, also named Hiram. According to the text, Hiram the Builder (as differentiated from "Hiram the King") was the son of a citizen of Tyre and an Israeli woman who had moved to Tyre, likely with her father and family. His mother, of the Israeli tribe of Naphthali, was a widow; as a result, Hiram was known as "The Widow's Son".

Answer 2

During a masonic initiation, the candidate is lead into a small room that resembles a grave. This is the "meditation" room. It represents the earth. The whole represents the candidate "dying (letting go of old "common knowledge") and then re-emerging into the light (starting to acquire knowledge), born from his mother's womb". The mother here is the earth.

Since a freemason is born from his mother, the earth, and no father is present, the earth is referred to as the widow. Hence, a freemason is the widow's son.

This is not the usual meaning of the phrase. It is more likely to refer to the legendary figure Hiram Abiff.