Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Awe?

\Awe\ ([add]), n. [OE. a[yogh]e, aghe, fr. Icel. agi; akin to AS. ege, [=o]ga, Goth. agis, Dan. ave chastisement, fear, Gr. 'a`chos pain, distress, from the same root as E. ail. [root]3. Cf. {Ugly}.] 1. Dread; great fear mingled with respect. [Obs. or Obsolescent] His frown was full of terror, and his voice Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe. --Cowper. 2. The emotion inspired by something dreadful and sublime; an undefined sense of the dreadful and the sublime; reverential fear, or solemn wonder; profound reverence. There is an awe in mortals' joy, A deep mysterious fear. --Keble. To tame the pride of that power which held the Continent in awe. --Macaulay. The solitude of the desert, or the loftiness of the mountain, may fill the mind with awe -- the sense of our own littleness in some greater presence or power. --C. J. Smith. {To stand in awe of}, to fear greatly; to reverence profoundly. Syn: See {Reverence}.
\Awe\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Awed} (?); p. pr. & vb. n. {Awing}.] To strike with fear and reverence; to inspire with awe; to control by inspiring dread. That same eye whose bend doth awe the world. --Shak. His solemn and pathetic exhortation awed and melted the bystanders. --Macaulay.