Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Woe?

\Woe\, n. [OE. wo, wa, woo, AS. w[=a], interj.; akin to D. wee, OS. & OHG. w[=e], G. weh, Icel. vei, Dan. vee, Sw. ve, Goth. wai; cf. L. vae, Gr. ?. [root]128. Cf. {Wail}.] [Formerly written also {wo}.] 1. Grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity. Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our woe, she took. --Milton. [They] weep each other's woe. --Pope. 2. A curse; a malediction. Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice? --South. Note: Woe is used in denunciation, and in exclamations of sorrow. `` Woe is me! for I am undone.'' --Isa. vi. 5. O! woe were us alive [i.e., in life]. --Chaucer. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! --Isa. xlv. 9. {Woe worth}, Woe be to. See {Worth}, v. i. Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, That costs thy life, my gallant gray! --Sir W. Scott.
\Woe\, a. Woeful; sorrowful. [Obs.] His clerk was woe to do that deed. --Robert of Brunne. Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed. --Chaucer. And looking up he waxed wondrous woe. --Spenser.