Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Woe
Woe
,Noun.
[OE.
wo
, wa
, woo, AS. wā
, interj.; akin to D. wee
, OS. & OHG. wē
, G. weh
, Icel. vei
, Dan. vee
, Sw. ve
, Goth. wai
; cf. L. vae
, Gr. [GREEK]. √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
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.
☞ 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
, Verb.
I.
Woe worth
the chase, woe worth
the day,That costs thy life, my gallant gray!
Sir W. Scott.
Woe
,Adj.
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.
Definition 2025
woe
woe
English
Noun
woe (countable and uncountable, plural woes)
- grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity.
- Milton
- Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, / Sad instrument of all our woe, she took.
- Alexander Pope
- [They] weep each other's woe.
- Milton
- A curse; a malediction.
- South
- Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?
- South
Translations
grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity
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Derived terms
Adjective
woe (comparative more woe, superlative most woe)
- (obsolete) woeful; sorrowful
- Robert of Brunne
- His clerk was woe to do that deed.
- Chaucer
- Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed.
- Spenser
- And looking up he waxed wondrous woe.
- Robert of Brunne