WOE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Woe

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noun

Woe n. (Formerly written also wo)

Grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity. "Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, Sad instrument of all our woe, she took." "(They) weep each other's woe."

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?" Note: Woe is used in denunciation, and in exclamations of sorrow. " Woe is me! for I am undone." "O! woe were us alive (i.e., in life)." "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!"

Woe worth, Woe be to. See Worth, v. i. "Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, That costs thy life, my gallant gray!"

adjective

Woe adj. Woeful; sorrowful. (Obs.) "His clerk was woe to do that deed." "Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed." "And looking up he waxed wondrous woe."

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Etymology of 'Woe'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Woe" Quotes from Famous Books

... at night, and woe to any belated native or domestic animal that happened to be near; he would leap upon them, and kill them with one ...

— Our Young Folks at Home and Abroad • Various

... now is that it was a spectacle to freeze the blood. Poor Almia could scarcely retain consciousness as she gazed upon the awful scenes of woe and suffering which spread out beneath her. And she could do nothing! Her labors would be useful only in cases of isolated woundings. If she were to mingle in the fray she would perish in the general slaughter; and if she were to go and offer assistance ...

— John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein • Frank R. Stockton

... he should recover his spirits or facility of manner; his gaiety was forced, his tenderness constrained; his heart was heavy within him; and ever and anon the source whence all this disappointment and woe had sprung would recur to his perplexed and ...

— The Experiences of a Barrister, and Confessions of an Attorney • Samuel Warren

... was almost out on the horse's tail. His alarm had, therefore, become overwhelming. No fondness for the nice warm fur of the bunnies, no faith in the larger boy in front, could suffice to drive from his tiny face the look of woe unutterable, expressed by his eyes and his trembling ...

— Bruvver Jim's Baby • Philip Verrill Mighels

... the jury were shaken a little when Gore Cross-examined about her engagements before, For Jones was the sixth of the strings to her bow And with five other verdicts she solaced her woe. ...

— Briefless Ballads and Legal Lyrics - Second Series • James Williams

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