woe Meaning, Definition & Usage

Woe noun

Etymology

OE. wo, wa, woo, AS. wa, interj.; akin to D. wee, OS. & OHG. we, G. weh, Icel. vei, Dan. vee, Sw. ve, Goth. wai; cf. L. vae, Gr. . Cf. Wail.

Definitions

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.

   ✍ 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 the chase, woe worth the day, That costs thy life, my gallant gray! Sir W. Scott.

Woe adjective

Definitions

1. 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.