Woe
Woe , noun
[Old English wo, wa, woo, Anglo-Saxon wā, interj.; akin to Dutch wee, Old Saxon & Old High German wē, German weh, Icelandic vei, Danish vee, Swedish ve, Gothic wai; compare Latin vae, Greek {not transcribed}. r128. Compare Wail.]
1.
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.
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?
O! woe were us alive [i.e., in life].
Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!
Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day,
That costs thy life, my gallant gray!
Woe is used in denunciation, and in exclamations of sorrow. “ Woe is me! for I am undone.”
Collocations (1)
Woe worth , Woe be to. See Worth, v. i.
Woe , adjective
Woeful; sorrowful. [Obsolete]
His clerk was woe to do that deed.
Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed.
And looking up he waxed wondrous woe.