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 \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.
Two of the best traditional 200-fish beats only managed to creep into double figures this year. Aided by Lar Kenny, a ghillie of 38 years experience, and others, I built up a portrait of woe.
This tale of woe is accompanied by a statement that the directors believe that these unfavourable trading conditions will continue at least until the end of the current financial year next March. This brings us to the question of the quality of earnings.
In his mind there is a certain Valdez spirit that will enable it to recover from its current woe.
That hopeful report was later overshadowed by a litany of woe from several sources.
Another demand woe: the four-month-old strike at the New York Daily News.
If the inherent riskiness of the business had been reduced, the risk of lending to it should also have been reduced. O&Y's 100 banks each have a different tale of woe concerning how they misunderstood the risks of lending to it.
Here's a list of other baseball movies that are available on video: "College" (1927): Buster Keaton as the unwitting jock who tries to woe the love of his life through sports.
William Blake, driven by poverty and visions, walked 'where the chartered Thames doth flow' to 'mark in every human face, marks of weakness marks of woe.'
ERITREAN DROUGHT Long in the throes of armed conflict, Eritrea is once again coming to grips with another woe: drought.
I have the feeling, unhappily, that this unrest may bring more woe to Israel than any war.
And woe to the motorist who stops to let someone out at Poydras and Loyola streets, the busiest intersection in the city these days.
Nobody believes that what used to be called the left-wing electorate - 48 per cent in the 1988 general election - has disappeared, especially not in a period of economic woe.