 2 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Wo \Wo\, noun & a.
See {Woe}. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Woe \Woe\, noun [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}, verb (used without an object)
Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day,
That costs thy life, my gallant gray! --Sir W.
Scott.
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