Woe

n. [Written also wo.] [A-S. wō, wōwa, D. wee, Icel. vā, vo, Dan. vee, O. H. Ger. wē, wōwa, wōwo, M. H. Ger. wœwe, wē, N. H. Ger. weh; A-S. wā, O. Sax. wē, wah, O. Fries. wach, D. wee, Sw. ve, Dan. vee, O. H. Ger. wē, N. H. Ger. weh, Goth. wai, interj. woe! Lat. vae, Gr. οὐαί.]

1Sense 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.

2Sense 2. A curse; 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.” Is. vi. 5.

Woe worth the day, woe be to the day. See WORTH, v. i.

*Woe worth the day That cost thy life, my gallant gray.* W. Scott.