Woe /(?)/

Woe

n.
  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!
    — Isa. xlv. 9.
    Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, That costs thy life, my gallant gray!

Phrases & Compounds

Woe worth
Woe be to. See Worth, v. i.

Woe

a.
  1. Woeful; sorrowful. [Obs.]
    His clerk was woe to do that deed.
    — Robert of Brunne.
    Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed.
    And looking up he waxed wondrous woe.