Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WOE-FUL, a.

1. Sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity; afflicted. How many woeful widows left to bow / To sad disgrace! – Daniel.
2. Sorrowful; mournful; full of distress; as, woeful day. – Jer. xvii.
3. Bringing calamity, distress or affliction; as, a woeful event; woeful want.
4. Wretched; paltry. What woeful stuff this madrigal would be. – Pope.