Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WOE, n. [Sax. wa; L. væ; Gr. ουαι; W. gwae; G. weh; D. wee; Sw. ve.]

1. Grief; sorrow; misery; a heavy calamity. One woe is past; and behold there come two woes more hereafter. – Rev. ix. They weep each other's woe. – Pope.
2. A curse. Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance, equal to the malignity of such a practice? – South.
3. Woe is used in denunciation, and in exclamations of sorrow. Woe is me; for I am undone. – Isa. vi. This is properly the Saxon dative, “woe is to me.' "Woe worth the day." This is also the dative; woe be to the day; Sax. wurthan, weorthan or wyrthan, to be, to become. Woe is a noun, and if used as an adjective, it is improperly used. “Woe to you that are rich.” “Woe to that man, by whom the offense cometh;” that is, misery, calamity, be or will be to him.

WOE-BE-GONE, a. [woe, be, and gone.]

Overwhelmed with woe; immersed in grief and sorrow. So woebegone was he with pains of love. – Fairfax.

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.

WOE-FUL-LY, adv.

1. Sorrowfully; mournfully; in a distressing manner.
2. Wretchedly; extremely; as, he will be woefully deceived.

WOE-FUL-NESS, n.

Misery; calamity.

WOE-SHAK-EN, a.

Shaken by woe.

WOE-SOME, a. [wo'sum.]

Woeful. [Not in use.] – Langhorne.

WOFT, v. [or n. for Waft. Not in use.]

– Shak.

WOLD, n.

In Saxon, is the same as wald and weald, a wood, sometimes perhaps a lawn or plain. Wald signifies also power, dominion, from waldan, to rule. These words occur in names.

WOLF, n. [wulf; Sax. wulf; G. and D. wolf; Sw. ulf; Dan. ulv; Russ. volk; L. vulpes, a fox, the same word differently applied. The Gr. is αλωπηξ.]

1. An animal of the genus Canis, a beast of prey that kills sheep and other small domestic animals; called sometimes the wild dog. The wolf is crafty, greedy and ravenous.
2. A small white worm or maggot, which infests granaries. – Cyc.
3. An eating ulcer. – Brown.

WOLF'-DOG, n.

1. A dog of a large breed, kept to guard sheep.
2. A dog supposed to be bred between a dog and a wolf. – Johnson.

WOLF-FISH, n.

A fish, the Lupus marinus, (the Anarrhichas lupus of Linnæus;) a fierce voracious fish of the northern seas. This fish is called also cat-fish and sea-wolf. – Cyc.

WOLF'ISH, a.

Like a wolf; having the qualities or form of a wolf; as, a wolfish visage; wolfish designs. – Shak.

WOLF'ISH-LY, adv.

In a wolfish manner. – Borrow.

WOLF'-NET, n.

A kind of net used in fishing, which takes great numbers. – Cyc.

WOL'FRAM, n.

In mineralogy, an ore of tungsten. Its color is generally a brownish or grayish, black; when cut with a knife, it gives a reddish brown streak. It occurs in massive and crystalized, and in concentric lamellar concretions. – Cyc.

WOLF'S-BANE, n.

1. A poisonous plant of the genus Aconitum; aconite.
2. The winter aconite, or Helleborus hyemalis. – Lee.

WOLF'S'-CLAW, n.

A plant of the genus Lycopodium.

WOLF'S'-MILK, n.

An herb. – Ainsworth.

WOLF'S'-PEACH, n.

A plant of the genus Solanum, [Lycopersicum esculentum.]

WOL'LAS-TON-ITE, n.

A mineral found in Peru, of a yellowish brown color; so called from Dr. Wollaston.

WOL'VER-IN, or WOL'VER-INE, n.

A carnivorous mammal, the Gulo Luscus, a quadruped inhabiting the coasts of the Arctic Sea. It is sometimes called Quick-Hatch, and Hudson's-Bay Bear.

WOLV-ER-INE', n.

A cant term given to an inhabitant of Michigan.

WOLV'ISH, a.

More properly Wolfish – which see.

WOM-AN, n. [plur. Women. a compound of womb and man. It is the same word as L. fœmina; the Latin's writing f for w. The plural as written, seems to be womb-men. But we pronounce it wimen, and so it ought to be written, for it is from the Saxon wifman, wife-man.]

1. The female of the human race, grown to adult years. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made he a woman. – Gen. ii. Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible. – Shak. We see every day women perish with infamy, by having been too wiling to set their beauty to show. – Rambler. I have observed among all nations that the women ornament themselves more than the men; that wherever found, they are the same kind, civil, obliging, humane, tender beings, inclined to be gay and cheerful, timorous and modest. – Ledyard.
2. A female attendant or servant. – Shak.