a. Also woful. [f. WOE sb. + -FUL. (Revived or newly formed c. 1750.)]
1. Of persons, their attributes, actions, etc.: Full of woe; afflicted with sorrow, distress or misfortune; sorrowful, mournful.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11564. Ful waful made he mani wijf!
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, I. 214. Wepynge with ful woful chere.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 260. Wher thei myhten se The wofulleste upon this Molde.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 950. A wery wafulle wedowe, wryngande hire handez.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, IV. vi. 126. Herynge aboute hymn many complayntes of woful knyghtes.
1549. Compl. Scot., vii. 68. It aperit be hyr voful contenens, that sche vas in grite dout ande dreddour.
a. 1557. Grimalde, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 112. For Wilford felt the wayters wayfull wo.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks, Introd. (1621), A 4. The infinite number of wofull Christians (whose grieuous groanings vnder the heauie yoke of infidelitie no tongue is able to expresse).
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., I. v. § 14. They dispatch Petition after Petition, Embassie on Embassie, representing their wofull estate.
1802. Leyden, Lord Soulis, xl. When Soulis thought on his merriemen now, A woeful wight was he.
1825. Macaulay, Ess., Milton, ¶ 45. The haggard and woful stare of the eye.
1885. E. Arnold, Secret of Death, 10. Be sure that woeful father wept.
2. Of times, places, occurrences, etc.: Fraught with woe, affliction or misery; miserable.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2882. I rede yow take Ensaumple bi þis waful wrake.
c. 1400. Melayne, 260. Oure knyghtis one þe gronde lyse With wondes wyde one wafull wyse.
c. 1480. Henryson, Want of Wyse Men, 7. This is a wofull werde.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. v. 49. O wo, O wofull, wofull, wofull day.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 240. That wofull war betweene the houses of Lancaster and Yorke.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 554. In this wofull Towne dwell not above two or three hundred Inhabitants.
1642–3. Petit. Gen. Assembly, 4 Jan., 1. In this wofull case, and lamentable condition of your Majesties Dominions.
1777. W. Dalrymple, Trav. Sp. & Port., lvi. Many old palaces going to ruins, the woeful memorials of antient splendour.
1803. Scott, Gray Brother, xx. A woful place was that, I ween, As sorrow could desire.
1853. Hawthorne, Tanglewood T., Minotaur, 28. The wofulest anniversary in the whole year.
3. In weakened or trivial senses: Such as to excite commiseration or dissatisfaction; ‘grievous,’ ‘sad,’ unpleasant; very bad, poor or mean; ‘pitiful,’ ‘deplorable,’ ‘wretched.’
1619. J. Taylor (Water P.), Kicksey Winsey, B 5. These mens honesties are like their states, At piteous, wofull, and at low priz’d rates.
1647. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 496. Mun, poore childe, is a woefull schollar.
1650. B., Discolliminium, 2. It is a wofull while a coming.
1691. Mrs. D’Anvers, Academia, 53. She’s in a woful taking, When once she comes to miss her Bacon.
1709. Pope, Ess. Crit., 418. What woful stuff this madrigal would be.
1723. Chambers, trans. Le Clerc’s Archit., I. 117. Two Imposts over each other wou’d have a woful Effect.
1798. S. & Ht. Lee, Cant. T., Young Lady’s T., II. 546. [She] had many good qualities, but was a woeful manager of children.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., lxiii. He … has a woful consciousness upon him of being a scapegrace.
1863. W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, ii. 44. I had to return to camp … in a woful plight, minus my hat, and my shirt torn to ribbons.
1905. Times Lit. Suppl., 2 June, 176/3. Wild dogs have … made woful havoc of the sambar and spotted deer. Ibid. (1920), 2 Sept., 558/1. The woful results of uncritical thinking.
4. In comb. with another adj., as woeful-wan; also advb. = WOEFULLY.
1750. Gray, Elegy, 107. Now drooping, woeful-wan, like one forlorn.
1794. Girlhood of M. J. Holroyd (1896), 259. His others are woful bad.
1820. S. Rogers, Hum. Life, 282. One woeful-wan, one merrier yet as mad.
