Now literary. Forms: 1 woʓian, 3 wohe, 3–4 woȝe(n, wowen, 3–6 wowe, (4 wouwe, 5 wowyn, wogh), 5–7 wow, wooe, 6–7 wo, 6–8 woe, 6– woo. [Late OE. wóʓian (also áwóʓian in trans. sense), of obscure origin.]
I. intr. (or absol.) 1. To solicit or sue a woman in love; to court, make love.
a. 1050. Liber Scintill., xiii. (1889), 68. Bearn worulde þissere woʓiað & hi beoð ʓesealde to gyftum. Ibid. Ne hi ne woʓiað ne hi ne lædað wif. Ibid., 70. Naht framað flæsc habban mæden ʓif on ʓeþance æniʓ woʓað.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 388. Ase a mon þet woweð [MS. Titus wohes]—ase a king þet luuede one lefdi of feorrene londe.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 793 (Camb.). Whan þu farst to woȝe, Tak him þine gloue.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 40. Unto þe duke of Normundie he went for to wouwe.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 7. Wher a womman is al one, It makth a man … The more hardi forto wowe.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xiii. 44. Religious men of diuerss placis Cumis thair to wow and se fair facis.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. ii. 3. Is’t possible, that … but seeing, you should loue her? And louing woo? and wooing, she should graunt?
1670. Ray, Prov., 30. To wo is a pleasure in a young man, a fault in an old.
1792. Burns, Duncan Gray, i. Duncan Gray came here to woo.
1822. Campbell, Maid’s Remonstr., i. Never wedding, ever wooing, Still a love-lorn heart pursuing,… Wed, or cease to woo.
1859. Tennyson, Marr. Geraint, 442. A creature wholly given to brawls and wine, Drunk even when he woo’d.
b. Of animals.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., 44. Wowes this wilde drakes. Ibid. Wormes woweth under cloude.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. i. (1495), A ij/1. Males [of birds] drawe to company of females … and wowe wyth beckes & voyce.
c. in fig. context.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 400. Lo! þus ure Louerd woweð: nis heo to herd i-heorted het a swuch woware ne mei turnen hire luue to him.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 78. In loves court … The povere vertu schal noght spiede, Wher that the riche vice woweth.
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, xx. 120. He [sc. Christ] is worþy be loued, þat so dede wowe.
2. To make solicitation or entreaty; to sue for; to ‘invite,’ ‘call.’ Also const. clause.
1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 143. Th’ Maide … Wooing with teares … That Ioue would giue this Monster th’ ouerthrow.
1634. Bp. Hall, Contempl., N. T., IV. xv. Even after an ill harvest we must sow, and after denials we must woo for God.
1647. Trapp, Comm., 2 Cor. iv. 5 (1656), 711. We are Christs Paranymphs, or spokesmen, and must woo for him.
1877. Mrs. Forrester, Mignon, I. 222. So poor George wooes and prays and pleads in vain.
1896. A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, iv. Towns and countries woo together.
II. trans. 3. To sue to or solicit (a woman) in love, esp. with a view to marriage; to pay court to, court.
[c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, vii. 14. Þa ða heo ʓewende of scole, ða awoʓode hi sum cniht.
a. 1020. in Thorpe, Charters (1865), 312. Þa foreward ðe Godwine worhte wið Byrhtric þa he his dohter awoʓode.]
c. 1290. St. Matthew, 84, in S. Eng. Leg., 80. A king … wolde ire habbe to his spouse and wowede hire wel faste.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 546 (Camb.). Ischal … mi kniȝthod proue, Ar ihc þe ginne to woȝe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 27998. If þou man nedd þe euer þar-till At force womman … Or woud hir wit wordes slight.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1247, Dido. He … wowede hyre to han hire as his wyf.
c. 1440. Generydes, 4442. Ther is a knyght hir wowith euery owre, Not for to wedde butt for his paramour.
1530. Palsgr., 783/2. Thou arte but a foole to wo her, she is nat for the.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 307. Wooe hir, win hir, and weare hir.
1589. Warner, Alb. Eng., VI. xxix. (1612), 146. Thus wowde he her, thus wonne he her, thus wowde and wonne hee sped.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. vii. 59. Long thus I woo’d her with dew obseruance, In hope vnto my pleasure to haue won.
1714. T. Lucas, Mem. Gamesters (ed. 2), 41. He presum’d to woe a great Lady, who was a Widow.
1842. Tennyson, Dora, 37. He woo’d and wed A labourer’s daughter.
1861. Geo. Eliot, Silas M., iii. For four years he had thought of Nancy Lammeter, and wooed her with tacit patient worship.
b. Of animals.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. i. (1495), X vj b/2. The males woweth & plesyth the females.
1684. J. S., Profit & Pleas. United, 35. If she [sc. the Mare] refuse him … you may put a small Stone Nag to wooe her.
1855. Poultry Chron., II. 412. [We] heard their loud gobbling on a sunny spring morning when wooing their mates.
† c. Said of the female: To solicit the love of.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., II. v. 344. Scho … Said Iosephe walde haf lyin hyr by, Qwhar to scho wowit hym besely.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XIX. viii. 784. [She] wowed hym to haue layne by hym.
d. in fig. context.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 390. Iesu Crist … þet al o þisse wise wowude ure soule.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in O. E. Hom., I. 787. A swete ihesu … hwine con ich þe woȝe [later text wowen þe] wiþ swete luue.
c. 1430. Hymns Virgin (1867), 69. In ȝougþe whanne y was wilde & stronge, Þe fals world fair dide me wowe.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, II. i. 15. See that you come Not to wooe honour, but to wed it.
1672. Dryden, 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada, III. 113. In gaining him, I gain that Fortune too Which he has Wedded, and which I but Wooe.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 126. They are lost In chase of fancied happiness, still woo’d And never won.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, iii. Venice … in old times would send forth the Chief of the State to woo and wed the reluctant sea.
4. To move or invite by alluring means; to entreat or solicit alluringly. (Said properly of persons, fig. of things.) a. const. obj. and inf.
c. 1400. Song Roland, 546. His bugle to blow, they hym wowid.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 4. He … wooed them (with many fayre promises) to repent.
1604. Shaks., Oth., III. iii. 293. My wayward Husband hath a hundred times Woo’d me to steale it.
1621. Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden), 81. He was wood to consent to the patent of Inns.
1629. Milton, Nativity, 38. Only with speeches fair She [sc. Nature] woo’s the gentle Air To hide her guilty front with innocent Snow.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 1036. Then forth he walks,… and wooes the bird of eve To mingle woes with his.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, I. 217. Begone!—I woo thee not to stay.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., II. 175. A mild air … wooing every bud and flower to burst forth into … beauty.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 487. Him they lured Into their net…, wooing him to woo.
b. const. obj. and advb. phr. (or simple adv.).
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 91. Þey heo were … bysylych ywowed to cosses and clippynge…; ȝit sche lefte clene mayde.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, II. ii. This gentlewoman is wooing Hermogenes for a song.
1612. Two Noble Kinsmen, II. ii. 109. All those pleasures That wooe the wils of men to vanity.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, V. xxv. 272. With the oratorie of so pious a project to woo money out of peoples purses.
1682. Burton, Admirable Curiosities (1684), 23. To little purpose he woed the King and Queen for Reparation.
1703. Rowe, Ulysses, I. i. Well might you hope to woe me to your Wishes.
1781. Cowper, Expost., 627. Those truths … Invite thee, woo thee, to the bliss they share.
1820. Byron, Mar. Fal., IV. i. 17. I … will woo my pillow For thoughts more tranquil.
1830. Tennyson, Owl, II. ii. Thee to woo to thy tuwhit.
1875. McLaren, Serm., Ser. II. vii. 121. In spite of every silvery voice that woos him aside.
1882. T. G. Bowles, Flotsam & Jetsam, 8. A splendid summer day, wooing the very coat off your back.
5. To sue for or solicit the possession or achievement of; hence fig. to ‘court,’ ‘invite,’ ‘tempt.’
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 533/1. Wowyn’, proco, procito.
1570. Levins, Manip., 180/1. To wowe, procare, ambire.
a. 1585. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 140. ‘Mak choice then of those then, Or of a thousand things’;… With that I wowd his wings.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 10. What a life is this That your poore friends must woe your companie. Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., V. i. 140. You take a Precepit for no leape of danger, And woe your owne destruction.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Honour & Reputation (Arb.), 67/2. Some in their Actions, doe Wooe and affect Honour, and Reputation.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, I. iv. 5. Some … rather wooed then waited for their own deaths.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. i. 90. Their Bones were drubb’d so sore They durst not wooe one Combat more.
1781. Cowper, Expost., 413. All fasting else … Is wooing mercy by renew’d offence. Ibid. (1781), Hope, 420. They that woo preferment.
1792. S. Rogers, Pleas. Mem., I. 14. Whose hollow turret wooes the whistling breeze.
1820. Byron, Juan, IV. xliii. Pale, statue-like, and stern, she woo’d the blow.
1882. W. Ballantine, Exper., xxiii. 224. A theatre which for years before had wooed in vain the patronage of the public.
1883. R. Bridges, Prometheus, 935. She fled Into the sea, preferring there to woo The choking waters.
Hence Wooable a., suitable to be wooed.
1903. Zangwill, Grey Wig, Merely Mary Ann, 262. She was well-nigh of wooable age.
