ruth
See also: Ruth
English
Etymology
From Middle English reuþe, ruthe, reuthe, rewthe, reowthe, corresponding to rue + -th, perhaps after early Scandinavian (compare Old Norse hrygð, hryggð (“ruth, sorrow”)).
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -uːθ
- IPA(key): /ɹuːθ/
Noun
ruth (uncountable)
- (archaic) Sorrow for the misery of another; pity, compassion; mercy. [from 13th c.]
- 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 11, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- It was my fortune to be at Rome, upon a day that one Catena, a notorious high-way theefe, was executed: at his strangling no man of the companie seemed to be mooved to any ruth […].
- 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter IV, 1859, New York, Harper & Brothers, page 14:
- under her light eyebrows glimmered an eye devoid of ruth […].
- 2011, Turisas (Mathias Nygård), Hunting Pirates
- Scum they are! —Foe of mankind!
- Clear the sea! —Show no ruth!
-
- (now rare) Repentance; regret; remorse. [from 13th c.]
- 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, XLIV, 2005, The Works of A. E. Housman [1994, The Collected Poems of A. E. Housman], page 61,
- Now to your grave shall friend and stranger / With ruth and some with envy come […].
- ~1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fall of Arthur
- He mourned too late
- In ruth for the rending of the Round Table.
- 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, XLIV, 2005, The Works of A. E. Housman [1994, The Collected Poems of A. E. Housman], page 61,
- (obsolete) Sorrow; misery; distress. [13th-19th c.][1]
- (obsolete) Something which causes regret or sorrow; a pitiful sight. [13th-17th c.]
Translations
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