Awe \Awe\ ([add]), n. [OE. a[yogh]e, aghe, fr. Icel. agi; akin
to AS. ege, [=o]ga, Goth. agis, Dan. ave chastisement, fear,
Gr. 'a`chos pain, distress, from the same root as E. ail.
[root]3. Cf. Ugly.]
1. Dread; great fear mingled with respect. [Obs. or
Obsolescent]
His frown was full of terror, and his voice Shook
the delinquent with such fits of awe. --Cowper.
2. The emotion inspired by something dreadful and sublime; an
undefined sense of the dreadful and the sublime;
reverential fear, or solemn wonder; profound reverence.
There is an awe in mortals' joy, A deep mysterious
fear. --Keble.
To tame the pride of that power which held the
Continent in awe. --Macaulay.
The solitude of the desert, or the loftiness of the
mountain, may fill the mind with awe -- the sense of
our own littleness in some greater presence or
power. --C. J. Smith.
To stand in awe of, to fear greatly; to reverence
profoundly.
Syn: See Reverence.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
|