ruths

Noun

ruth (countable and uncountable, plural ruths)

1. (archaic) Sorrow for the misery of another person; compassion, mercy, pity.
   • The dead mans corps hath made ſome Serpents weépe, / Such rewth may ryſe in beaſts of bloudy race: / And yet can man (which bragges aboue the reſt) / Uſe wracke [vengeance] for rewth? can murder like him beſt?1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “The Hare, to the Hunter”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, →OCLC, page 177

   Synonyms:

   commiseration, rue, bowels, compassion, empathy, fellow feeling, mercy, pity, remorse, sympathy

   Antonyms:

   unruth

2. (archaic) Regret, remorse, repentance.
   • But, what afflicts my peace with keenest ruth, / Is, that I have my inner self abused, / Forgone the home delight of constant truth, / And clear and open soul, so prized in fearless youth.1798, [William Wordsworth], “The Female Vagrant”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], →OCLC, page 83

   Synonyms:

   contrition, agenbite, remorse, rue, compunction, guilt, penitence, repentance, self-reproach, sorriness

3. (obsolete, uncountable) Matter for regret or sorrow; calamity, ruin; also, occasion for regret or sorrow; (countable) an instance of this; a disaster, a pitiful thing.
   • They ſay it is a ruth to ſee thy louer neede, / But you can ſee me vveepe, but you can ſee me bleede: / And neuer ſhrinke nor ſhame, ne ſhed no teare at all, / You make my vvounds your ſelfe, and fill them vp vvith gall: […]1589, attributed to George Puttenham, “Of Figures Sententious, otherwise Called Rhetoricall”, in The Arte of English Poesie. […], London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, 3rd booke (Of Ornament), pages...

   Synonyms:

   hardship, sorrow, affliction, aggrievance, distress, grief, grievance, misery, sadness, undelight

4. (obsolete, uncountable) Distress, misery, sorrow.
   • High on a hill a goodly Cedar grevve, / Of vvondrous length, and ſtreight proportion, / […] / Shortly vvithin her inmoſt pith there bred / A little vvicked vvorme, perceiu'd of none, / That on her ſap and vitall moyſture fed: / Thenceforth her garland ſo much honoured / Began to die, (O great ruth...1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Visions of the Worlds Vanitie”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC, stanza 7, signature...

   Synonyms:

   dejection, unhappiness, blueness, tristesse, mirthless, blues, crestfallenness, depression, despondency, distress

See all 9 meanings of ruth