Ruth
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -uËθ
- IPA: /ɹuËθ/
Origin
Middle English ruthe, reowthe, corresponding to rue + -th, perhaps after early Scandinavian (compare Old Norse hrygð, hryggð ("ruth, sorrow")). Compare rue.
Full definition of ruth
Noun
ruth
(uncountable)- (archaic) Sorrow for the misery of another; pity, compassion; mercy. from 13th c.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.11: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, , XLIV, 2005, The Works of A. E. Housman 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 ArthurHe mourned too lateIn ruth for the rending of the Round Table.
- (obsolete) Sorrow; misery; distress. 13th-17th c.
- (obsolete) Something which causes regret or sorrow; a pitiful sight. 13th-17th c.