ruth /ɹuːθ/ noun4 •(no longer used) Sorrow for the misery of another person; compassion, mercy, pity.Look homevvard Angel novv, and melt vvith ruth. / And, O ye Dolphin, vvaft the haples youth. — 1637 •(no longer used) 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 •(no longer used) Matter for regret or sorrow; calamity, ruin; also, occasion for regret or sorrow; (countable) an instance of this; a disaster, a pitiful thing.Ah dearest God (quoth he) that is great vvoe, / And vvondrous ruth to all, that shall it heare. — 1590 •(no longer used) Distress, misery, sorrow.Here lyes to each her parents ruth, / Mary, the daughter of their youth: / Yet, all heauens gifts, being heauens due, / It makes the father, lesse, to rue. — 1616 formsruths
