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Rue
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 Sorrow; repentance; regret. archaic, dialectal, uncountable
"When I was one-and-twenty I heard him say again, / "The heart out of the bosom was never given in vain; / 'Tis paid with sighs aplenty and sold for endless rue." / And I am two-and-twenty, and oh, 'tis true, 'tis true."
- 2 Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta, especially the herb Ruta graveolens (common rue), formerly used in medicines. countable, uncountable
"But th'aged Nourse, her calling to her bowre, / Had gathered Rew, and Savine, and the flowre / Of Camphora, and Calamint, and Dill [...]."
- 3 (French) a street or road in France wordnet
- 4 Pity; compassion. archaic, dialectal, uncountable
- 5 sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment wordnet
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- 6 leaves sometimes used for flavoring fruit or claret cup but should be used with great caution: can cause irritation like poison ivy wordnet
- 7 European strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy wordnet
- 1 To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place. transitive
"to rue the day"
- 2 feel remorse for; feel sorry for; be contrite about wordnet
- 3 To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action. obsolete, transitive
- 4 To cause to feel sorrow or pity. obsolete, transitive
- 5 To feel compassion or pity; to take pity (on), to have compassion (on). archaic, intransitive, obsolete
"[…] till our Lord's clouds rue upon the earth, and send down a watring of rain: Truly , I think Christ's misty dew a welcome message from heaven, till my Lord's rain fall : […]"
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- 6 To feel sorrow or regret. archaic, intransitive
"Old year, we'll dearly rue for you."
Etymology
From Middle English rewe, reowe, from Old English hrēow (“sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance”), from Proto-West Germanic *hreuwu (“pain, sadness, regret, repentance”). Cognates include German reuen (“to regret, to repent”) and Dutch berouwen (“to regret, to repent”). Probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krows-. If so, note the same sense evolution with in this case cognate Russian круши́ть (krušítʹ, “to destroy, to shatter”), Russian сокруша́ться (sokrušátʹsja, “to be distressed, to grieve (for, over)”). Also compare Czech truchlit from Proto-Slavic *truxlъ.
From Middle English rewen, ruwen, ruen, reowen, from Old English hrēowan (“to rue; make sorry; grieve”), perhaps influenced by Old Norse hryggja (“to distress, grieve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrewwaną (“to sadden; repent”).
From Middle English rue, from Anglo-Norman ruwe, Old French rue, from Latin rūta, from Ancient Greek ῥυτή (rhutḗ).
See also for "rue"
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