a. Forms: 1 weorðful, 1–3 wurð-, wurþful (3 Orm. wurrþfull), 3 wurthful; 4 worþuol, 7 worthful(l; 6 wyrthfull. [OE. weorþ-, wurþful, f. weorþ, wurþ, WORTH sb.1 In later use app. re-formed (partly to match worthless) in 16–17th and again in 19th cent., perhaps on the model of G. wertvoll.]
1. Of persons: Honorable; deserving of honor; meriting respect or reverence; full of worth or merit. Also absol.
Beowulf, 3099. Swa he manna wæs wiʓend weorðfullost wide ʓeond eorðan.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xiv. 8. Ne site þu on þam fyrmestan setle, þe-læs … sum weorðfulra siʓ inʓelaðod fram hym.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1086. § 8. Se cyng Willelm … wæs … swiðe rice & wurðfulre … þonne æniʓ his fore-genga wære.
c. 1200. Ormin, 5195. Helyas wass … an wurrþfull prophete.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1481. Ȝef he is wurþful and aht man.
1340. Ayenb., 16. Þe heȝe men … and þe hardi and þe worþuolle.
1536. in Lett. Suppr. Monast. (Camden), 126. Ryght wyrthfull sir, with due reverens my duty remembred [etc.].
1607. Rowlands, Guy Warw., Ep. Ded. Disdain not therefore (most worthful and precious spirit) … to vouchsafe the view of these Artless Lines.
1647. Trapp, Comm., 2 Cor. x. 13 (1656), 728. As any man is more worthful, he is more modest.
1849. Rock, Ch. Fathers, II. 272. Those high-born dames and worthful females whom Margaret the queen had drawn about her.
a. 1909. G. Tyrrell, Autobiog. (1912), I. 238. The more worthful have to repair the defective training of the noviceship by elaborating a modus vivendi for themselves.
† 2. Respectful, reverent; loyal. Obs.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 440. Munecas ʓestaþolode to weorþfulre þenunge hælendes cristes.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2678. Or [= before] haue he hire pliȝt & sworen, ðat him sal feið wurðful ben boren.
3. Having worth or value; valuable; precious.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 140. Þet heo … strenðeð & deð menske hire wurðfule soule.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1017. His wundri werkes & wurðful in eorðe.
a. 1240. Lofsong, in O. E. Hom., I. 211. Turn to þe worlde þi wurðful rode þet þu spreddest þe on.
1599. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., II. ii. That prince that worthfull praise aspires, From hearts, and not from lips, applause desires.
1880. G. F. Pentecost, ‘In Vol. Bk.’ vi. 53. Christ and his word are inseparable, just as a man’s note is only current and worthful because the man is good.
1888. Furnivall, E. E. T. S., Texts preparing, Gen. Notices, 3. Some [Lives of Saints] are dull … But … all are worthful for the history of our language.
1893. Upton, Hibbert Lect. (1894), 298. The presence of absolutely worthful ideas in our consciousness.
Hence † Worthfulhead, honor, dignity; Worthfulness, value.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3499. Ne let ðu nogt min wurð-ful-hed forfaren in ðe fendes red.
1894. Pentecost, in Brit. Weekly, 20 Sept., 338. Make this the touchstone of worthfulness in selecting the books.
