also 4 agh. [f. prec. sb.; OE. had éʓan (= Goth. *ógjan) in comp. onéʓan; and mod.Icel. has aga to ‘chastise’: cf. AWE sb.1 7.]
1. To inspire with dread, strike fear into, terrify, daunt; to control, constrain, or restrain, by the influence of fear, (At first impersonal.)
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 10283. Lytyl of Goddes veniaunce hym aweth.
c. 1340. Cursor M. (Fairf.), 12096. Ȝe loue na landis lagh quen ȝe ȝour childe wille noȝt agh.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 142. They … awe their seruants to worke.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. iii. 250. Shall quips, and sentences … awe a man from the careere of his humour.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4372/1. Two English Men of War … who may … awe the Privateers of Barbary.
1876. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 10 (1882), 586. The gloomy silence of their ranks awed even the careless King with a sense of danger.
† b. said of a strategical position (cf. overawe).
1670. Cotton, Espernon, I. III. 128. This Town … absolutely commands the River of Dordongne, as it also at least awes that of Garonne.
1809. J. Barlow, Columb., VII. 570. Two British forts the growing siege outflank, Rake its wide works and awe the tide-beat bank.
2. To influence, control, or restrain, by profound respect or reverential fear.
1611. Bible, Prov. xvii. 10, marg. A reproofe aweth … a wise man.
1640. Bp. Reynolds, Passions, xxix. 302. Their presence aweth us from Liberty of Sinning.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., II. xlv. 71. He was not awed by the sanctity of the place.
1835. Macready, Remin., I. 464. Milton elevates, thrills, awes, and delights me.
3. To inspire with reverential wonder combined with an element of latent fear.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, vi. 29. The wide ocean awes us with its vast contents.
1872. Jenkinson, Eng. Lakes, 205. The traveller is awed by the frowning mass of Great End.
† 4. To reverence. Obs. rare.
1632. Bp. M. Smyth, Serm., 166. So they deserue to be vsed that … will not reuerence and awe the King.
