Awful

a. Forms: α. 1 eʓefull, 3 eiful(l, eifful. β. ahefull, 4 aghful(l, 6 aufull, 7 awefull, 7–8 awfull, 7–9 aweful, 5– awful. [f. AWE sb.¹ + -FUL, continuing the sense of OE. ęʓefull: see AWE sb.¹ Occas. compared awfuller, -est. With sense 4, cf. the sense-history of Gr. δεινός awful.]

  I.  objectively: Awe-inspiring.

  1.  Causing dread; terrible, dreadful, appalling.

  α.  c. 885.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xviii. § 2. Romane nama … wæs … maneʓum folce swiþe eʓefull.

c. 1220.  Leg. St. Kath., 39. Þurh fearlac of eiful þreates.

  β.  c. 1230.  Wohunge, in Cott. Hom., 271. To fihte aȝaines alle þe ahefulle deuiles.

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxix. 90. And swore mony ane awful athe.

1602.  Warner, Alb. Eng., Epit. (1612), 360. They reared thence vnto the Saxons such awefull armies.

1722.  De Foe, Plague, 64. The other scene was awful and full of terror.

1858.  Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., I. 85. Too evidently looking his awfullest.

1876.  Green, Short Hist., viii. § 9. A series of awful massacres.

  2.  Worthy of, or commanding, profound respect or reverential fear.

  α.  c. 1000.  Ælfric, Deut. x. 17. God … mihtiʓ & eʓefull.

  β.  a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7869. Dauid he was an aghful man, Ful rightwisli he regnd þan.

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., VI. xviii. 50. He wes in justice right lauchful And til hys legis all awful.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. i. 98. An awefull Princely Scepter.

a. 1656.  Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 11. Preaching … in the most awful Auditory of the University.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 169, ¶ 9. Cato’s character … is rather awful than amiable.

1871.  Macduff, Mem. Patmos, xix. 264. His truth, His awful holiness.

  3.  Solemnly impressive; sublimely majestic.

1660.  Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 179/1. Dwell awful Silence on the shady Hills.

1706.  Addison, Rosamond, III. i. Domes in awful pomp arising.

1853.  Maurice, Proph. & Kings, iii. 39. How awful to feel himself there … an atom amidst the infinity of nature!

  4.  slang. Frightful, very ugly, monstrous; and hence as a mere intensive deriving its sense from the context = Exceedingly bad, great, long, etc.

a. 1834.  Lamb, Gent. Giantess, Misc. Wks. (1871), 363. She is indeed, as the Americans would express it, something awful.

1845.  Ford, Handbk. Spain, i. 28. To what an awful extent the Spanish peasant … will consume garlic.

1870.  Miss Bridgman, R. Lynne, II. x. 212. He writes an awful scrawl.

1873.  Miss Broughton, Nancy, I. 26. What an awful duffer I am!

Mod.  What an awful time you’ve been!

  II.  subjectively: Filled with awe.

  † 5.  Terror-stricken; timid, timorous, afraid. Obs.

c. 1590.  Marlowe, Faust., ix. 37. Monarch of hell under whose black survey Great potentates do kneel with awful fear.

1681.  Manton, Serm., Ps. xix. 74, Wks. 1872, VII. 280. Careful to please God, and awe-ful to offend him.

1741.  Watts, Improv. Mind (1801), 240 (J.). It is not nature and strict reason, but a weak and awful reverence for antiquity … that has established those Greek and Roman writings [Homer and Virgil] as absolute and complete patterns.

  6.  Profoundly respectful or reverential.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., III. iii. 76. How dare thy ioynts forget To pay their awfull dutie to our presence?

1607.  Topsell, Serpents, 641. The whole swarm and company is kept in awful order.

1641.  Stock, On Malachi (1865), 56. An awful child will hardly be drawn … to do aught that his father hath … forbidden him.

1781.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. l. 129. At an awful distance they cast away their garments.

1846.  Keble, Lyra Innoc. (1873), 2. Towards the East our awful greetings Are wafted.

1879.  G. Macdonald, Sir Gibbie, xii. 74. Gibbie sat calm, awe-ful … while the storm roared.

  III.  Comb.; adverbially, as in awful-gleaming, -looking, or in parasynthetic deriv., as awful-eyed.

1647.  H. More, Song Soul, Notes 147/2. Manly, and awfull-eyed Fortitude.

1870.  Bryant, Homer, I. I. 12. The awful-gleaming eye.