woe betide

Definition

Used to warn someone that trouble will occur if that person does something: bad things will happen to.

Etymology

From Early Modern English woe (“great sadness or distress; calamity, trouble”) + betide (“to happen to, befall”), formerly used to decry a person’s actions. Grammatically, the verb is in the subjunctive mood.

Example Sentences

• "Woe betide you if you try that with my sister again!"
• "O gentle Aaron, we are all vndone. / Now helpe, or woe betide thee euermore."
• "Woe betide the Subſcribers, their Children and Wives, / This Action ſhall coſt 'em five hundred Folks Lives."