Aw"ful (?), a.

1.Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene. "The hour of Nature\s awful throes." Hemans.

2. Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive.

"Heavens awful Monarch. Milton.

3. Struck or filled with awe; terror- stricken. [Obs.]

A weak and awful reverence for antiquity. I. Watts.

4. Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding. [Obs.]

Thrust from the company of awful men. Shak.

5. Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster. [Slang]

Syn. -- See Frightful.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913