Dictionary

voe en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /vəʊ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /voʊ/ (General-American)

Etymology

Shetland and Orkney dialect, from Norn, from Old Norse vágr (“inlet, bay”). Cognate with Swedish and Norwegian våg, and Faroese vágur. Doublet of way.

Meanings

1. (UK) A narrow sea inlet, particularly in the Shetland Islands, similar to a fjord.
   • The power thou dost covet / O'er tempest and wave, / Shall be thine, thou proud maiden, / By beach and by cave,— / By stack and by skerry, by noup, and by voe, / By air and by wick, and by helyer and gio, / And by every wild shore which the northern winds know, / And the northern tides lave. 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in The Pirate. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 142:
   • On a fine summer's evening, an inhabitant of Unst happened to be walking along the sandy margin of a voe. 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 268:

Forms