Definition of "piteous"

[…] with his strong armsHe fastened on my neck, and bellowed outAs he’d burst heaven; threw him on my father;Told the most piteous tale of Lear and himThat ever ear receiv’d;

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene iii]

[…] my strength, madam, is almost all gone away, and when I do any hard work, it’s quite a piteous sight to see me, for I am all in a tremble after it, just as if I had an ague […]

1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne & Son and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 4, p. 51

In the deep, still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead, heavy footsteps and the piteous cries of the chained gangs that passed our door.

1855, Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […]

“ […] you go out to beg, first smearing yourself with mud and filth to make yourselves as piteous as you can.”

1931, Pearl S. Buck, chapter 11, in The Good Earth‎, New York: Modern Library, published 1944, pages 80–81

For the Lord kan delyuere piteuouse men fro temptacioun, and kepe wickid men in to the dai of dom to be turmentid;(please add an English translation of this quotation)

c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, III, or IV), Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, II. Peter 2:9

Thine eye begins to speak; set thy tongue there;Or in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear;That hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce,Pity may move thee ‘pardon’ to rehearse.

1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene 3]

The water Nymphs that in the bottome playdHeld up their pearled wrists and tooke her in,Bearing her straite to aged Nereus hallWho piteous of her woes rea[r’]d her lanke head,And gave her to his daughters to imbatheIn nectar’d lavers strewd with asphodil,

1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, page 29

With that the Goddess (piteous of his case,Yet smiling at his ruful length of face)Gives him a cov’ring,

1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Second”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, page 21

Or have they soft piteous eyes beheldThe weary wanderer thro’ the desert rove?Or does th’ afflicted man thy heavenly bosom move?

1783, William Blake, “An Imitation of Spenser”, in Poetical Sketches‎, London: Basil Montagu Pickering, published 1868, page 37

[…] calling to minde with heedPart of our Sentence, that thy Seed shall bruiseThe Serpents head; piteous amends, unlessBe meant, whom I conjecture, our grand FoeSatan,

1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 1030-1034

[…] my Business was now to try if I could not make Jackets out of the great Watch-Coats which I had by me, and with such other Materials as I had, so I set to Work a Taylering, or rather indeed a Botching, for I made most piteous Work of it.

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, pages 158-159