Forms: 4–5, 7 sore, 5–6 sowre, 5–7 soore (6 Sc. soir), 6–7 soare, 6– soar. [ad. F. essorer (= It. sorare) to fly up, to soar, repr. a pop. Lat. *exaurare, f. aura air.]
I. intr. 1. Of birds: To fly or mount upwards; to ascend to a towering height; also loosely, to sail or skim at a great height. Occas. with up.
c. 1384. Chaucer, Ho. Fame, I. 499. Faste be the sonne, as hye As kenne myght I with myn ye, Me thought I sawgh an Egle sore.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), vii. 25. When þai see þat fewle sore in þe aer.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hawking, b ij. Hit may happyn that she will sowre so hegh in to the Eyre, that ye shall Nether se hir nor fynde hir.
1530. Palsgr., 725/1. I soore, as an hauke dothe.
1587. Mirr. Mag., Sabrina, vi. What birde can flye, and soare, if stormes doe rage.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. xi. 229/2. He beareth Argent, an Eagle volant in bend, (soaring, or flying a loft).
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 500. Watchful Herons … mounting upward with erected Flight, Gain on the Skies, and soar above the Sight.
1788. V. Knox, Winter Even., xxv. (1790), I. 208. It is not till the wings have acquired strength and agility, that it … dares to soar undauntedly in the fields of air.
1830. Sir J. Herschel, Stud. Nat. Phil., 84. A Night of Condors soaring in circles in a particular spot.
1867. Lady Herbert, Cradle L., viii. 217. Here and there eagles and hawks soared above their heads.
b. transf. Of persons, etc. Chiefly poet. or rhet.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 670. I have no cause, I wote wele, to sore, As doth an hawk.
a. 1593. Marlowe, Edw. II., V. i. (1594), I 2 b. For such outragious passions cloye my soule, As … often am I sowring vp to heauen.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., III. i. E 3 b. O, in what orbe thy mightie spirit soares.
1743. C. Wesley, Hymn, ‘Christ the Lord,’ v. Soar we now where Christ has led.
1792. S. Rogers, Pleas. Mem., I. 77. How oft … We … Soar’d in the swing,… Thro’ sister elms.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 265. It was said … that James had furnished the wings with which his brother had soared to a higher region.
1875. Manning, Mission H. Ghost, xii. 343. We believe ourselves to have wings, and to be soaring into heights of the spiritual life.
c. In various fig. and transf. uses.
1605. 1st Pt. Jeronimo, II. vi. By that argument you firmly proue honor to sore aboue the pitch of loue.
1648. J. Beaumont, Psyche, XXIV. ccxii. Oft she resolved … to wait Heav’n’s leisure, till her Heart might thither sore.
a. 1735. Ld. Lansdowne, On Unnatural Flights in Poetry, 23. Rash hyperboles that soar so high.
1754. Sherlock, Disc. (1759), I. i. 50. It soars above the reach of human Reason.
1820. Scott, Monast., xiii. On the present occasion … the wrath of good Dame Elspeth soared higher than usual.
d. To fly away.
1581. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 136. Ther is no man such a Niasse, but that continuall … repulses wil make him soare away.
e. To hover about a place. Also, of fish: To remain at the surface of the water.
1592. Kyd, Sol. & Pers., II. ii. My ship shall be … blowne with sighs; So will I soare about the Turkish land, Vntill [etc.].
1653. Walton, Angler, 53. The Chubs … will presently rise up to the top again, and lie there soaring till some shadow affrights them again.
2. fig. To mount, ascend, or rise to a higher or more exalted level in some respect.
The separate groups of quotations illustrate the main variations of usage.
(a) 1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. i. 109. How high a pitch his resolution soares!
1647. Cowley, Mistr., Vain Love. Desires, which whilst so high they soar, Are Proud as that I lov’d before.
1811. Shelley, Love, 14. Each energy of soul surviving More vivid, soars above.
1863. Miss Braddon, Elector’s Victory, II. iii. 41. I don’t believe that young lady’s soul ever soars above laces and ribbons.
1891. E. Peacock, N. Brendon, I. 181. His ambition did not soar high.
(b) 1601. Barlow, Serm. Paules Crosse, 30. He soared in his highest pitch of fauour with her Maiestie.
1622. in Foster, Eng. Factories India (1908), II. 147. They are nowe aloft and soare in pride.
1663. S. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr. (1687), 211. It will depress and thrust you down below others, while you seem to be mounting up on high, and soaring to a pitch far above them.
1728. Young, Love Fame, I. 157. When men of infamy to grandeur soar.
1757. Johnson, Idler, No. 33, ¶ 26. From whence they soared to the most elevated heights of literary fame.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xlviii. The feeling of pique … at seeing Effie … soar suddenly so high above her in life.
(c) 1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 173. I should desire … To take an Eagles wing and soare farre higher, Then hitherto my weake Muse could attaine.
1663. S. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr. (1687), 146. As they think him an Orator who mounts and soars aloft (as they call it) in high-flowen words.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 91. Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 723. To be divinely free, To soar, and to anticipate the skies.
1816. Shelley, Dæmon, I. 206/95. Then has thy rapt imagination soared Where … The temple of the mightiest Dæmon stands.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Sol., Courage, Wks. (Bohn), III. 112. Poetry and eloquence catch the hint, and soar to a pitch unknown before.
3. Of inanimate objects: To ascend, rise up to a height. Also transf.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VIII. 558. The boiling waters roar; And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar.
a. 1721. Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.), Wks. (1753), I. 12. The sigh which sent forth that … word, Up tow’rds the heavens like a bright meteor soar’d.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. iii. Till man shall learn Vainly his incense soars, his victim bleeds.
b. Of a mountain, building, etc.: To rise majestically or imposingly to a great altitude. Also with up.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. lx. Oh, thou Parnassus! whom I now survey,… soaring snow-clad through thy native sky.
1858. Lytton, What will He do? I. iv. At the rear of the palace soars up the old Abbey.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xviii. 154. Soaring over the city and the intervening valley, rose the height of Penhow.
II. trans. 4. To exalt. rare.
1595. Barnfield, Poems, Sonnet to T. T., iv. So those rare Sonnets, where wits ripe doth lie,… doe soare thy fame to skie.
5. To perform or accomplish (a flight) by rising high. Freq. in fig. context.
1659. Fuller, App. Inj. Innoc., I. 21. Here he soareth so high a flight I cannot follow him.
1745. Eliza Heywood, Female Spectator (1748), IV. 71. A person of weak intellects, in attempting to soar too high a flight, not seldom shares the fate of Icarus.
1806. H. Siddons, Maid, Wife, & Widow, I. Pref. p. xvii. Here we behold the muse of satire soaring the flights of an eagle.
6. To attain or reach (a height) by upward flight; to fly up through (the air, etc.). Also fig.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 421. They summ’d thir Penns, and soaring th’ air sublime With clang despis’d the ground.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IV. 612. Of lavish love, stupendous heights to soar.
1765. Beattie, To Churchill, 34. He soars Pindaric heights, and sails the waste of Heaven.
