conj. and sb. [Originally three words so be it and still sometimes so written): see SO adv. 3 d, and cf. ALBEIT, HOWBEIT.]
1. conj. Provided that; if; if only.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut., cli. 38 b. Yet doeth hee not lay them to our Charge, sobeit that wee mislike of them.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. lix. (1739), 109. They might have anything, sobeit they would suffer him to enjoy his Crown.
1839. Longf., Hyperion, II. ix. The heart of his friend cared little whither he went, so be it he were not too much alone.
2. sb. The exclamation ‘So be it’ (= let it be so).
1609. Ev. Woman in Hum., I. i. in Bullen, O. Pl., IV. Thou answerest me an houre after … like to a Sexton with a Sobeit or Amen.
