Also 6 sofysticat. [f. the ppl. stem of med.L. sophisticāre, f. sophisticus SOPHISTIC a. Cf. It. sofisticare, Sp. sofisticar, F. sophistiquer.]
1. trans. To mix (commodities) with some foreign or inferior substance; to render impure in this way; to adulterate. Now somewhat rare.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xviii. 84. It fallez oft tyme þat marchands sophisticatez peper.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 110. Sophisticatid craftely is many a confecture.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, x. (1870), 256. They the which do put any other thynge to ale … doth sofysticat theyr ale.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., I. iii. (1612), C 2 b. He lets me haue good Tobacco, and he do’s not Sophisticate it, with Sack-lees, or Oyle.
1662. Charleton & P. M., Myst. Vintners (1675), 206. Muskadel is sophisticated with the Laggs of Sack, or Malmsey thus.
1756. Gentl. Mag., XXVI. 33. It is now … common to sophisticate well known medicines.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 410. A method of ascertaining whether ether be sophisticated with alcohol.
1853. Ure, Dict. Arts (ed. 4), I. 119. If sophisticated with castor oil, the mixture soon becomes nearly colourless like white honey.
fig. 1591. Lambarde, Archeion (1635), To Rdr. That sweet Odour hee hath left, cannot by their false ingredients be so sophisticated, but may by the judicious bee easily smelt out.
1663. Cowley, Verses & Ess. (1669), 100. Our Senses are here feasted with the clear and genuine taste of their Objects; which are all sophisticated there.
b. To deal with in some artificial way.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 263. Hauing a looking-glasse before them they sophisticate and dye their haire with the foresaid drugs.
1831. Capt. Trelawny, Adv. Younger Son, III. 328. His hair, never sophisticated by a comb,… resembled dark sea-weed.
c. To render artificial, to deprive of simplicity, in respect of manners or ideas; to convert into something artificial.
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, III. 270. [They were] less sedulously sought by those whom the manners and maxims of the common world had sophisticated.
1820. Hazlitt, Lect. Dram. Lit., 2. They were not at all sophisticated. The mind of their country was great in them and it prevailed.
1874. Lisle Carr, Jud. Gwynne, I. vii. 201. They spoke out their thoughts with a rude freedom which … proved that they had not been sophisticated into prigs.
1879. Miss Braddon, Cloven Foot, iii. Christened plain Sarah or Mary, to be sophisticated later into Celestine or Mariette.
2. To corrupt or spoil by admixture of some baser principle or quality; to render less genuine or honest.
1604. T. Wright, Passions, III. iv. 99. The facultie of eloquence … is sophisticated, by many, who couer stincking matters with fragrant flowers.
a. 1626. Bp. Andrewes, Serm. (1856), 381. It is the manner of the world … to sophisticate ever the best things with hypocrisy.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., v. 155. Lest it should tinge and sophisticate the Light that it lets in by a natural Jaundice.
1845. R. W. Hamilton, Pop. Educ., x. (ed. 2), 324. Is not the inference strong, that that party feels … the fallacy of its creed, and must sophisticate it?
1873. M. Arnold, Lit. & Dogma (1876), 242. Those who sophisticate a very simple thing, religion.
3. To corrupt, pervert, mislead (a person, the understanding, etc.).
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxvii. § 14. It alwaies behoueth men to take good heede, lest affection … sophisticate the true and sincere iudgement.
1700. Congreve, Way of World, V. ii. Why, have you not been naught? have you not been sophisticated?
1829. Southey, Sir T. More (1831), II. 30. Books of casuistry, which sophisticate the understanding and defile the heart.
1847. R. W. Hamilton, Rewards & Punishm., viii. (1853), 396. What is it that sophisticates our hopeful youth…?
1882. Farrar, Early Chr., I. 540. Those who … sophisticated St. Paul’s feeble converts.
refl. 1798. Ld. Jeffrey, in Cockburn, Life (1852), I. 101. As it is, I believe I shall go on sophisticating and perverting myself till I become absolutely good for nothing.
4. To falsify by mis-statement or by unauthorized alteration.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. I. Ark, 173. And thou … shalt testifie … What now thy shame-lesse lips sophisticate.
1630. Prynne, Anti-Armin., 194. And with all sophisticates and corrupts both the words and meaning of this sacred Text.
1715. Bentley, Serm., x. 338. Not adulterating, not sophisticating the Word.
1774. J. Bryant, Mythol., I. 422. The term Trachon seems to have been still farther sophisticated by the Greeks.
1873. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., 298. As to demarcation,… they take the liberty of sophisticating Burke, in making him write demarkation.
5. intr. To practise sophistication.
1664. Owen, Vindic. Animad. Fiat Lux, xv. In your following discourse you double and sophisticate.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, II. x. 103. The benevolence of her heart taught her, in this instance, to sophisticate.
1841. Miall, in Nonconf., I. 337. Sophisticate and mystify as we will.
1863. Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., xiii. 320. We next see him paltering and sophisticating with the truth.
Hence Sophisticating vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1611. Cotgr., Sofistication, a sophistication, or sophisticating.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, IV. 126. There are so many sofisticating Tobacco-mungers in England.
1651. French, Distill., Pref. (1653), B 2. Their sophisticating of Chymicall oils with spirit of Turpentine.
1821. Lamb, Elia, I. Old & New Schoolm. The sophisticating medium of moral uses.
1853. Ure, Dict. Arts (ed. 4), I. 378. Leaving the starchy matter, as well as most other sophisticating substances.
