Forms: α. 1–3 sar (2–3 sær), north. and Sc. 4 sar, 4–6, 9 sare, 6– sair. β. 3–5 sor (3 seor), 4–5 soor(e (5 soure), 6–7 soare, 7 soar, 4– sore. [OE. sár str. neut., = OFris. sêr (WFris. sear, NFris. siar), MDu. seer, zeer (Du. zeer), OS. sêr (MLG. sêr-e, LG. ser, seer), OHG., MHG. sêr (early mod.G. sehr, also masc.), ON. and Icel. sár (Sw. sår, Da. saar), Goth. sair: see SORE a.
Feminine forms occur in some of the continental langs.: MLG. sêre, MHG. sêre (early mod.G. sehre).]
† 1. Bodily pain or suffering. Obs.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter xxx. 11. Asprong in sare lif min.
c. 900. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xix. (1890), 320. Þy þriddan dæʓe heo wæs eft hefiʓad mid þæm ærrum sarum.
971. Blickl. Hom., 59. On synne he bið ʓeeacnod, & on his modor sare he bið acenned.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 280. Þysse sylfan wyrte syde þæra toþa sar ʓeliðiʓað.
c. 1205. Lay., 12511. We beoð ofte hider ifaren mid wandreðe & mid sare.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 628. Vte of his side … Wit-oten sare a rib he tok.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxx. (Bodl. MS.). Þe touche or senewes haþ no feling of soore and of smerte.
a. 1450. Le Morte Arth., 3405. The doughty kynge … For sore myght not hym-self weld.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, IV. xiii. My broder and my frend, where aboute is thy sore?
1583. Leg. Bp. St. Androis, 341. Suppoise the devill maid that graith,… At that tyme, to asswage my sair, I wald have tane it.
† 2. Sickness, disease; in particularized use, a disease, ailment, or bodily affliction. Obs.
a. 900. Cynewulf, Crist, 1356. Þa þe on sare seoce laʓun.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3027. Ðo wex vn-selðe on hem wel hard, dolc, sor, and blein on erue and man.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14147. Þe sare him sekes fra hede to fote.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XX. 96. Kynde come after with many kene sores, As pokkes and pestilences.
1604. Shaks., Oth., IV. ii. 49. Had they rain’d All kind of Sores, and Shames on my bare-head.
1611. Bible, 2 Chron. vi. 28. Whatsoeuer sore, or whatsoeuer sicknesse there be.
1648. Hexham, II. Roose, ofte de Kole, S. Anthonies Sore, called the Rose.
3. A bodily injury; a wound. Obs. exc. dial.
a. 1000. Guthlac, 676. Mec dryhten heht snude ʓesecgan þæt ʓe him sara ʓehwylc hondum ʓehælde.
c. 1200. 12th Cent. Hom. (1909), 114. Ac þa synfulle men sceolen iseon þa wundæn & þa sar on ure Drihtne.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 503. ‘Me þynkþ þou hast a wonde þere … in þy syde.’… Olyuer … turnd him þat sor to hyde.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 5843. He ȝaff Ector an hidous sore.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, XI. xv. 115. The scharp steill heid fixt to the rybbis remanys, In a full deip wound and a grewous sair.
1599. Shaks., etc. Pass. Pilgr., xi. B 3. See in my thigh (quoth she) here was the sore.
1785. R. Forbes, Scots Poems Buchan Dial., 31. He’ll suck the poison frae the sair, An’ be a noble leech.
1876. Mid-Yks. Gloss., 131. Sore has the meaning of bruise, or wound, occasionally.
4. A place in an animal body where the skin or flesh is diseased or injured so as to be painfully tender or raw; a sore place, such as that caused by an ulcer.
See bed-sore (BED sb. 19), saddle-sore (SADDLE sb. 10).
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 134. Wið wunda & wið cancor ʓenim þas ilcan wyrte,… leʓe to þam sare. Ne ʓeþafnð heo þæt sar furður wexe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14012. Þar sco fand ani breck or sare, Wit hir smerl sco smerd þare.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 87. Þe quantite of medicyns þat schulden be leid to þe soor … mai not wiþ lettris be writen.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, II. v. (1883), 66. And many flyes satte vpon the soores.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 42. Shede the woll by and by, and laye a lyttell terre thervppon, tyll thou passe the sore.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 916. Another [hound] licking of his wound, ’Gainst venom’d sores the only sovereign plaster.
1603. Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare, Wks. (Grosart), I. 118. Some haue had 18. sores at one time running vpon them.
1682. K. Digby, Chymical Secrets, II. 232. Dip a Straw or Feather in it, and touch all round about the borders of the Sore with it.
1755. Johnson, s.v., To be a sore, there must be an excoriation; a tumour or bruise is not called a sore before some disruption happen.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 582. They … vex their flesh with artificial sores.
1826. S. Cooper, First Lines Surg. (ed. 5), 170. Bruises of the shin so frequently cause sloughing and troublesome sores.
1889. Science-Gossip, XXV. 193/2. Matter discharged from leprous sores.
5. In fig. and allusive uses, with retention of literal phraseology; esp. coupled with salve (see SALVE sb.1 2 and v.1 1 c).
The sense becomes often coincident with 6 or 7.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 598. Ful wel can ich … help ȝow hasteli at al ȝoure hele to gete, ȝif ȝe saie me ȝoure sores.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 242. Noon othir helpeþe my soores for to sounde.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 223. Of covoitise if ther be more In love, agropeth out the sore.
1410. in 26 Pol. Poems, ix. 178. Now sumwhat y haue ȝow sayd What is salue to ȝoure sore.
1538. Starkey, England, II. i. 143. Conuenyent remedys … to be applyd to such sorys and dyseasys in our polytyke body.
1566. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 304 b. The matter was taken up, yet the sore brake out agayne.
1587. Greene, Euphues, Wks. (Grosart), VI. 181. That infectious soare of iealowsie.
1610. Shaks., Temp., II. i. 138. You rub the sore, When you should bring the plaister.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. lxiv. (1739), 134. The sore between him and his Subjects was not fully cured.
1727. De Foe’s Eng. Tradesman, I. xii. 147. He had got a salve for that sore.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, vii. It is not for me to put my finger on the sore.
1842. Tennyson, Walking to Mail, 71. The same old sore breaks out from age to age.
Prov. 1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 64. And as the common saiyng is, increase the flamme with oyle, and be as sharpe nayle in the sore.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 71. It is ill healyng of an olde sore.
† 6. Mental suffering, pain or trouble; grief, sorrow, anxiety, or the cause of this. Obs.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., vii. § 2. Mið ðæm mæstan sare his modes.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1120. Ðysra deað wæs heora freondan twyfealdlic sar.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 121. Lokiað hweðer enies monnes sar beo iliche mine sare.
c. 1205. Lay., 7998. Þer wes Julius Cezar, an heorte he hafde sorȝe & sar.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 733. Teres gliden for hertes sor fro loth, and abram, and nachor.
c. 1300. Havelok, 234. Þer was sobbing, siking, and sor, Handes wringing.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 894. Sikende ful sadly for sor at his hert.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 596. Who feeleth double soor and heuynesse But Palamon?
1423. James I., Kingis Q., clxxxii. Euery wicht his awin suete or sore Has maist In mynde.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss. (1812), I. clxii. 199. Gette vs to the french kynges batayle, for ther lyeth all the sore of the mater [orig. tout le fort de la besoigne].
1575. Gascoigne, Glasse Governm., Wks. 1910, II. 66. Store is no sore, as the proverbe saith.
† 7. Grievous state; affliction, misery. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9103. Þat sare, þat scam, þat martiring, Was neuer sene on suilk a king!
c. 1400. Pride of Life, 406, in Non-Cycle Myst. Plays (E.E.T.S.), 101. To sauy þi soul fre sor.
14[?]. Tundale’s Vis., 724. Now goo we to a delfull stedde…. Who schall delyver me from that sore?
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, XI. 303. To wyn out off bondage Scotland agayn fra payn and felloun sor.
