Sorrow sb.

Forms: α. 1 sorh, sorhʓ, 2–3 sorhe (2 sorhʓe, 3 seorhe); 1 sorʓ, 2–4 sorȝe (3 sorge, seorȝe, 4 zorȝe, sorghe); 3 soreȝe (-ege), 5 soroȝe, sorugh(e. β. 3 serrȝhe, sareȝe; 3–4 serewe, 4–5 serwe, sarow(e; 9 dial. sarrow, sarra(h. γ. 3 sorw, sorwȝe, seor(u)we, 3–5 sorwe, sorewe. δ. 4–5 soru, sorou (4 sorouu), 5 soro, 6 sourou; 3–6 sorow(e, 5– sorrow, 6–7 sorrowe; 8–9 Sc. sorro’, 9 sorra. [Common Teut.: OE. sorh, sorʓ, = OFris. *sorge (WFris. soarch, EFris. sôargh, sûrghe, NFris. sörrig, surreg, etc.), OLFrank. sorga (MDu. sorghe, Du. zorg), OS. sorga, soraga, soroga (MLG. sorge, sorch-, LG. sorge, sörge), OHG. sorga (MHG. and G. sorge), ON. (Icel., Norw., Sw., Da.) sorg, Goth. saurga (= *sorga). Relationship to forms outside of Teutonic is uncertain.]

  1.  Distress of mind caused by loss, suffering, disappointment, etc.; grief, deep sadness or regret; also, that which causes grief or melancholy; affliction, trouble.

  In OE. freq. in weaker sense, ‘care, anxiety.’

  α.  Beowulf, 1322. Ne frin þu æfter sælum; sorh is ʓeniwod Deniʓea leodum.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., vii. § 2. Ða ilcan [ðing] … ðe næfre nanne mon buton sorʓe ne forlætað.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 103. Ne biþ þær sar ne ʓewinn,… ne sorʓ ne wop.

c. 1100.  O. E. Chron. (MS. F), an. 870. Ealne his timan was ʓewinn & sorhʓe ofer England.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 63. Þe saule of him is forloren and þe sorȝe is him biforen.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 27. Weorldes uanite, þat wurðeð al to sorhe & to care.

c. 1250.  Orison of our Lady, 22, in O. E. Misc., 160. Al þis world schal ago Wið seorhe and wið sore.

1340.  Ayenb., 71. Oþer ine zorȝe oþer ine blisse wyþoute endynge.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 144. His echedaies fantasie Of sorghe is evere aliche grene.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 249. Wheþire it be sele or soroȝe.

c. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour (1868), 1. Fulle of sorughe and gladnesse, as mani lovers ben.

  β.  c. 1200.  Moral Ode, 378 (Trin. Coll. MS.). Nis þar sareȝe ne sor non.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 4852. Þiss … drifeþþ fra þin herrte, All flæshliȝ care & serrȝhe & sit.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 354. Ine sor & ine seoruw.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 884. Hi ne seoþ her nowiht bute serewe.

a. 1300.  Body & Soul, in Map’s Poems (Camden), 344. To synne and serwe was thi drauȝt.

a. 1400.  Pist. Susan, 145. I am with serwe biset on eueriche side.

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 108. His trauel schal be-gynne in sarow.

  γ.  a. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 19. Ðar is sorwȝe and sarinesse for ðare muchele ortrewnesse.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 431. Hwanne snouh liþ þikke & wide, & alle wihtes habbeþ sorewe.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5044. Þe king him let ek in sorwe & in siknesse lede.

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 578. Ouer londes he gan fare Wiþ sorwe and reweful chere.

c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well, 66. Þou muste haue … full sorwe in þin herte for þi synne.

1473.  Warkw., Chron. (Camden), 26. Suche goodes as were gaderide with synne, were loste with sorwe.

  δ.  a. 1300.  Cursor M., 24635. Seke i was and sar for soruu.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter cxxvi. 3. Ȝe þat ete þe bred of sorow, þat is, ȝe þat make sorow in ȝoure pilgrimage.

c. 1375.  Cursor M., 754 (Fairf.). To saue þaire self … or ellis in sorou for to lende.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), iv. 13. Scho began to crie, as a thing þat had mykill sorowe.

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 1437. [They] weron in soro & penaunce alle þat nyȝt.

1508.  Dunbar, Flyting, 21. Incres of sorrow, sklander, and evill name.

1559.  Mirr. Mag., Hen. VI., iv. A silly soule with woe and sorowe souste.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. vii. 23. For earthly sight can nought but sorrow breed.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 232. Ham. What, lookt he frowningly?
  Hor. A countenance more in sorrow then in anger.

1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., II. xx. (1695), 122. Sorrow is uneasiness in the Mind, upon the thought of a Good lost,… or the Sense of a present Evil.

1742.  Gray, Adversity, 15. What sorrow was, thou bad ’st her know.

1784.  Cowper, Task, VI. 46. Sorrow has … subdu’d and tam’d The playful humour.

1841.  Helps, Ess., Aids Contentm. (1842), 17. And we may remember that sorrow is at once, the lot, the trial, and the privilege of man.

1891.  Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xlii. His face wore a look of sorrow and alarm.

  b.  In more or less personified use.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1080. Þer was solace & songe wher sorȝ has ay cryed.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 4995. Labour and Travaile Logged ben with Sorwe and Woo, That never out of hir court goo.

1554–9.  Songs & Ball. Philip & Mary (Roxb.), 1. Sorrowe hath caught me in her sner.

1621.  Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. III. iv. Sorrow,… the mother and daughter of melancholy.

1757.  Gray, Bard, 62. And sorrow’s faded form, and solitude behind.

1812.  Byron, Ch. Har., II. xcvi. How selfish Sorrow ponders on the past.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., lix. O Sorrow, wilt thou live with me?

  c.  In proverbs and phrases.

c. 1420.  Sir Amadace (Camden), iii. Bettur sayd soro thenne sene!

1796.  Grose’s Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Sorrow shall be his Sops. He shall repent this. Sorrow go by me; a common expletive used by the presbyterians in Ireland.

  2.  With a and pl. An instance or cause of grief or sadness; an affliction or trouble.

  α.  Beowulf, 149. Torn ʓeþolode wine Scyldinga, weana ʓehwelcne, sidra sorʓa.

a. 900.  Cynewulf, Crist, 86. Swa eal manna bearn sorʓum sawað, swa eft ripað.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 5. Þæt æʓhwylc man sceolde … her on sorhʓum beon.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 71. Þet lif and saule beon iborȝen and baðe ilesed ut of sorȝen.

c. 1205.  Lay., 12332. Ah sone þer æfter sorȝen heom weoren ȝiueðen.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 68. Pride … made ilc sorge, and euerilc bale.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 563. Quen þe swemande sorȝe soȝt to his hert.

  β.  a. 1300.  Harrow. Hell (Digby), 28. Harde gates haui gon, Serewes soffred moni hon.

a. 1310.  in Wright, Lyric P., xxx. 89. Nis ther no leche so fyn, oure serewes to bete.

a. 1400.  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., liv. 96. Ȝif eny serwe beo lyk to myn.

  γ.  c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 3742. Moyses told hem al ðis answere, And he ben smiten in sorwes dere.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5923. Þe þridde ȝer … of aildredes kinedom, Þe biginning of his sorwe to engelonde verst com.

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 368. Her sorwen and her care Þai witt þat frely fode.

1382.  Wyclif, Ecclus. xxxviii. 7. In these thingus he … shal swage sorewen.

c. 1400.  Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 60. [It] brynges ynward sorwys to mannys hertys.

  δ.  a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9641. Sua þou wald his sorus slak.

1338.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 7. Now of fiue sorowes … Henry in his writyng telles what þei ware.

c. 1440.  York Myst., xii. 7. And sithen what sorouse sor warre sene.

1477.  Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 8. The wiese men bere their greues & sorowes as they were swete vnto them.

1557.  North, trans. Gueuara’s Diall Pr. (1568), 300. There is great difference from the cares and sorrowes of weomen to that of men.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., IV. v. 78. When sorrowes comes, they come not single spies, But in Battaliaes.

1697.  Dryden, Æneid, I. 307. The day, but not their sorrows, ended thus.

1713.  Johnson, Guardian, No. 1, ¶ 5. All sorrows which can arrive at me are comprehended in the sense of guilt and pain.

1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., I. ii. 68. IV. 29. Nor House, nor Lands,… Can … drive one Sorrow from his anxious Breast.

1827.  Pollok, Course T., I. (1860), 17. Sorrows remembered sweeten present joy.

1892.  Westcott, Gospel of Life, 270. Every sorrow and pain is an element of discipline.

  b.  The Man of Sorrows, Jesus Christ. (After Isaiah liii. 3.)

a. 1853.  F. W. Robertson, Serm., Ser. V. (1890), i. 1. The Human Race typified by the Man of Sorrows.

1857.  J. Hamilton, Less. from Gt. Biogr., 170. The Man of Sorrows was not the man who would upbraid a breaking heart.

  c.  Applied to persons.

1637.  Milton, Lycidas, 166. Weep no more, For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead.

1821.  Shelley, Adonais, x. Our love, our hope, our sorrow, is not dead; See, on the silken fringe of his faint eyes [etc.].

  3.  Used as a term of imprecation, or of mere emphasis, in various phrases and constructions. In later use Sc. and Ir., and freq. with the = the mischief, the devil.

  a.  In the phrase Sorrow on (a person or thing).

1325.  Poem Times Edw. II., 178, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 331. Sorwe on that o frere that kepeth come there.

13[?].  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxxvii. 931. Serwe on heore hedes, but þei wel do!

c. 1440.  York Myst., xxxii. 362. Now sorowe on such socoure as I haue soght.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 33. Sorrow on thee, and all the packe of you.

1823.  Scott, Quentin D., xvi. To deal with William de la Marck, on whose name be sorrow!

1862.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XIII. ix. (1872), V. 96. The Duchess Dowager of Würtemburg also came, sorrow on her; a foolish talking woman.

  b.  In other phrases of imprecation.

13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2383. Of trecherye & vn-trawþe boþe bityde sorȝe & care!

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 308. But tel me wherfor hydestow with sorwe The keyes of thy chist away fro me?

c. 1400.  Gamelyn, 881. Sorwe have that rekke!

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 140 b. Yf than the porter wold come … & bydde vs walke forth vnthryftes with sorowe.

c. 1560.  T. Ingelend, Disobedient Child, C j. God guye the sorow.

1776.  Burns, ‘O Tibbie, I hae seen the day,’ iii. But sorrow tak him that’s sae mean.

1831.  Miss Ferrier, Destiny, II. xxvi. 352. Aye, that you will, or sorrow take me!

1855.  Tennyson, Maud, I. IV. ii. But sorrow seize me if ever that light be my leading star!

1896.  P. A. Graham, Red Scaur, xvii. 258. Sorrow take the chance brought me among you!

  c.  As an emphatic negative. Chiefly with a.

1573.  Satir. Poems Reform., xxxix. 87. Persauing that, sorrow mair thay socht it.

1583.  Leg. Bp. St. Androis, 791. But sorrow mair the men mycht gett.

17[?].  Ramsay, Wyfe of Auchtermuchty, xi. The sorrow crap of butter he gat.

1738.  Scotch Presbyt. Eloquence, 111. The Sorrow a Bit of your Dog will I be.

1818.  Scott, Br. Lamm., xxiv. Sorra a bit, if I were him.

1825.  T. C. Croker, Fairy Leg. S. Irel., I. 152. ‘Sorrow a know I know,’ said Leary.

1865.  Lever, Luttrell of Arran, xviii. The sorrow a word ever crossed your lips.

  d.  Inserted after what, where, etc., in impatient questions.

a. 1631.  Bruce, Upon Affair of Gowrie, in Serm. (1843), 193. The Earl … said—‘What sorrow means all this haste?’

a. 1779.  D. Graham, Yng. Coalman’s Courtship, III. (1786), 15. What a sorrow ails you?

1796.  Twa Cuckolds & Tint Quey, 16. What the sorro’ way? D’ye think that I can watch her aye?

1861.  R. Leighton, Rhymes & Poems (ed. 2), 89. ‘Guidwife,’ quoth John, ‘did ye see that moose? Whar sorra was the cat?’

  e.  In miscellaneous uses with the.

1756.  Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitland Club), 178. The holydays play the sorrow with the poor people.

1819.  Thomson, Poems, 131 (E.D.D.). The sorry’s i’ the cutty.

1839.  Carleton, Fardorougha, iii. 57. Her people’s as proud as the very sarra, an’ never match below them. Ibid., v. 96. Tut! go to the sarra.

1887.  J. Service, Life Dr. Duguid, II. viii. 219. She should been brunt, the auld limb o’ the sorrow!

  4.  The outward expression of grief; lamentation, mourning; poet., tears. † In early use esp. to make sorrow.

  (a)  c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 3218. Grete dole þay mak, somtyme, and sarowe, For þai may nathyng begg ne borowe.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. III. 16. Mourne þou not, Meede, ne make þou no serwe.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), x. 38. Þe mounkes made mykill sorowe at his dying.

1484.  Caxton, Fables of Æsop, I. xviii. [The lion] beganne to crye and make sorowe.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxlv. 174. Whane they within Calays sawe their kynge depart, thay made great sorowe.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., III. i. 119. Witnes the sorrow that their sister makes.

  (b)  a. 1425.  Cursor M., 10496 (Trin.). Whil she mened þus hir mone Wiþ wepe & sorwes mony one.

1490.  Caxton, Eneydos, lii. 146. Thus lasted the sorowe thre dayes and thre nyghtes, that they neuer dyde ceasse.

1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 963. Where they view’d each other’s sorrow, Sorrow that friendly sighs sought still to dry.

1717.  Pope, Iliad, IX. 559. Down his white beard a stream of sorrow flows.

1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Sat., I. v. 106. III. 93.

1820.  Keats, Lamia, II. 67. She nothing said, but, pale and meek, Arose and knelt before him, wept a rain Of sorrows at his words.

  † 5.  a. Physical pain or suffering. Obs.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XX. 42. He seyde in his sorwe on þe selue Rode, ‘Bothe fox & foule [etc.].’

1382.  Wyclif, Gen. xxxiv. 25. The thridde day, whanne the sorwe of the woundes is moost greuows. Ibid. (1388), Rev. xvi. 11. Thei blasfemyden God of heuene, for sorewis of her woundis.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xxx. (Tollem. MS.). Þe reed [celidony] helpeþ … aȝens woodnesse and aȝens olde sorowe.

  † b.  Mischief; harm, hurt, damage. Obs.

c. 1430.  Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 8592. Allas! traied we bene Of the ring bi my modre the Quene…; Som sorow she wirketh, wel wol I.

1599.  Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 35. Who yet notwithstanding as he was downe, mangled their feete and legges, and did the Saracens much sorrow.

  6.  As a term of abuse, reproof or depreciation applied to persons. Chiefly north. and Sc.

  a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 1735. Þou hase sampned … a sellich nowmbre … Off laddez & of losyngers & of lityll thefez, Siche sary sorowez as þi-self.

  1816.  Scott, Antiq., xxvi. Get out o’ the gate, ye little sorrow! Ibid. (1818), Hrt. Midl., xvi. ‘Ye’re a leeing auld sorrow then,’ replied the fair one.

1839.  Hood, Lost Heir, 53. I’m as hoarse as a crow, with screaming for ye, you young sorrow!

1896.  ‘L. Keith,’ Indian Uncle, v. 78. ‘That wee sorra’ of a baker’s boy with the dinner-rolls.

  † 7.  Used in place of SORRY a. Obs.^–1

a. 1470.  H. Parker, Dives & Pauper (W. de W., 1496), I. liii. 93/2. Iudas was sorowe therof & grutched.

  8.  attrib., as sorrow-cloud, -mate, † -sithe, -smart.

  A number of attributive compounds occur in OE.

c. 1205.  Lay., 11109. Monie … menden to him heore sær & heore sorh-siðes.

1602.  Marston, Antonio’s Rev., IV. v. I j b. Helpe me good sorrow-mates to giue him graue.

1838.  Eliza Cook, The World, ii. We murmur and droop should a sorrow-cloud stay.

1856.  R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (ed. 4), I. 199.

  9.  Comb. a. Instrumental, with pa. pples., as sorrow-beaten, -blinded, -bound, -closed, etc.

1594.  Selimus, in Greene’s Wks. (Grosart), XIV. 263. Into whose calmie port My *sorrow-beaten soule ioyes to ariue.

1855.  Lynch, Rivulet, XVI. i. Come, O *sorrow-blinded man.

1842.  Faber, Styrian Lake, 39. Why stand ye thus *sorrow-bound.

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia (1622), 274. When her breath … had by sobs gotten into her *sorow-closed breast.

a. 1618.  Sylvester, Monodia, 79. With sigh-swoln heart and *sorrow-clouded eyes.

1849.  M. Arnold, Forsaken Merman, 103. And anon there drops a tear From a sorrow-clouded eye.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. I. Ark, 71. So, the care-charming hony … re-advanceth *sorrow-daunted hearts.

1603.  J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosmos, Pref., Wks. (Grosart), I. 12/1. With stil-sweating *sorrow-furrowed Browes.

1849.  M. Arnold, Forsaken Merman, 104. A heart *sorrow-laden.

1645.  Quarles, Sol. Recant., v. 17. Nor let thy *sorrow-melted heart bemone Thy banisht bondslave.

c. 1595.  J. Dickenson, Sheph. Compl. (1878), 9. These *sorrow-seasond lines should firme abide.

1647.  Fuller, Good Th. in Worse T. (1841), 156. How many have been *sorrow-shot to their heart!

1812.  Crabbe, Tales, v. 628. With *sorrow-shrunken face and hair upright.

1819.  J. H. Payne, Brutus, V. i. 45. Look upon this *sorrow-stricken form.

1844.  Lever, T. Burke, I. 9. Their grief is low and *sorrow-struck.

1600.  Wisd. Dr. Dodypoll, IV. iii. in Bullen, Old Pl. (1884), III. 142. Where shall I rest my *sorrow-tired limmes.

1608.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. IV. Decay, 725. *Sorrow-torn, thus (to himselfe) he cries.

1645.  Quarles, Sol. Recant., I. 23. To what hopefull end Droyle we our crazy bodies, and expend Our *sorrow-wasted spirits?

1842.  Cdl. Wiseman, Prayer & Pr.-Bks., Ess. 1853, I. 379. The innermost caverns of a hollow, *sorrow-worn breast.

1638[?].  Waller, Lady Rich’s Death, 126, Poems (1645), 61. Your tears and *sorrow-wounded soule.

1736.  Gentl. Mag., VI. 615/2. To heal the sorrow-wounded heart!

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., III. ii. 4. Marcus vnknit that *sorrow-wreathen knot.

  b.  Objective, with pres. pples. and vbl. sbs., as sorrow-breathing, bringing, -ceasing, -making, etc.

1825.  D. L. Richardson, Sonnets, 97.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. III. Furies, 176. The dropsie-breeding, *sorrow-bringing Psylly.

1627.  Drayton, Agincourt, 32. *Sorrow-ceasing sleepe … Vpon his Eye-lids stealingly doth creepe.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, XXI. xi. 857*. Ye dysplese god with suche maner of *sorow makyng.

1820.  Clare, Poems Rural Life (ed. 3), 142. That sad *sorrow-ripening name—a Man.

1603.  Drayton, Bar. Wars, VI. xciii. 157. She curs’d her *sorrow-seeing eye.

1601.  Weever, Mirr. Mart. (Roxb.), 217. In a *sorrow-sighing extasie.

1596.  Fitz-Geffrey, Sir F. Drake (1881), 96. The *sorrow-sobbing sighes of extasie.

1720.  Pope, Iliad, XXIV. 981. So spoke the fair, with *sorrow-streaming eye.