Forms: i-sot, 1–2, 6–7 sott, 2–7 sotte, 3, 5 sote, 6 soote. [a. OF. sot masc., sote fem. (mod.F. sot, sotte), of unknown origin; the med.L. sottus is recorded from c. 800. Hence also MDu. sot (sod), zot (zod; Du. zot), MLG. and LG. sot, sott, MHG. sot.]
A. sb. † 1. A foolish or stupid person; a fool, blockhead, dolt. Obs.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xiii. 132. Ne bið se na wita þe unwislice leofað, ac bið open sott [v.r. sot].
c. 1055. Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia, VIII. 313. Seðe his aʓene spræce awyrt he wyrcð barbarismus. Swylce he cweðe þu sot, þær he sceolde cweðan þu sott.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 29. Þa iuguleres and þa oðer sottes … habbeð an þonc.
a. 1250. Prov. of Alfred, 412. Ne gabbe þu,… ne chid þu wyþ none sotte.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2457. Þan said abram, þat was na sot, formast til his neueu loth.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 8. She … badde hym be stylle, With suche wise wordes to wissen any sottes.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 157. Who-so nothynge thynkyth of thyngis y-passet, a sote and a fole he shall be callid.
a. 1500. Flower & Leaf, 100 (Skeat). So sodainly, that, as it were a sot, I stood astonied.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 85. Into the Church then comes another sotte.
1546. J. Heywood, Dial. Wit & Folly (Percy Soc.), 14. No more dysernythe the sott, at yeres thre score, Then th’ynosent borne within yeres thre before.
1602. J. Davies (Heref.), Mirum in Modum, Wks. (Grosart), I. 25/2. Why hath a wise man, to his Sonne a Sotte?
1641. Milton, Animadv., Wks. 1851, III. 235. The one is ever … a sot, an ideot for any use that mankind can make of him.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 492, ¶ 1. The Men are such unthinking Sots, that they do not prefer her who restrains all her Passions and Affections [etc.].
c. 1745. Fielding, Lucy in Town, Wks. 1784, III. 438. That I should be such a sot as to suffer you!
Prov. a. 1250. Prov. Alfred, 421. Sottes bolt is sone i-scohte.
c. 1300. Prov. Hendyng, in Rel. Ant., I. 111. Sottes bolt is sone shote.
Comb. 1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, XX. xxx. 833. Their … apparelling him [i.e., Christ] with sot-like habites, crowning him with thorne, striking him on the head with reedes,… was nothing but a continuate insultation.
2. One who dulls or stupefies himself with drinking; one who commonly or habitually drinks to excess; a soaker.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, Wks. (Grosart), II. 43. The Danes are bursten-bellied sots, that are to be confuted with nothing but Tankards or quart pots.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle (1871), 63. I graunt you then a drunken sot may goe For one that is innocuous.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 3. He that … drinketh not all his Wine before the Salt is taken away, and only for Digestion: Such a one is a Drunkard, a Sot, &c.
1693. Prideaux, Lett. (1875), 160. We are here at a miserable passe with this horrid sot we have got for our Dean. He cannot sleep at night till dosed with drink.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), II. 127–8. One who abuses himself in this way, is often call’d a Sot, but never a Debauchee.
1750. Berkeley, Patriotism, § 10, Wks. 1871, III. 455. A sot, a beast, benumbed and stupefied by excess.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, vi. They form a happy compound of sot, game-keeper, bully, horse-jockey, and fool.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Ability, Wks. (Bohn), II. 34. Even the pleasure-hunters and sots of England are of a tougher texture.
1870. Thornbury, Tour rd. Eng., II. xxii. 112. A poor, clever, worn-out sot.
3. attrib., or in genitive combs., as † sot-bay, sot’s-hof, -hole, a resort of drinkers; † sot’s cap, a variety of sea-shell; † sot-weed, tobacco.
(a) 1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 711/1. A very cold consent of my goffe, that he found and tooke vp at sottes hoffe.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 87. His Cruise is over, and he comes to an Anchor in Sot-Bay.
1755. Gentl. Mag., XXV. 208. It would not have cost me above four-pence half-penny to have spent my evening at Sots Hole.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., 21 Dec. II. II. 1626. Some ‘good fellow,’ who is good no where but in ‘sot’s-hole.’
(b) 1702. T. Brown, etc. Lett. fr. Dead, II. Wks. 1707, II. 81. We had every one ramm’d a full charge of Sot-weed into our infernal Guns.
1747. Scheme Equip. Men of War, 35. To add a small Composition of high-flavoured Sot-Weed.
1785. in Grose, Dict. Vulgar T.
(c) 1713. Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, Tab. 16/28. Pectunculus rostratus,… Sots-cap.
† B. adj. Foolish, stupid. Obs.
c. 1050. Suppl. Ælfric’s Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 171/32. Hebes, dwæs, uel sott.
a. 1100. Voc., Ibid. 316/7. Stultus, stunt. Sottus, sot.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 67. ‘Ȝif ȝeure ani,’ he seið, ‘is ihealden for wis on ðare woreld, becume sott, and swa he mai bien wis.’
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 107. Luuede heo nane lihte plohen ne nane sotte songes.
c. 1250. Orison our Lady, 37, in O. E. Misc. And alle mine sot dede Ich bidde hire to me bi-seo.
1648. Hexham, II. De Aldersotste, the Most foolish, or the Sottest.
