Also 5–6 sott, 6 sotte. [f. SOT sb.1 (cf. MDu. sotten, zotten to be foolish), or aphetic for ASSOT v.]
1. trans. † a. To render foolish or doltish; to stupefy, to besot. Obs.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 4364. Ne foloȝe we na ficesyens ne philisophour scolis, As sophistri & slik thing to sott with þe pepill.
1554. Philpot, Exam. & Writ. (Parker Soc.), 322. The cup of the Whore of Babylon, wherewith she hath sotted and made drunk the most part of Christendom.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. v. 11. He sotteth them with the spirit of drowsynesse and giddynesse.
1600. F. Thynne, Epig. (1876), 53. Crisopeia,… whoe sotts him soe with her bewitchinge sight.
1626. Breton, Fantastickes, Wks. (Grosart), II. 5/2. Loue … crosseth wisdome, serueth Beautie, and sotteth folly.
a. 1700. Ken, Edmund, Poet. Wks. 1721, II. 297. Of Wine and Spirits … They … should Cellars drain, Which … should sot the Dane.
† b. To blurt out stupidly. Obs.–1
1608. H. Clapham, Errour Right Hand, 44. He beginnes to puffe,… and then sotted out this question.
c. With away. To waste or squander by sottish conduct.
1746. Chesterf., Lett., cxii. (1792), I. 304. I must … have destroyed my health and faculties by sotting away the evenings.
1782. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), IX. 6908/1. Brandy-shops, in which the inhabitants used to sot away their time in drinking strong liquors and smoking tobacco.
1850. Blackw. Mag., Nov., 510. The elder son of the forementioned squire had muddled and sotted away much of his share in the Leslie property.
2. intr. To play the sot; to drink to excess; to soak. Also with it.
1633. Marmion, Antiq., II. i. (1875), 217. You have been sotting on’t all night with wine.
1711. E. Ward, Vulgus Brit., IX. 99. Where day by day they us’d to sot, At All-fours, Cribidge, or at Put.
a. 1716. South, Twelve Serm. (1717), VI. 399. Those, who should have been watching the Motion of the Enemy, were sotting it at their Cups.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 9. Periodical Writers that sot over beer.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., vi. Beyond the few … reckless vagabonds with whom he … sotted in the alehouse, he had not a single friend.
