north. dial. Forms: 4 soght, 5 souȝt, 7 sought, 9 sowt, soot. [a. ON. *soht (later sótt, Icel. and Fær. sótt, Norw. sott, Sw. and Da. sot), = Goth. sauhts, OS. suht (hence once in OE.), OHG. and MHG. suht (G. sucht), Du. zucht: cf. also OEFris. secht, OWFris. siochte. The stem suh-, suk- is an ablaut-variant of seuk-: see SICK a.] Sickness, illness, disease. In later use spec. a disease of sheep or other animals.

1

  See also the combs. GULESOUGHT and LUNGSOUGHT.

2

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14157. Wel þai trud þat he moght þair broþer sauue of al his soght.

3

14[?].  MS. Sloane 7, fol. 73 (H.). For the ȝalow souȝt, that men callin the jaundys.

4

1621.  Brathwait, Nat. Embassie (1877), 242. Scab, sought, the rot or any kind of murren.

5

1847.  Halliwell, Sowt, the rot in sheep. Westm.

6

1876.  Richardson, Cumbld. Talk, Ser. II. 150. Ye’r sheep dee i’ t’ seekness or t’ sowt.

7

1878.  Cumbld. Gloss., 91. Sowt, the joint-ill in lambs and calves.

8