Now chiefly dial. Also 7–8 souce, 8 sowse. [f. SOUSE sb.3 or v.3]
1. Suddenly; without warning.
1680. Vind. Conform. Clergy (ed. 2), 32. He dares not so much as lift up a Finger;… if he doth, souce, he hath him in the Chops immediately.
1728. Vanbr. & Cib., Prov. Husb., I. i. Then sowse! we are all set fast in a Slough.
2. With a direct and rapid course.
1690. Dryden, Amphitryon, I. i. He’s coming down souse upon us, and hears as far as he can see too.
1755. Smollett, Quix., II. III. ix. (1803), IV. 27. We shall come souse upon the kingdom of Candaya, as a saker or jerfaulcon darts down upon a heron.
3. With strong or violent impact; heavily.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. lxvii. (1737), 276. Vinet lent him … a swinging stoater with the Pitch-fork souce between the Neck and the Collar.
1730. Young, 1st Ep. to Poge, Wks. 1757, I. 186. They,… looking full on every man they meet, Run souse against his chaps.
1789. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Expost. Odes, ix. 29. Our world … Would rather see a fellow … from the attic story of a house Fall down souse Upon a set of cursed iron spikes.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xx. I hoped it would have fallen souse on your heads before you were aware of it.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt. V. vii. II. 128. Gundling comes souse upon the ice with his sitting-part.
