Now dial. and U.S. Forms: 4 sows, 5–9 sowse (5 sowsse), sowce; 5–8 souce, 5 sovse, 6– souse. [a. OF. sous (souz, soulz, soult, = Prov. soutz, sols), or souce, ad. OHG. sulza, OS. sulta, or directly f. the Germanic stem sult- (see SALT v.1 and SILT sb.), whence also It. solcio pickle, condiment.
The OF. forms, partly given by Godefroy under soult, are specially illustrated and discussed by A. Thomas in Romania (1909), pp. 579–582.]
1. Various parts of a pig or other animal, esp. the feet and ears, prepared or preserved for food by means of pickling.
1391. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 50. In uno dolio emp. pro le sows, ijs. ijd.
14[?]. Lat.-Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 614. Succidium, Sovse.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 466/1. Sowce, mete, succidium.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 360, in Babees Bk. (1868), 139. Salt, sowre, and sowse, alle suche þow set a-side.
a. 1529. Skelton, Agst. Garnesche, iii. 32. Ye slvfferd vp sowse In my lady Brewsys howse.
1595. Enq. Tripe-wife, in Grosart, Eliz. Eng. (1881), 149. Thy tripes were yong, thy neates feete fat and faire, Thy sowse was sweete.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, I. iv. I’ll tell you in a word, I am sent to lay An Imposition upon Souse and Puddings, Pasties, and penny Custards.
1675. Hannah Woolley, Gentlew. Comp., 154. Soust Veal, Lamb, [etc.];… boil it close covered, that the souse may look white.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sousce,… a kind of Jelly, made of Hogs-Ears and Feet boil’d in Water, and afterwards cut into small Pieces, to be stew’d in Vinegar and Sugar.
1725. Fam. Dict., s.v., To make an Intermess of Souse, let Hogs Ears and Feet be boil’d after the usual manner [etc.].
1829. Brockett, N. C. Gloss. (ed. 2), Souse, a dish composed of pig’s ears, &c. fried.
1854. H. H. Riley, Puddleford, 147. [I] can give you mush, souse, slap-jacks, briled pork.
1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 549. Souse … means in Pennsylvania more generally pigs’ feet.
b. transf. The ears; also in sing., an ear.
a. 1658. Cleveland, Model New Rel., 33. How Quops the Spirit? In what Garb or Air? With Souse erect, or Pendent, Winks, or Haws?
1673. Mrs. Behn, Dutch Lover, III. ii. A slink, greasie Hair … through which a pair of large thin souses appear’d.
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 57. 2/2. The Dog their large Sowces soon bit.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., Souse, the ear, most properly that of a hog, from its being frequently pickled or sowsed.
1825. Jennings, Obs. Dial. W. Eng., 71. Souse,… the ear. Pigs sousen, pigs ears.
1895. Dial. Notes (Amer. Dial. Soc.), I. 383. ‘Bounder your souse well’ = wash your ears well.
2. A liquid employed as a pickle.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 189. Take … fenell sede broken and bounde in a clothe and ley it in the same souse for oon day.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 121. Ready at all tymes to eate in the wynter season, and to be layde in souse.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iii. 70. The feete of a Bullocke or Heifer,… tenderly sodden, and layed in sowce.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Souce, a sort of Pickle for a Collar of Brawn, Pork, &c.
1801. The Port-Folio, I. 352 (Thornton). Thy ears and feet in Souse shall lie.
1883. ‘Annie Thomas,’ Mod. Housewife, 102. The savoury ‘souses’ of vinegar, bay-leaves, and spices into which we plunged the other [fish] when baked.
fig. 1619. Fletcher, etc. Knt. Malta, II. i. I am in souce I thank ye; thanke your beauty.
1650. T. B[ayley], Worcester’s Apoph., 101. As a thing newly taken out of the sowse of so many friends blood.
1675. Hobbes, Odyssey, VIII. 331. After he had left Calypso’s house Warm and sweet water he had never seen, But roll’d by Neptune always was in souse.
† b. To sell souse: (see quot.). Obs.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Groin, Faire le groin, to powt, lowre, frowne, be sullen, or surlie; to hang the lip, or sell sowce.
3. attrib. and Comb., as souse-ale, -drink, -fish, -kit, -seller, -tub, -wife, -woman.
In some cases perhaps the verbal stem.
1444. Compota Domest. (Abbotsford Club), 25. Liberantur Roberto Cooke pro *sowceale … C lagene (bere).
1653. Bibliotheca Parl., 3. A Garden of sweet flowers, or a Senator in *Souce-drink, by Alderman Atkins.
1676. Phil. Trans., XI. 600. They were put … in souse-drink, or pickle.
1704. Dict. Rust., s.v. Brawn, Put them into Souce-drink made of Oatmeal … and bran boyled in fair Water.
1695. Wood, Life (O.H.S.), III. 495. All sorts of *souse fish (lobsters, crayfish).
1565. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 179. In the larder.… j *sowsekytt, and j bread grater.
1578. Knaresborough Wills (Surtees), I. 133. Two sousekittes.
1648. Hexham, I. A Sowse seller.
1561. Entert. Temple, in Nichols, Progr. Q. Eliz., I. 137. The Clark of the Kitchen also, and the Clark of the *Sowce-tub.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Gt. Eater Kent, 10. Eighteene yards of blacke puddings … haue suddenly been imprisoned in his sowse-tub.
1706. J. Dunton, in Life & Errors (1818), II. 451. His brains are in a perpetual souce-tub: the pickle … is only changed from Ale to Wine.
1887. Parish & Shaw, Kentish Gloss., 156. Sowse-tub.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier, Wks. (Grosart), XI. 284. He knoweth … what the *sowse wiues are able to make of the inwards.
1622. Fletcher, Prophetess, I. iii. Ye may be an honest butcher or allied to an honest family of sowse-wives.
1620. Markham, Farew. Husb. (1668), 46. You shall then deal with Butchers, *Sowse-women, Slaughter-men, scullions and the like.
