Obs. Forms: (see below). [a. OF. sous (also soux, souz), pl. of sout, solt, later sol SOL sb.3 and sou SOU. See also SOULX.
Instances in rhyme show that the usual pron. was (sαus): cf. Smart (1836), ‘in plain vulgar English we say a sowse.’]
1. A French coin and money of account, equal to the twentieth part of a livre; a sol or sou.
a. pl. α. 6 sousz, 6–8 sous, 7 soues. β. 6 sowse (sowese), 6–4 souse, 6, 8 souce, 7 sowce.
For 19th-cent. examples of sous see SOU.
α. 1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 190. Item xv. sousz of Burdeux makithe a franke whiche is ij. s.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. ccxxxv. (1516), 158. They shuld paye to the sayd Abbot & Couent lx. M. Sous.
1600. Surflet, Countrie Farme, I. xxi. 120. The men of old … sold them in the time of the Romaines for ten Sous a peece.
1633. in Northern N. & Q., I. 93. My fencin and dansin extendes monthli to 25 lib. 10 soues.
1707. in Sewall’s Diary (1879), II. 37*. Shot … was Sold at 13 Sous per Pound.
β. 1512. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., IV. 294. Aucht hundretht foure skoire three frankis xj sowse, spendit be the said Johne Balȝard.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 45 b. A greate part of the women and children he expelled the toune, gevyng to every poore creature five sowse.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 426. A bill … wherein is set downe 20. souse for two new sleeves to his old dublet.
1600. Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 258. I thinke all that they had together … was not worth five souce.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Obs., in Remains (1661), 200. The King hath raised his silver four Sowce in the Crown.
1690. Strutton, Relat. Cruelties of French, 27. Here our grand Driver … gave us five Souse a Man.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist., I. 128. The Plaintiff must allow him five Souce per day.
b. sing. α. 6–9 sous. β. 6–7, 9 sowse, 7 sowce; 6–9 souse.
α. a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. ccxxxv. (1516), 158. A sous is in value after starlyng money 1. d. ob.
1568. Satir. Poems Reform., xlvi. 38. Quhair scho findis a fallow fyne, He wilbe frawcht-fre for a sous.
1611. Cotgr., Sol, a Sous, or the French shilling.
1675. H. Nevile, trans. Machiavelli’s Wks., State France, 262. A sous or penny a day for their Chamber.
1808. Sporting Mag., XXXII. 63. Such a potful, indeed, costs only one sous.
1832. J. A. Heraud, Voy. & Mem. Midshipman, viii. (1837), 137. Grapes are a sous a pound, and peaches twelve for a sous, which is a half-penny.
β. 1528. Sir R. Weston, in Dillon, Calais & Pale (1892), 91. Of every cowe or oxe j souse frenche.
1547. Boorde, Introd. Knowl., xxvii. (1870), 191. A sowse is worth .xii. bras pens.
1624. Heywood, Captives, V. iii. in Bullen, O. Pl., IV. 205. Tush, offer me a sowse but not in th’eare.
1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, V. 10. The Showes at the Fair of St. Germans, which he had seen not long before for a Souse.
a. 1658. Cleveland, Model New Rel., 21. For Sprats are rose an Omer for a Souse.
c. pl. 6 souces, sowces, Sc. soussis, sowsis, 6–7 sowses, 7 souses, souzes.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. clv. 187. Labourers and workemen … shall pay x. souces.
1550. Records of Elgin (New Spald. Cl.), I. 103. Ordanit that na persoun … rafuse … sowsis that pass nocht throch the ring and mesour.
1577. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. IV. 25. The Frenche Kinge hathe coyned newe sowces.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xv. 94. A fat Mutton was solde for sixe Souses of Paris money.
1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, VIII. 28. I have consented to give six Souses for that which is worth but four.
2. Taken as a type of a small coin or amount, with an expressed or implied negative.
α. 1570. Satir. Poems Reform., xx. 78. The murther … thay do deny, And countis ȝow not ane sous.
1677. Otway, Cheats of Scapin, II. i. Not a Sous, damn’d Rascal, let him turn Foot-Soldier and be hang’d.
1709. [E. Ward], Rambling Fuddle-Caps, 13.
| But, Nouns, if the Rake-hell continues thus loose, | |
| In Revenge, I’ll not leave the young Rebel a Sous. |
1761. Churchill, Rosciad, 212. Next came the treasurer of either house; One with full purse, t’other with not a sous.
1805. R. Anderson, Cumbld. Ball., 31. Silly Tom Linton left nit worth a sous.
β. 1676. D’Urfey, Mme. Fickle, I. i. He has no Money now, not a souse—I know it.
1694. Echard, Plautus, 199. By George, you shan’t be a Sowce the better for what’s in it.
1708. Mrs. Centlivre, Busie Body, I. i. Sir Geo. How cam’st thou by such a liberal Education? Cha. Not a Souse out of his Pocket, I assure you.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VIII. viii. There was your friend,… that shot out his brains without paying any body a souse.
1812. G. Colman, Br. Grins, Elder Bro. (1819), 113. To lounge, and chat, not minding time a souse.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 157. The first, though at times having scarcely a souse, Talks loudly, forsooth, of her Old Manor House.
