Suck v.

Forms: Pres. stem. 1 sucan, 2–3 suke(n, 3–4 souken, 4–6 souke, sowke, 4–7 soke, 5–7 sucke, (4 sooke, soukke, socon, sugke, suk, Sc. swk, Kent. zouke, 4, 9 Sc. sook, 6 soucke, sowk, suke, soulk, Sc. soik, sulk, 6, 9 souk, 6–7 souck, 7 Anglo-Irish shoke, 8 dial. seawke), 6– suck. Pa. t. α. strong. 1 *seac, (pl. sucon, -un), 2–3 suke, 3 sæc, soc, 3–4 sec, sok, sek(e, 3–5 soke, 4–5 secke, sak, souk(e, sowk(e, swoke, 5 sook; β. weak. 4 soukid, sowkid, Sc. swkyt, 4–5 souked, 5–6 sowked, 6 sokid, 6–8 suck’d, suckt, 6– sucked. Pa. pple. α. strong. 1 -socen, 4 sokun, suken, soke, i-soke, 5 soken, -yn, 7 sucken; β. weak. 4 soukid, Sc. sukit, 5–6 sowked, 6 souked, -it, sowkit, 6–8 suck’d, suckt, 7 suckd, 6– sucked. [OE. súcan, corresp. to L. sūgĕre, OIr. sūgim, f. root sūg-. A parallel root sūk- (cf. L. sūcus juice) is represented by OE. sûgan, MLG., MDu. sûgen (Du. zuigen), OHG. sûgan (MHG. sûgen, G. saugen), ON. súga.

  This verb is related by ablaut to soak, with which there is some contact of meaning, see sense 21 below, SUCKING ppl. a. 5, and SOAK v. 8 b, c, 10.]

  I.  1. trans. To draw (liquid, esp. milk from the breast) into the mouth by contracting the muscles of the lips, cheeks and tongue so as to produce a partial vacuum.

c. 825.  Vesp. Hymns, vii. Sucun huniʓ of stane & ele of trumum stane.

c. 1000.  Ags. Ps. (Thorpe) viii. 2. Of ðæra cild muðe, þe meolc sucað, þu byst hered.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 488. Ða ongunnon ealle ða næddran to ceowenne heora flæsc and heora blod sucan.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 330. He sec þe milc þet hine uedde.

a. 1300.  X Commandm., 39, in E. E. P. (1862), 16. Besech we him … þat sok þe milk of maid-is brest.

13[?].  K. Alis., 6119. They … Soken heore blod, heore flesch to-gnowe.

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., ii. 5 (Harl. MS.). So sat þe toode alle þat ȝere, and secke his blod.

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 69. The calfe wyll soucke as moche mylke, er it be able to kyll, as it is worthe.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., II. iii. 144. The milke thou suck’st from her did turne to Marble.

1710.  W. King, Heathen Gods & Heroes, xi. (1722), 45. He is said to have gain’d his Immortality by the Milk he suckt from her.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), IV. 70. The weasel, where it once fastens, holds, and continuing also to suck the blood at the same time, weakens its antagonist.

180[?].  in Dickson, Pract. Agric. (1805), II. 1058. If an ewe gives more milk than its lamb will suck.

1825.  Scott, Talism., xxi. Suck the poison from his wound, one of you.

1848.  A. Steinmetz, Hist. Jesuits, I. 212. [Ignatius] even applied his mouth to their ulcers, and sucked the purulent discharge.

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxii. The knowing way in which he sipped, or rather sucked, the Johannisberger.

  b.  Of flies, etc., drawing blood, bees extracting honey from flowers; also of flowers ‘drinking’ the dew, etc.

1340.  Ayenb., 136. Þe smale uleȝe þet … of þe floures zoucþ þane deau huerof hi makeþ þet hony.

1422.  Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 180. The flyes thyke lay on hym that his blode soke.

1474.  Caxton, Chesse, II. v. (1883), 66. Many flyes satte vpon the soores and souked his blood.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 109. Drones sucke not Eagles blood, but rob Bee-hiues.

1637.  Milton, Lycidas, 140. Throw hither all your quaint enameld eyes, That on the green terf suck the honied showres.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett., III. iv. (1892), 517. The Bee and the Spider suck honey and poison out of one Flower.

1820.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., III. iii. 102. Night-folded flowers Shall suck unwithering hues in their repose.

1833.  Wordsw., Warning, 33. Like the bee That sucks from mountain-heath her honey fee.

  c.  To suck the blood of (fig.): to exhaust the resources of, drain the life out of. (Cf. BLOOD-SUCK v.)

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 7. He meaneth to sucke thy bloud.

1584.  Greene, Mirr. Modestie, Wks. (Grosart), III. 17. These two cursed caitifes … concluded when they might finde hir alone, to sucke the bloude of this innocent lambe.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 49. The Lieutenant, cruelly to suck their bloud, and the Procuratour as greedy to preie upon that substance.

1819.  Scott, Ivanhoe, vii. The wealth he had acquired by sucking the blood of his miserable victims, had but swelled him like a bloated spider.

  d.  To suck one’s fill: see FILL sb.¹ 1.

c. 1475.  Songs & Carols, xlvi. (Percy Soc.), 50. He toke hyr lovely by the pape,… And sok hys fyll of the lycowr.

1798.  Wordsw., ‘Her Eyes are Wild,’ 84. My little babe! thy lips are still, And thou hast almost sucked thy fill.

1805.  Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 981. Young calves when permitted to suck their fill are often seized with a looseness.

1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxix. I wad wuss ye, if Gowans, the brockit cow, has a quey, that she suld suck her fill of milk.

  e.  transf. and fig. or in fig. context.

13[?].  Bonaventura’s Medit., 277. Þys sermoun at crystys brest slepyng he soke.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XIII. 55. Crist … bad hem souken of hus brest sauete for synne.

1580.  J. Stewart, Poems (S.T.S.), II. 103/5. Thocht source I souck not on the sacred hill.

a. 1586.  Sidney, Astr. & Stella, Sonn. lxxiii. Because a sugared kiss In sport I suckt.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. iii. 92. Death that hath suckt the honey of thy breath. Ibid. (1592), Ven. & Ad., 572. Had she then gaue ouer, Such nectar from his lips she had not suckt.

1600.  Cath. Tract., 245. Ye may sie what venemous poyson thay souk out of the Ministers breists.

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., II. ii. 87. From you great Rome shall sucke Reuiuing blood.

1602.  Marston, Antonio’s Rev., IV. i. Studious contemplation sucks the juyce From wisards cheekes.

1604.  Earl Stirling, Crœsus, I. i. Faire Citie, where mine eyes first suck’t the light.

1842.  Tennyson, Will Waterproof, 213. Thou shalt from all things suck Marrow of mirth and laughter.

  2.  To imbibe (qualities, etc.) with the mother’s milk. (Cf. 5.)

1586.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 166. As if we had sucked iniquitie togither with our nurses milke.

1588.  Kyd, Househ. Philos., Wks. (1901), 259. That first and tender age of infancie … oftentimes with the milke sucketh the conditions of the Nursse.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., III. ii. 129. Thy Valiantnesse was mine, thou suck’st it from me.

1639.  Massinger, Unnat. Comb., I. i. I think they suck this knowledge in their milk.

  3.  To extract or draw (moisture, goodness, etc.) from or out of a thing; to absorb into itself.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxxvi. (1495), 686. The pyth of the russhe is good to drawe water out of the erthe for it soukyth it kyndly.

1585.  Jas. I., Ess. Poesie (Arb.), 14. Fra tyme that onis thy sell [Phœbus] The vapouris softlie sowkis with smyling cheare.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., III. iv. 38. The noysome Weedes, that … sucke The Soyles fertilitie from wholesome flowers.

1657.  Austen, Fruit Trees, 71. Great and large Trees do suck and draw the fertility of the ground exceedingly.

1697.  Dryden, Virg., Georg., I. 438. Oft whole sheets descend of slucy Rain, Suck’d by the spongy Clouds from off the Main. Ibid., III. 222. Let ’em [sc. Mares] suck the Seed with greedy Force; And close involve the Vigour of the Horse.

1847.  Tennyson, Princ., VII. 24. She … sees a great black cloud … suck the blinding splendour from the sand.

1880.  E. P. Roe, Scribner’s Mag., March, 756. Treat all suckers as weeds, cutting them down while they are little—before they have sucked half the life out of the bearing hill.

  † 4.  To draw or extract (money, wealth) from a source. Also in early use intr. with partitive of. Obs.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 187. Þes prelatis … cunnen summone þe Chirche … from oo place to anoþer, to sooke of her moneye.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, Cook’s T., 52. To sowke Of that he brybe kan or borwe may.

1399.  Langl., Rich. Redeles, IV. 9. Sellynge, þat sowkid siluer rith ffaste.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 756. Having first cunningly suckt a great masse of money from the credulous king.

  5.  To derive or extract (information, comfort, profit, etc.) from, † of, or out of. (Cf. 2.)

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. lxxii. 10. There out sucke they no small auauntage.

1539.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), II. 176. Communications at large sucked of hym.

1565.  T. Stapleton, Fortr. Faith, 10. He made those notes sucked out of John Bale.

c. 1600.  Chalkhill, Thealma & Cl. (1683), 95. Ægypt Schools … From whence he suckt this knowledg.

1605.  1st Pt. Jeronimo, II. iii. 8. Hast thou worne gownes in the Uniuersity, Tost logick, suckt Philosophy?

1625.  Bacon, Ess., Travel (Arb.), 523. In Trauailing in one Country he shall sucke the Experience of many.

1715.  Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), V. 109. Spinosa … suck’d the first Seeds of Atheism from the famous Francis Vanden Ende.

1784.  Cowper, Task, IV. 111. He sucks intelligence in ev’ry clime.

1822.  Lamb, Elia, I. Compl. Decay of Beggars. Much good might be sucked from these Beggars.

1908.  Maud S. Rawson, Easy go Luckies, xxi. Had he been a scholar he might have sucked a sort of delicately pungent comfort from an epigram of Tacitus.

1914.  Marett, in Folk-Lore, XXV. 20. The active conditions that enable us to suck strength and increase out of the passive conditions comprised under the term environment.

  † 6.  To draw (air, breath) into the mouth; to inhale (air, smoke, etc.). Obs.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., II. ii. 194. They’ll sucke our breath, or pinch vs blacke and blew.

1614[?].  D. Murray, in Drumm. of Hawth., Poems (S.T.S.), I. 95. To them who on their Hills suck’d sacred Breath.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 150. Tobacco suckt through water by long canes or pipes.

1712–4.  Pope, Rape Lock, II. 83. Some [spirits] … suck the mists in grosser air below. Ibid. (1717), Eloisa, 324. See my lips tremble, and my eye-balls roll, Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul!

  7.  To draw (water, air, etc.) in some direction, esp. by producing a vacuum. Also intr. for pass. of the wind.

1661.  Boyle, Certain Physiol. Ess. (1669), 216. Having by a certain Artifice out of a large glass … caus’d a certain quantity of air to be suck’d, we [etc.].

1730–46.  Thomson, Autumn, 768. Old Ocean too, suck’d thro’ the porous globe, Had long ere now forsook his horrid bed.

1847.  Tennyson, Princ., V. 339. Right and left Suck’d from the dark heart of the long bills roll The torrents.

1849.  Cupples, Green Hand, ii. The [gulf] stream sucks the wind with heat. Ibid., xiii. The air aloft appeared in the mean time to be steadying and sucking.

1857.  Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., i. 17. Instead of sucking air through the apparatus, heat is to be very cautiously applied to the chlorate.

  8.  To draw in so as to swallow up or engulf.

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 2. The lande is verye toughe, and wolde soke the ploughe into the erthe.

c. 1590.  Sir T. More (Malone Soc.), 1306. As when a whirle-poole sucks the circkled waters.

1697.  Dryden, Æneid, III. 538. Charibdis … in her greedy Whirl-pool sucks the Tides.

1817.  Shelley, Rev. Islam, XII. ix. Like the refluence of a mighty wave Sucked into the loud sea.

  b.  fig. To draw into a course of action, etc.

1771.  Smollett, Humphry Cl. (1815), 266. I am insensibly sucked into the channel of their manners and customs.

1779.  J. Moore, View Soc. Fr. (1789), I. i. 9. Small chance will remain of his being sucked into the old system.

1840.  De Quincey, Essenes, Wks. 1862, IX. 287. He is now rapidly approaching to a torrent that will suck him into a new faith.

1899.  Ld. Rosebery, in Daily News, 6 May, 4/1. We were sucked into a house dinner.

  II.  9. To apply the lips to (a teat, breast, the mother, nurse, or dam) for the purpose of extracting milk; to draw milk from with the mouth.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, viii. 125. Ne sceamode þe to ceorfanne þæt þæt ðu sylf suce?

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke xi. 27. Eadiʓ is se innoð þe þe bær & þa breost þe ðu suce.

c. 1205.  Lay., 5026. Þa tittes þet þu suke [c. 1275 soke] mid þine lippes. Ibid., 12981. & Vther his broðer þa ȝæt sæc [c. 1275 soc] his moder.

c. 1275.  XI Pains of Hell, 135, in O. E. Misc., 151. Neddren heore [sc. the women’s] breosten sukeþ.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 546. Hyt shulde a go, and sokun ky.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 2702. For þe blissful barnes loue þat hire brestes souked.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 267. Hir moder … schewed hir brestes þat eiþer of hem hadde i-soke.

a. 1400.  Octouian, 566. We segh … a wonder happe; A manchyld swoke a lyones pappe.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 88. To put youre owne childe to sowken a-nother woman.

1538.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 85. The foll that soukes olde maire.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., IV. ii. 178. Ile make you … feed on curds and whay, and sucke the Goate.

1697.  J. Lewis, Mem. Dk. Gloucester (1789), 6. He ordered her to go to bed to the young prince, who soon sucked her.

1781.  Cowper, Expost., 473. Thou wast born amid the din of arms, And suck’d a breast that panted with alarms.

1805.  Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 986. When the calf is suffered to suck the mother, it should have the first of the milk.

  b.  of bees, etc., as in 1 b.

1426.  Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 17560. As an yreyne sowketh the flye, And hyr entroylles draweth oute.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., 67. How busie the Bees are in sucking these [blossoms].

1812.  Kirby, in K. & Spence, Introd. Entom. (1816), I. 164, note. A small Melitta, upon which some of these creatures were busy sucking the poor animal.

1889.  Science-Gossip, XXV. 270/2. Union of many flowers on one inflorescence, which is therefore more conspicuous, and more easily sucked by insects, than single flowers.

  10.  To apply the lips and tongue (or analogous organs) to (an object) for the purpose of obtaining nourishment; to extract the fluid contents of by such action of the mouth; to absorb (a sweetmeat) in the mouth by the action of the tongue and the muscles of the cheeks.

  To suck a person’s brains: see BRAIN sb. 4 b. To teach one’s grandmother to suck eggs: see EGG sb. 4 b. † To suck the eggs of: to extract the ‘goodness’ of, cause to be unproductive. To suck the monkey: see MONKEY sb. 11.

1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 6764. Þai sal for threst þe hevedes souke Of þe nedders þat on þam sal rouke.

c. 1450.  Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.), 28. That sory appyl that we han sokyn To dethe hathe brouth my spouse and me.

1576.  Gascoigne, Philomene, Wks. 1910, II. 179. Such unkinde, as let the cukowe flye, To sucke mine eggs.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 171. The Weazell (Scot) Comes sneaking, and so sucks her Princely Egges.

1602.  2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., IV. ii. This sucks the eggs of my inuention.

1658.  Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1067. When he hath his belly full, he laies up the rest of his provant, and hangs them up by a thred to suck them another time.

1706.  E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 81. They may suck their Paws at Home in a whole Skin.

1750.  Gray, Long Story, 48. A wicked Imp … Who prowl’d the country far and near,… And suck’d the eggs, and kill’d the pheasants.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), IV. 322. It is a common report, that during this time, they [sc. bears] live by sucking their paws.

1780.  Cowper, Progr. Err., 530. If some mere driv’ler suck the sugar’d fib, One that still needs his leading-string and bib.

1851.  Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 204/2. The old ones wants something to suck, and not to chew.

1852.  Thackeray, Esmond, I. iii. A grand, languid nobleman in a great cap and flowered morning-gown, sucking oranges.

1908.  Maud S. Rawson, Easy go Luckies, xviii. The policeman’s five children (all sucking sweets).

  b.  To apply the tongue and inner sides of the lips to (one’s teeth) so as to extract particles of food.

1595.  Shaks., John, I. i. 192. When my knightly stomacke is suffis’d Why then I sucke my teeth.

1901.  W. R. H. Trowbridge, Lett. her Mother to Eliz., xxii. 106. The people at Croixmare couldn’t have eaten worse than Mr. Sweetson;… he sucked his teeth when he had finished.

  11.  transf. a. To draw the moisture, goodness, etc. from.

1693.  Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. 51. Without doubt the Earth would not grow Lank, Meagre, and Hungry, as it does, if the Plants did not Suck it just as Animals do their Dams.

1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xvi. 246. ’Tis certain that Turneps, when they stand for Seed, suck and impoverish the Ground exceedingly.

1879.  E. Arnold, Lt. Asia, V. 134. In forest glades A fierce sun sucked the pools.

  b.  To work (a pump) dry. (Cf. 19.)

1753.  Scots Mag., March, 156/2. About four in the afternoon the pump was sucked.

1857.  in Merc. Marine Mag. (1858), V. 8. After sucking the pumps, I had to keep one pump … at work.

  c.  To cling closely to.

1859.  Tennyson, Marr. Geraint, 324. Monstrous ivy-stems … suck’d the joining of the stones.

  12.  To draw money, information, or the like from (a person); to rob (a person or thing) of its resources or support; to drain, ‘bleed.’

1558.  in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 17. He will … make waiste, sucke the Quene, or pynche the poore or all thre.

1617.  Sir T. Roe, in Embassy (1899), II. 419. In hope to gett, no man can escape him [the King]; when hee hath suckd them, hee will not knowe them.

1752.  Chesterf., Lett., cclxxii. When you are with des gens de robe, suck them with regard to the constitution and civil government.

a. 1774.  Fergusson, Plainstanes & Cawsey, Poems (1845), 48. And o’ three shillin’s Scottish suck him.

1847.  Emerson, Repr. Men, Napoleon, Wks. (Bohn), I. 374. The land sucked of its nourishment, by a small class of legitimates.

1856.  Kingsley, in N. Brit. Rev., XXV. 12/2. Fathers became gradually personages who are to be disobeyed, sucked of their money, [etc.].

1874.  Geo. Eliot, Coll. Breakf.-P., 617. Who … suck the commonwealth to feed their ease.

  13.  With predicative adj.: To render so-and-so by sucking.

1530.  Palsgr., 742/2. You shall se hym sucke him selfe asleepe.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., V. ii. 313. Dost thou not see my Baby at my breast, That suckes the Nurse asleepe.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 302. In the next morning let them [sc. foals] be admitted to sucke their belly full.

1715.  F. Slave, Vindic. Sugars, 54. This Liquor invited all sorts of Flies to it,… many of them did suck themselves drunk.

180[?].  in Dickson, Pract. Agric. (1805), II. 1058. [The ewes] are … held by the head till the lambs by turns suck them clean.

1879.  Burroughs, Locusts & Wild Honey, 11. Bees will suck themselves tipsy upon varieties like the sops-of-wine.

  b.  To suck dry, to extract all the moisture or liquid out of by suction; fig. to exhaust.

1592.  Arden of Feversham, II. ii. 119. When she is dry suckt of her eager young.

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., IV. viii. 55. My Sea shall suck them dry.

1598.  Stow, Surv., 470. London felt it most tragicall; for then he both seysed their liberties, and sucked themselues dry.

1647.  H. More, Poems, 266. Abhorred dugs by devils sucken dry.

a. 1719.  Addison, trans. Virg. Fourth Georg., 195. Wks. 1721, I. 24. Some [bees] … Taste ev’ry bud, and suck each blossom dry.

1771.  Ann. Reg., 207/1. After one had sucked the bones quite dry,… I have seen another take them up,… and do the same.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. v. A crew of plunderers, who would suck me dry by driblets.

  14.  To produce as by suction. rare.

1849.  T. Woolner, My Beautiful Lady, My Lady in Death, xvi. The heavy sinking at her heart Sucked hollows in her cheek.

  III.  15. intr. Of the young of a mammal: To perform the action described in sense 1; to draw milk from the teat; to feed from the breast or udder.

c. 1000.  [see SUCKING ppl. a. 1].

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 5. He mihte ridan … uppon þa lutthle fole þat ȝet hit wes sukinde.

c. 1205.  Lay., 13194. Vther wes to lutel þa ȝet he moste suken.

c. 1290.  Beket, 1460, in S. Eng. Leg., 148. Ne womman þat was with childe, Ne þe children þat soukinde weren.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 6022. Com a pore womman … And bare a chylde … Þe pappe yn þe mouþe as hyt had soke.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xvi. (Magdalena), 679. Þai … fand þe child, at þe pape, lyand rycht as he sukit had.

c. 1440.  Sir Gowther, 113. He sak so sore thei [sc. the nurses] lost here lyfes.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, III. vi. 74. A grete sow fereit of grysis threttyheid, Liggin on the ground … About hir pappis sowkin.

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 39. Let them sucke as longe as the dammes wyll suffre theym.

1542.  Boorde, Dyetary, xvi. (1870), 275. All thynges the whiche dothe sucke, is nutrytyue.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., III. ii. 81. To see my Ewes graze, & my Lambes sucke. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 292. Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man when Hectors Grandsire suckt.

1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 167. There we saw a great many Women, and little Children, most of them Sucking.

1799.  Med. Jrnl., II. 44. The wet-nurse having presented it the breast, it took it with avidity, but it could suck but little, in consequence of its weak state.

1820.  Shelley, Œd. Try., I. 51. I suck, but no milk will come from the dug.

1858.  Churchill, Dis. Childr., 30. It is desirable that a child should not be weaned before nine months, nor suck after twelve.

  b.  at, † of, † on the breast or the mother.

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 8466. Þou souke of hir tat.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 116. He … badde hem souke for synne saufly at his breste [1393 C. XIII. 55 Souken of hus brest].

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prioress’ Prol., 6. Children … on the brest soukynge.

a. 1400.  Octouian, 555. A man chyld … Sok of her as of a woman That wher hys dame.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., xxi. 57. Of my dame sen I sowked had I neuer sich a nyght.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, Hunting, e iv. A fawne sowkyng on his dam.

1549.  N. Country Wills (Surtees, 1908), 204. Two mares … and two feles sucking upon theym.

a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 53. The zoung babe of hir breist sucand.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 15. A thousand yong ones … Sucking vpon her poisonous dugs.

1645.  Relation late Witches, 19. The said Anne offered to give unto her daughter Sarah Cooper an Impe in the likenes of a gray Kite, to suck on the said Sarah.

1691.  Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 117. Such as are nourished with Milk, presently find their way to the Paps, and suck at them.

  c.  of flies drawing blood, etc., as in 1 b.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., V. i. 88. Where the Bee sucks, there suck I.

1728.  Pope, Dunc., I. 130. How there he plunder’d snug, And suck’d all o’er, like an industrious Bug.

1780.  Cowper, Progr. Err., 326. These flesh-flies of the land; Who fasten without mercy on the fair, And suck, and leave a craving maggot there.

1870.  Wilson, Austral. Songs, 99. Honey-birds loitered to suck at the wattle.

  † d.  transf. and fig. Obs.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 229 b. Suche other as daily flatered hym for their peculier profites (as he had many in deede that daily sucked at his elbowe).

1571.  Digges, Pantom., A iv. Such two footed Moules and Todes whom … nature hath ordayned to craule within the earth, and suck upon the muck.

a. 1626.  Bacon, Hen. VIII., in Misc. Wks. (1629), 165. The Crowne, which had sucked too hard, and now being full,… was like to Draw lesse.

  16.  To give suck (occas. † to give to suck): to give milk from the breast or udder, to suckle. Const. simple dat. or to. Now arch.

  Suck, properly infin. (cf. G. zu saugen geben, Du. te zuigen geven), is now felt as a sb.; cf. SUCK sb.¹ 1 a.

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 2694. Late … þi wiif it loke Of hir milk & ȝiue it souke.

1340.  Ayenb., 60. Þe blonderes byeþ þe dyeules noriches þet his children yeueþ zouke.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 237. To rokken and to yeue the child to sowke.

c. 1400.  Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xx. 65. Eke the to sowken of my brestes yafe I.

1471.  Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 12. Am y not he that ye bare and gaf me souke of your brestes?

1588.  Kyd, Househ. Phil., Wks. (1901), 237. Mothers ought to giue their owne Children sucke.

1653.  H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., lxiv. 257. If a mother hath a child which she cannot give suck unto for some valuable consideration.

1786.  J. Hunter, Treat. Ven. Dis., VII. i. 388. She gave suck to this second child.

1801.  Med. Jrnl., V. 504. A poor woman, who gave suck to a child about a year old.

1858.  Churchill, Dis. Childr., 39. The mother may give the child suck during the night or day only.

  b.  without personal obj. Now arch.

1382.  Wyclif, Luke xxiii. 29. Wombis that han not gendrid, and the teetis whiche han not ȝouun souke.

1526.  Tindale, Matt. xxiv. 19. To them that are with chylde, and to them that geve sucke [Wyclif noryschinge].

1605.  Shaks., Macb., I. vii. 54. I haue giuen Sucke, and know How tender ’tis to loue the Babe that milkes me.

1674.  trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, 131. Those [does] that have young ones never are housed, but give suck without.

1691.  Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 107. Seeing it would be for many reasons inconvenient for Birds to give Suck.

  17.  To suck at: (a) to take a draught of; to inhale: (b) to take a pull at (a pipe, drinking vessel).

1584.  Cogan, Haven Health, ccxxi. (1636), 256. Mervaile it is to see how the Welchmen will lye sucking at this drinke [sc. Metheglin].

1607.  Dekker, Knt.’s Conjur. (1842), 49. Snakes euer sucking at thy breath.

1815.  J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 124. Drawing out the air with the mouth by sucking at the orifice c.

1855.  Browning, Grammar. Funeral, 96. Back to his studies … He … Sucked at the flagon.

1872.  E. Yates, Castaway, I. ix. He sat quietly sucking away at his long pipe.

  18.  Of inanimate objects: To draw by suction.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 568. Ðer ðe water sukeð [MS. sinkeð], sipes ge sinkeð. [Cf. suk in l. 578.]

1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 47. Weede and the water so soketh and sucks, that goodnes from either it vtterly plucks.

1871.  Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Eng., I. 53. If the stamps are left … standing in the pulp, between blows, the material settles around them and they ‘suck’ when the lift commences.

  19.  Of a pump: To draw air instead of water, as a result of the exhaustion of the water or a defective valve.

1627.  Capt. J. Smith, Sea Gram., ii. 9. The Pumpe sucks, is when the water being out, it drawes vp nothing but froth and winde.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v. Pompe, The pump sucks, or is dry.

1831.  Jane Porter, Sir E. Seaward’s Narr., I. 61. It [sc. the pump] sucked, that is no more water remained within reach.

1899.  F. T. Bullen, Log Sea-waif, 170. Of course she leaked … but still in fine weather the pumps would ‘suck’ in ten minutes at four-hour intervals.

  fig.  1854.  Lowell, Jrnl. in Italy, III. Prose Wks. 1890, I. 129. Even Byron’s pump sucks sometimes, and gives an unpleasant dry wheeze.

1854.  Emerson, Lett. & Soc. Aims, Resources, Wks. (Bohn), III. 197. This pump [sc. our globe] never sucks; these screws are never loose.

  transf.  1710.  C. Shadwell, Fair Quaker Deal, II. 27. The Bowl sucks: Empty is the Word.

  † IV.  20. trans. To give suck to, suckle. Obs.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 671. So is this beast enabled by nature to beare twice in the yeare, and yet to sucke her young ones two monthes together.

1612.  [see OPOSSUM 1].

1680.  R. L’Estrange, Erasm. Colloq., ii. 29. He had the Happiness to taste the Milk of the same Breast that suck’d our Saviour.

  † V.  21. In trans. senses of SOAK v.: a. To cause to sink in, instil. b. To suck one’s face, to drink, Obs.

  a.  1549.  Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 1 Tim. 16. Not bryngynge the sentence with the, that fauoure or malyce or dyspleasure or any other affeccion hath secretlye sowked into thee, but of the thing selfe in dede knowen.

  b.  a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v., We’ll go and Suck our Faces,… let’s go to Drink…. He loves to Suck his Face, he delights in Drinking.

  VI.  Specialized uses with advs.

  22.  trans. With various advs.: To draw by suction in some direction.

1570.  Satir. Poems Reform., xxiv. 80. That bludy Bouchour ever deit of thrist, Soukand the soules furth of the Sanctis of God.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., IV. ii. 17. Your faire shew shall suck away their Soules, Leauing them but the shales and huskes of men.

1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 3. Two contrary Eddies…, which making Vessels turn round for some time, suck them down to the bottom without remedy.

1784.  Cowper, Task, II. 103. The fixt and rooted earth, Tormented into billows,… with … hideous whirl Sucks down its prey.

1806.  J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life (ed. 3), II. x. One shoe suddenly sucked off by the boggy clay.

1873.  G. C. Davies, Mount. & Mere, ii. 7. A head would pop up to suck some insect down.

1879.  Browning, Ivan Ivanovitch, 26. The monstrous wild a-hungered to resume Its ancient sway, suck back the world into its womb.

  23.  Suck in.

  a.  trans. To draw into the mouth by suction; to inhale (air, etc.); occas. to draw in (one’s breath), etc.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 514. Ðis cete ðanne þise chaueles lukeð, ðise fisses alle in sukeð.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), 205. Whan thei schulle eten or drynken, thei taken thorghe a Pipe … and sowken it in.

c. 1460.  Promp. Parv. (Winch.), 461. Sokyn in diuers þyngis, or drynkyn yn, imbibo.

1686.  trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 341. There they suck in the fresh Air.

1706.  E. Ward, Wooden World Diss., 85. He sucks in Smoak like a Virginia-Planter.

1845.  Disraeli, Sybil (1863), 282. I have breathed this air for a matter of half a century. I sucked it in when it tasted of primroses.

1885.  E. Greey, Bakin’s Captive of Love, iv. 57. Sucking in his breath as he bowed respectfully.

  b.  To imbibe (qualities, etc.) with one’s mother’s milk, with a draught.

1622.  Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, II. iii. I suck’d not in this patience with my milk.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., I. v. The notions you first sucked in with your milk.

1781.  Cowper, Hope, 518. The wretch, who once … suck’d in dizzy madness with his draught.

1848.  W. K. Kelly, trans. L. Blanc’s Hist. Ten Y., II. 201. That fatal diversity which these different races had sucked in with their mother’s milk.

  c.  gen. To draw or take in (lit. and fig.); to absorb.

1597.  Donne, Lett. Sev. Pers., Storme, 62. Pumping hath tir’d our men, and what’s the gaine? Seas into seas throwne, we suck in againe.

1603.  B. Jonson, Sejanus, I. ii. Those deeds breath honor, that do suck in gaine.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. ii. 12. There is no Lady … More spungie, to sucke in the sense of Feare.

1678.  Bunyan, Pilgr., I. (1900), 56. These infirmities possessed me in thy Country, for there I suckt them in.

1728.  Pope, Dunc., III. 58. As … whirligigs twirl’d round by skilful swain, Suck the thread in, then yield it out again.

a. 1774.  Goldsm., Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776), I. 64. Sometimes electric bodies suck in the electric fire, and sometimes they throw it out.

  d.  To take in by means of the perceptive faculties.

c. 1600.  Chalkhill, Thealma & Cl. (1683), 10. With desire Her ears suck’d in her speech.

1667.  Pepys, Diary, 17 Aug. I have sucked in so much of the sad story of Queen Elizabeth,… that I was ready to weep for her.

1669.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. II. viii. 116. This Persian Idolatrie, which the Israelites had suckt in.

1745.  P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 240. They could not shake off the Prejudices they had sucked in.

1780.  Mme. D’Arblay, Lett., 27 April. The portion you allowed me of your … Journal, I sucked in with much pleasure and avidity.

1793.  D’Israeli, Cur. Lit., II. 112. He [sc. Jonson] would sit silent in learned company, and suck in (besides wine) their several humours into his observation.

  e.  To draw in, as into a whirlpool or vortex.

1616.  J. Lane, Contn. Sqr.’s T., IX. 273. Which … bothe sokes and bringes men in, Wheare none, at last, shall either save or winn.

1663.  S. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xxxvii. (1687), 486. The waters began to suck him in.

1728.  Pope, Dunc., II. 332. Sinking to the chin, Smit with his mien the Mud-nymphs suck’d him in.

1807.  Wordsw., Blind Highland Boy, 155. The tide retreated from the shore, And sucked, and sucked him in.

1849.  Lyell, 2nd Visit U.S. (1850), II. 168. He had seen the water rush through the opening at the rate of ten miles an hour, sucking in several flat boats.

1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, Wealth, Wks. (Bohn), II. 75. The poor-rate was sucking in the solvent classes.

  f.  dial. and slang. To take in, cheat, deceive.

1842.  ‘Mrs. Clavers,’ Forest Life, I. xiii. 135. I a’n’t bound to drive nobody in the middle of the night,… so you don’t try to suck me in there.

c. 1850.  ‘Dow Jr.,’ in Jerdan, Yankee Hum. (1853), 113. The British got pretty nicely sucked in, when our Dutch grandaddies went to smoking on the Battery, and concealed it beneath a cloud of tobacco fume.

1909.  Westm. Gaz., 15 May, 2/3. You’ve tried to run a ship on the cheap and been sucked in.

  g.  intr. To curry favor with. Sc.

1899.  Crockett, Kit Kennedy, 239. He tells tales on the rest of the scholars, to sook-in wi’ the maister.

  24.  Suck out.

  a.  trans. To draw out or extract by or as by suction. Also in fig. context.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xi. (Symon & Judas), 321. Þa … bad þe edris suk owt faste al þe venyme.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IV. vii. (1495), 90. Flyes and wormes that sytt on flesshe and sucke out the blode.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., XI. 16. Sowe hit not, hit sowkith out the swete Of euery lond.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. lxxiv. 8. As for the dregges therof, all y^e vngodly of the earth shal drynke them, & sucke them out.

1563.  T. Gale, Antidot., I. ii. 2. It [a medicine] sucketh outo superfluous moysture in dropsyes.

1611.  Bible, Ezek. xxiii. 34. Thou shalt euen drinke it and sucke it out.

1618–9.  Fletcher, etc., Q. Corinth, II. iv. They look like potch’d Eggs with the souls suckt out Empty and full of wind.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 24 Aug. 1678. The flannell sucking out the moisture.

1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Sucking, The tip [of the tongue] is again employed to the sucking out more milk.

1843.  Carlyle, Past & Pr., II. iv. 78. Every fresh Jew sticking on him like a fresh horseleech, sucking his and our life out.

1865.  Tylor, Early Hist. Man., xiii. 363. They pretend to cure the sick by sucking out stones through their skin.

  † b.  To extract (information or profit). Obs.

1546.  St. Papers Hen. VIII., XI. 14. His Majestes pleasure is, that sucking out as moche as ye may to what other condicions they will descende, you shall [etc.].

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, To Rdr. Every one may sucke out some profit for himselfe.

  † c.  To drain. Obs.

1687.  Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v., He suckt out (or suckt up) the Bottle.

  25.  Suck up.

  a.  trans. To draw up into the mouth by suction. Also, † to drain the contents of.

a. 1450.  Myrc, (1902), 1811. Ȝef a drope of blod … Falle vp-on þe corporas, Sowke hyt vp a-non-ryȝt.

1560.  Bible (Geneva), Job xxxix. 33. His yong ones also sucke vp blood.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 188. The Toade bloweth them, and sucketh them [sc. bees] vp at their owne doores.

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., II. i. 262. Is it Physicall To walke vnbraced, and sucke vp the humours Of the danke Morning?

1668.  Wilkins, Real Char., II. ix. § 2. 236. Sucking up the breath.

1687.  [see 24 c].

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), IV. 264. The elephant dips the end of its trunk into the water, and sucks up just as much as fills that great fleshy tube.

1840.  Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 207. The Sun-birds … subsist on the nectar of flowers, which they suck up.

  b.  To draw up as by suction or the creation of a vacuum; to absorb (liquid); to draw up (moisture) by heat; also, to draw up moisture from.

1530.  Palsgr., 742/2. As the yerthe, or a sponge sucketh up water.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 89. The Windes … haue suck’d vp from the sea Contagious fogges.

1604.  James I., Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.), 104. The smoakie vapours sucked vp by the Sunne.

1630.  Drayton, Muses Eliz., Noah’s Flood, 106. By this the Sunne had suckt vp the vaste deepe.

1683.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. ¶ 19. He rubs it [sc. the sponge] over … the Tympan, to Suck up the Water.

1825.  J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 102. To prevent the formation of a vacuum in the rising bucket, or what is called by the miller ‘sucking up the tail-water.’

1863.  Kingsley, Water-Bab. (1874), 55. The burning sun on the fells had sucked him up; but the damp heat of the woody crag sucked him up still more.

1877.  Huxley, Physiogr., 71. The thread constantly sucks up the liquid.

  † c.  To absorb by a mental process; to drink in.

1602.  Marston, Antonio’s Rev., V. vi. May his stile … have gentle presence, and the sceans suckt up By calme attention of choyce audience.

c. 1610.  Women Saints, 89. The holie virgin … sucked vp and exhaled her maisters … praises of her celestiall Loues excellencie.

  d.  To swallow up.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., III. i. 22. Roaring Waters, With Sands that will not beare your Enemies Boates, But sucke them vp to’ th’ Top-mast.

1650.  Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), II. 101. This good service they haue don to his Majestie after shokinge up the sweete and substance of his Catholicke subjects of Monster.

1795.  Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), III. 52. Britain will suck up that commerce which formerly flowed to Amsterdam.

1869.  Lowell, Dara, v. Wise Dara’s province, year by year, Like a great sponge, sucked wealth and plenty up.

  e.  intr. To suck up to, to curry favor with; to toady to. (Also without to.) Schoolboy slang.

1860.  Hotten’s Slang Dict. (ed. 2), 231. Suck up, ‘to suck up to a person,’ to insinuate oneself into his good graces.

1876.  ‘Annie Thomas,’ Blotted out, xvi. I can’t suck up to snobs because they happen to be in power and to have patronage.

1899.  E. Phillpotts, Human Boy, 203. Fowle sucked up to him … and buttered him at all times.

1905.  H. A. Vachell, The Hill, vi. ‘Afterwards,’ John continued, ‘I tried to suck-up. I asked you to come and have some food.’