Forms: 4 surfeyte, sorfait, 4–5 surfaite, -feet, sorfete, 4–6 surfait, 4–8 surfet, 5 -fayte, -fett, -ffete, -phette, 5–6 -fete, -fette, 6 -fayt, -ffet, -fyt, -fecte, Sc. -phat, 6–7 surfit, 7 -ffett, 6– surfeit. [a. OF. sor-, surfait, -fet excess, surplus, = Pr. sobrefach:—pop.L. *superfactum, n. of action f. *superficĕre (cf. late L. superficiens excessive, OF. sorfaisant intemperate, immoderate), f. super- SUPER- 9 b + facĕre to do, act.]
1. Excess, superfluity; excessive amount or supply of something. (In later use only as fig. from 4.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22884 (Cott.). Agh we þer-on to seke resun Hu he dos alkin thing to nait, Certes þat war bot surfait. Ibid. (13[?]), 23566 (Gött.). For if þai a-noþer heuen wroght, It war sur-fait [Cott. vnnait] and all for noght.
c. 1400. trans. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh., 52. What kyng þat wille continue giftys yn surfaytes ouer þat his kyngdom wyl suffyse to hym.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 224. Surfet of presuming ignorance.
1663. Cowley, Ode His Majesties Restor., v. ’Tis Happy, which no Bleeding does indure A Surfet of such Blood to cure.
1844. Gladstone, Glean., V. lvii. 125. Nor is he … to be reproached either with want of charity or with surfeit of pride.
1847. Prescott, Peru, III. viii. (1850), II. 168. The effect of such a surfeit of the precious metals was instantly felt on prices.
1889. Spectator, 26 Oct., 556. An abundance, nay, a surfeit, of works treating ostensibly, and more or less graphically, of Scotland and of the phenomena of its life, have been printed.
† 2. Action that exceeds the limits of law or right; (a) transgression, trespass, fault. Obs.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2433. In syngne of my surfet I schal se hit ofte.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 145. He took noon heed his surfetys to redresse. Ibid., 177. To do no surfet in woord nor in language.
a. 1450. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 142. O ihesu, grant … That … thy .v. wowndis … May wach in vs all surfetis reproueable.
3. (An) excessive indulgence, (an) excess. (In later use only as fig. from 4, 4 b.)
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, I. xiv. (Skeat), l. 58. This is the sorinesse of fayned love; nedes of these surfettes sicknesse muste folowe.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., xxxiv. 186. Put away euery Surfete, and restrayne thy desyres. Ibid., lxix. 246. Trauaill of body, and company of women, a man may vse wyth-out surfaite.
1612. Two Noble K., IV. iii. That intemprat surfeit of her eye hath distemperd the other sences.
1635. A. Stafford, Fem. Glory (1869), 20. [She] kept her soule from the surfets to which carnall delights invite all things humane.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 73. Perpetual Surfeits of Pleasure have filled his Mind with bad and vicious Humours.
1847. Disraeli, Tancred, II. xvi. All ends in a crash of iconoclastic surfeit.
a. 1865. in Tylor, Early Hist. Man., iv. 74. She … would … shut herself up and ‘indulge herself in a surfeit of sounds.’
4. Excessive taking of food or drink; gluttonous indulgence in eating or drinking. Also in fig. context.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 311. Feyntise, liþt duellyng, on mornes long to lie, Surfeyte in euenyng, & luf of licchorie.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 329. Þese lyved lengest … for þey … dede noon surfeet of mete and of drynke.
1446. Lydg., Nightingale Poems, ii. 266. Agenst glotenye he drank eysel and galle, To oppresse surfayte of vicious folkes alle. Ibid. (c. 1470), Lydgate’s Hors, Shepe, & G. (Roxb.), 27. In mete and drynke be thou mesurable, Beware of surfete and misgouernance.
1528. More, Dyaloge, I. Wks. 1147/2. The sykenes that foloweth our intemperate surfayt.
c. 1530. H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk. (1868), 105. Eate without surfet.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1562. Feed on that first, there may in grief be surfet.
1684. Foxe’s A. & M., III. 404/1. Fasting is only to avoid surfet.
b. In particularized sense: An excessive indulgence in food or drink that overloads the stomach and disorders the system. Also in fig. context.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 210. After al þis surfet an Accesse he hedde. Ibid. (1377), B. XIII. 405. [I] more mete ete and dronke þen kende miȝt defie—And kauȝte seknesse sumtyme for my sorfetes ofte.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 68. Suffre no surfetis in thy house at nyght, Ware of reresoupers.
1513. More, Rich. III. (1883), 34. With which disease nature being … weaked, waxeth the lesse able to beare out a new surfet.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 252. Age seeketh rather a Modicum for sustenaunce, then feastes for surfets.
1647. Cowley, Mistr., Agst. Fruition, 29. Of very Hopes a surfeit he’ll sustain, Unless by Fears he cast them up again.
1649. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 447. It’s possible to have a surfeit of water as well as wine.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, in Aliments, etc., 269. The best Remedy after a Surfeit of Fruit.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), p. xx. Strong Liquors do not prevent the Mischiefs of a Surfeit.
1851. Thackeray, Engl. Hum., Swift (1853), 23. He was half-killed with a surfeit of Shene pippins.
† c. The excessive amount eaten. Also in fig. context. Obs.
c. 1400. trans. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh., 67. Many þat withdrew hem froo etynges of surfaytz.
c. 1550. Lloyd, Treas. Health, a v. If it chance a dronken man sodenly to fal spechlesse, he shall … dye … excepte eyther he fall to an agew, or els he receyue his spech agayne at the houre when the surfyt is digestyd.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 54. Theire steed hath vpvomited from gorge a surfet of armdmen.
1601. Bp. W. Barlow, Serm. Paules Crosse, 62. Himselfe a surfet to the realme, to be spewed out iustly.
1640. G. Sandys, Christ’s Passion, III. 29. Let melting Stars their sulphrous surfet shed.
1700. Blackmore, Job, 87. His loathing stomach … Shall cast the precious surfeit up again.
5. The morbid condition caused by excessive eating or drinking; sickness or derangement of the system arising from intemperance; † also applied more widely to fevers or fits arising from other causes. Also in fig. context.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. ccxxix. 260. Kynge Henry … toke a surfet by etynge of a lamprey, & therof dyed.
1589. Nashe, Anat. Absurd., D ij b. More perrish with the surfet then with the sworde.
1589. [? Lyly], Pappe w. Hatchet, in L.’s Wks. 1902, III. 398. Bastard Senior was with them at supper, and I thinke tooke a surfet of colde and raw quipps.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], Hist. Ivstine, XXXVI. 115. He caught a surfet by the heat of the sun.
1631. R. Bolton, Comf. Affl. Consc. (1635), 302. Hee drank not so indiscreetly … of that immeasurable sea as … to fall into a surfeit of security.
1655. Culpepper, etc., Riverius, I. ii. 10. A surfet going before, with crude and sharp belchings.
1693. Locke, Educ., § 17. More Fevers and Surfeits are got by People’s Drinking when they are hot, than by any one Thing I know.
1760–2. Goldsm., Cit. W., xv. He died of a surfeit caused by intemperance.
1837. Brit. Husb., II. 530 (Libr. Usef. Knowl.). They [sc. pigs] are … not uncommonly seized with surfeit and indigestion.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. i. 44. He died of a surfeit.
b. An eruptive disease in horses and other animals, arising from immoderate feeding and other causes.
c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Guide, II. xii. (1738), 49. By a Surfeit is principally understood all such Maladies as proceed from immoderate feeding.
1753. J. Bartlet, Gentl. Farriery, 173. The wet surfeit … appears on different parts of the body of a horse.
1841. Dick, Man. Vet. Sci. (1862), 148. An eruption which is called a Surfeit, or the Nettle-rash.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 454. When the coat of a horse stares, he is said to labour under a surfeit. The skin is covered with scurf and scabs…. Sometimes the surfeit appears on the skin in small lumps.
1894. Armatage, Horse in Health & Disease, xxiv.
6. Disgust arising from excess; nausea, satiety. To (a) surfeit: to satiety, ad nauseam.
1644. Howell, Engl. Teares (1645), 175. God grant that people do not take at last a surfet of that most divine Ordinance of preaching.
1672. Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 116. He discourseth it at large, even to surfeit.
1683. Burnet, trans. More’s Utopia (1685), 99. They think the doing of it so often should give one a Surfeit of it.
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, i. Wks. 1808, VIII. 148. Matter and argument have been supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit.
1822. Hazlitt, Table-t., Ser. II. xvi. (1869), 331. Do not make a surfeit of friendship, through over-sanguine enthusiasm.
1855. R. A. Wilson, Mexico, 51. He enjoys to a surfeit these bounties of nature.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, vii. Swords, scrolls, harps, that fill The vulgar eye to surfeit.
7. Mining. = CHOKE-DAMP.
1708. J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 45. Some Collieries are very subject to this fatal Surfeit.
1812. J. Hodgson, in J. Raine, Mem. (1857), I. 97. This after-damp is called … surfeit by the colliers.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining.
8. attrib. and Comb., as surfeit suffocation; surfeit-gorged, -slain, -swelled, -swollen, -taking adjs.; † surfeit-water, a ‘water’ or medicinal drink for the cure of surfeit.
1693. Tate, Dryden’s Juvenal, II. 5. A Sot,… *surfeit-gorg’d, and reeking from the Stews.
1682. Otway, Venice Preserved, I. i. *Surfeit-slain fools.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Amicus Redivivus. A case of common *surfeit suffocation.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. v. 54. Such a kinde of man, So *surfeit-swell’d, so old, and so prophane.
1593. Nashe, P. Penilesse, Wks. (Grosart), II. 72. *Surfit-swolne Churles.
1746. Francis, trans. Hor., Sat., II. ii. 30. The pale, Surfeit-swoln guest.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 698. So *surfet-taking Tarqvin fares.
1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity, III. iv. Did you give her aught? An easy *surfeit-water, nothing else.
1757. A. Cooper, Distiller, III. xvii. (1760), 173. There are two Kinds of Surfeit-water, one made by Distillation and the other by Infusion.
1801. Sporting Mag., XVIII. 22. I was obliged to take a little surfeit-water before I went to bed.
