▪ I. sodden, pa. pple., ppl. a., and n.
(ˈsɒd(ə)n)
Forms: α. 4–5 soþen (4 soþin, soiþen); 4–5 sothen (4 soothen, 5 sothyn). β. 4–5 sodyn, 5 sodun, sooden, 5–6 soden (5 -one, 6 -yng, Sc. -in); 5– sodden (Sc. 5–6 soddyn, 6 -in).
[Strong pa. pple. of seethe v. Cf. sod pa. pple., etc.]
1. Boiled; cooked or prepared by boiling. Now rare or Obs.
| pred. a 1300 Cursor M. 13373 Þe folk þat dai ful fair was fedd, O bred and flexs bath soþen and bredd. 1382 Wyclif Numb. vi. 19 A shuldre sothen [v.rr. sodden, sooden, sodyn, soothen, 1388 sodun] of the wether. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xix. 208 Thei bryngen..mete alle soden. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 67 Thenne abygail hyed her & toke..v weders sothen. 1570 H. Lloyd Treas. Health M v, Lay a hoole egge wel sodden and the shel pylled of. 1600 Rowland Lett. Humours Blood i. 7 Beere he protestes is sodden and refin'd. 1626 Bacon Sylva §385 It were good therefore to try it..with Milk Sodden. |
| attrib. 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. ii. 15, I shal not take..sothen [1388 sodun] flesh, but rawe. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 94 Þis bawme is cleped rawe bawme and the toþer is callid soden bawme. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 274 On that daye he shall serue..soden egges with grene sauce. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 217 Dronken in sodden wine it preserveth from dronkennesse. 1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (1662) 9 They were fain to eat Dogs, Cats, Rats, sodden Leather. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 386 Mix it with thicken'd Juice of sodden Wines. 1780 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) V. 3571/1 The snails were fed with bran and sodden wine. 1829 Brockett N.C. Gloss. (ed. 2), Sodden-wheat, furmety. 1846 Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 455 These, with bran mashes, sodden oats, and exercise, will generally effect a cure. |
| transf. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. i. 44 Pa. My businesse seethes. Ser. Sodden businesse, there's a stewed phrase indeede. |
† b. In the proverbial phrase coleworts twice (etc.) sodden: (see colewort 4).
| c 1568 [see colewort 4]. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 55 b, The fourth crime..is coalewortes more than tenne times sodden. 1608 Hieron Answ. Popish Plot (ed. 2) To Rdr., To redoe things once done, or to oppresse mens stomachs with twise sodden Coleworts, as the prouerb is. 1614 Bradshaw Unreasonableness Separation 83 Some of his own cole-worts, not twice, but twenty times sodden. |
2. Of persons, their features, etc.: Having the appearance of, or resembling, that which has been soaked or steeped in water; rendered dull, stupid, or expressionless, esp. owing to drunkenness or indulgence in intoxicants; pale and flaccid.
| 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iv. v, By Hercules, I scorne him, as I doe the sodden Nymph,..his mistris Arete. 1608 Shakes. Per. iv. ii. 21 The stuff we have, a strong wind will blow it to pieces, they are so pitifully sodden. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burning Pestle v. i, Now you with the sodden face, keep in there. |
| 1841 Lytton Nt. & Morn. i. vi, His complexion was pale and sodden. 1850 Kingsley A. Locke xxxv, Gaunt, ragged, sodden, blear-eyed, drivelling, the worn-out gin-drinker stood. 1896 Howells Impress. & Exp. 74 The soddenest habitué of the place brightened. |
b. Characterized by heaviness, dullness, or want of vivacity.
| 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. III. 86 The peculiar sodden and sensual cunning..seen so often in the countenances of the worst Romish priests. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 49 All Into dull sodden life did fall. |
3. Of food: Heavy, doughy; spoiled through over-boiling or imperfect baking.
| a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Sodden, over-boiled. North. 1862 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (ed. 2) ii. §5. 143 Bread prepared from such flour is sticky, heavy, and sodden. |
4. Saturated or soaked with water or moisture.
| 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 17 Upon the sodden ground His old right hand lay nerveless. 1856 Delamer Fl. Gard. (1861) 164 Don't work the ground when it is sodden, muddy, or rendered sticky by a recent frost. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xvi. 137 The cold water was numbing his limbs and his sodden clothes were dragging him down. 1894 Daily News 5 June 3/5 The ground..was in such a terribly sodden condition that cricket was entirely out of the question. |
b. Const. in or with. Also fig.
| 1833 I. Taylor Fanat. i. 6 Men..with hands sodden in blood. 1860 Smiles Self-Help xi. 285 Nothing can be more hurtful to a youth than to have his soul sodden with pleasure. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 104 Fungi abound, and the pavement is sodden with damp. 1904 Field 6 Feb. 226/2 The ground was so sodden with wet that it was quite unfit to ride over. |
5. Comb., as sodden-faced, sodden-headed, sodden-witted adjs.
Also as second element in brandy-, gin-, whisky-sodden, etc.
| 1589 Hay any Work 25 You sodden headed Asse you, the most part of that law is abrogated. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. i. 47 Thou sodden-witted Lord! thou hast no more braine then I haue in mine elbows. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) I. 218 The sliest, sodden-faced creature I ever saw. |
† 6. As n. Boiled meat. Obs.
| c 1375 Cursor M. 13373 (Fairf.), Þat folk þat day fulle faire was fed wiþ soiþen & roste & wilde bred. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 78 The tane lufis soddyn, the tothir rost. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 224, I haue here in my mayll, sothen and rost. |
▪ II. † ˈsodden, a. Obs.—1
[f. sod n.1]
Built of sods.
| 1639 in Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) II. 285 Belfort (nothing like the name either in strength or beauty, it being the most miserably beggarly sodden town, or town of sods, that ever was made in an afternoon of loam and sticks. |
▪ III. ˈsodden, v.
(ˈsɒd(ə)n)
[f. sodden ppl. a.]
1. trans. To make sodden; to soak in, or saturate with, water.
| 1812 Ann. Reg., Chron. 502 The ground becomes compressed and soddened (to use an antiquated term) by the winter rains. 1844 Dickens Pictures from Italy (1846) 147 Your pony soddening his girths in water. 1878 Daily News 12 June 5 The rains have soddened the earth. |
b. To render (the faculties) dull or stupid; to deprive of vivacity or freshness.
| 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xvii. 431 His sensuality does not sodden and brutify his faculties, but it quickens their temper and edge. 1883 Pall Mall G. 28 Dec. 4/2 His soul has been deadened and soddened by ages of exclusive devotion to the question of bread and cider. |
2. intr. a. To become soaked or saturated with water or moisture; to grow soft or rotten in this way.
| 1820 Byron Mar. Fal. ii. ii. 95 The block may soak their gore; Their heads may sodden in the sun. a 1861 Woolner My Beautiful Lady, Tolling Bell lviii, I wandered wearily..Through swamps that soddened under stagnant air. |
b. Of a liquid: To soak into something.
| 1881 E. A. Ormerod Injurious Insects (1890) 345 Dressing..of some kind which will not sodden into the tree in the heat of the sun. |
Hence ˈsoddened ppl. a.; ˈsoddening vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1845 Hirst Poems 18 We..laid them in the *soddened ground. 1883 Knowledge 3 Aug. 68/1 Soddened fruit enveloped in heavy indigestible pudding paste. |
| 1852 J. Wiggins Embanking 96 This *soddening, or stagnation of the soil in a watery state. 1890 Huxley in Times 1 Dec. 13/3 The prostitution of the mind, the soddening of the conscience. |
| 1857 T. Moore Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3) 28 A *soddening—continued wetness, as distinguished from mere dampness, of the soil. |