▪ I. sot, n.1 and a.
(sɒt)
Forms: 1– sot, 1–2, 6–7 sott, 2–7 sotte, 3, 5 sote, 6 soote.
[a. OF. sot masc., sote fem. (mod.F. sot, sotte), of unknown origin; the med.L. sottus is recorded from c 800. Hence also MDu. sot (sod), zot (zod; Du. zot), MLG. and LG. sot, sott, MHG. sot.]
A. n.
† 1. A foolish or stupid person; a fool, blockhead, dolt. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xiii. 132 Ne bið se na wita þe unwislice leofað, ac bið open sott [v.r. sot]. c 1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 313 Seðe his aᵹene spræce awyrt he wyrcð barbarismus. Swylce he cweðe þu sot, þær he sceolde cweðan þu sott. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 29 Þa iuguleres and þa oðer sottes..habbeð an þonc. a 1250 Prov. of Alfred 412 Ne gabbe þu,..ne chid þu wyþ none sotte. a 1300 Cursor M. 2457 Þan said abram, þat was na sot, formast til his neueu loth. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 8 She..badde hym be stylle, With suche wise wordes to wissen any sottes. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 157 Who⁓so nothynge thynkyth of thyngis y-passet, a sote and a fole he shall be callid. a 1500 Flower & Leaf 101 (Skeat), So sodainly, that, as it were a sot, I stood astonied. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 85 Into the Church then comes another sotte. 1546 J. Heywood Dial. Wit & Folly (Percy Soc.) 14 No more dysernythe the sott, at yeres thre score, Then th' ynosent borne within yeres thre before. 1602 J. Davies (Heref.) Mirum in Modum Wks. (Grosart) I. 25/2 Why hath a wise man, to his Sonne a Sotte? 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 235 The one is ever..a sot, an ideot for any use that mankind can make of him. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 492 ¶1 The Men are such unthinking Sots, that they do not prefer her who restrains all her Passions and Affections [etc.]. c 1745 Fielding Lucy in Town Wks. 1784 III. 438 That I should be such a sot as to suffer you! |
| Prov. a 1250 Prov. Alfred 421 Sottes bolt is sone i-scohte. c 1300 Prov. Hendyng in Rel. Ant. I. 111 Sottes bolt is sone shote. |
| Comb. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xx. xxx. 833 Their..apparelling him [i.e. Christ] with sot-like habites, crowning him with thorne, striking him on the head, with reedes,..was nothing but a continuate insultation. |
2. One who dulls or stupefies himself with drinking; one who commonly or habitually drinks to excess; a soaker.
| 1592 Nashe Pierce Penilesse Wks. (Grosart) II. 43 The Danes are bursten-bellied sots, that are to be confuted with nothing but Tankards or quart pots. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 63, I graunt you then a drunken sot may goe For one that is innocuous. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 3 He that..drinketh not all his Wine before the Salt is taken away, and only for Digestion: Such a one is a Drunkard, a Sot, &c. 1693 Prideaux Lett. (1875) 160 We are here at a miserable passe with this horrid sot we have got for our Dean. He cannot sleep at night till dosed with drink. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. 127 One, who abuses himself in this way, is often call'd a sot, but never a debauchee. 1750 Berkeley Patriotism §10 Wks. 1871 III. 455 A sot, a beast, benumbed and stupefied by excess. 1818 Scott Rob Roy vi, They form a happy compound of sot, game⁓keeper, bully, horse-jockey, and fool. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 34 Even the pleasure⁓hunters and sots of England are of a tougher texture. 1870 Thornbury Tour rd. Eng. II. xxii. 112 A poor, clever, worn⁓out sot. |
3. attrib., or in genitive combs., as † sot-bay, sot's-hof, -hole, a resort of drinkers; † sot's cap, a variety of sea-shell; sot-weed, tobacco (Obs. exc. Hist.).
| (a) 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 711/1 A very cold consent of my goffe, that he found and tooke vp at sottes hoffe. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 87 His Cruise is over, and he comes to an Anchor in Sot-Bay. 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 208 It would not have cost me above four-pence half-penny to have spent my evening at Sots Hole. 1827 Hone Every-day Bk. 21 Dec. II. ii. 1626 Some ‘good fellow’, who is good no where but in ‘sot's-hole’. |
| (b) 1698 E. Ward Lond. Spy i. 9 We had each of us Stuck in our Mouths a lighted Pipe of Sotweed. 1702 T. Brown, etc. Lett. fr. Dead ii. Wks. 1707 II. 81 We had every one ramm'd a full charge of Sot-weed into our infernal Guns. 1708 E. Cook (title) The sot-weed factor; or, a voyage to Maryland. 1747 Scheme Equip. Men of War 35 To add a small Composition of high-flavoured Sot-Weed. 1785 in Grose Dict. Vulgar T. 1961 J. Barth (title) The sot-weed factor. 1965 E. Tunis Colonial Craftsmen iii. 52 Early Americans not only grew a lot of ‘sot weed’ they also consumed a lot of it. |
| (c) 1713 Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. 16/28 Pectunculus rostratus,..Sots-cap. |
† B. adj. Foolish, stupid. Obs.
| c 1050 Suppl. ælfric's Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 171/32 Hebes, dwæs, uel sott. a 1100 Voc. Ibid. 316/7 Stultus, stunt. Sottus, sot. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 67 ‘Ȝif ȝeure ani,’ he seið, ‘is ihealden for wis on ðare woreld, becume sott, and swa he mai bien wis’. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 107 Luuede heo nane lihte plohen ne nane sotte songes. c 1250 Orison our Lady 37 in O.E. Misc., And alle mine sot dede Ich bidde hire to me bi-seo. 1648 Hexham 11, De Aldersotste, the Most foolish, or the Sottest. |
▪ II. † sot, n.2 Obs.—1
[ad. Sp. azote.]
A scourge.
| 1588 Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 261 They began to whippe them vpon the calues of their legges with a sot made of canes. |
▪ III. sot, v.
(sɒt)
Also 5–6 sott, 6 sotte.
[f. sot n.1 (cf. MDu. sotten, zotten to be foolish), or aphetic for assot v.]
1. trans. † a. To render foolish or doltish; to stupefy, to besot. Obs.
| a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 4364 Ne foloȝe we na ficesyens ne philisophour scolis, As sophistri & slik thing to sott with þe pepill. 1554 Philpot Exam. & Writ. (Parker Soc.) 322 The cup of the Whore of Babylon, wherewith she hath sotted and made drunk the most part of Christendom. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. v. 11 He sotteth them with the spirit of drowsynesse and giddynesse. 1600 F. Thynne Epig. (1876) 53 Crisopeia,..whoe sotts him soe with her bewitchinge sight. 1626 Breton Fantastickes Wks. (Grosart) II. 5/2 Loue..crosseth wisdome, serueth Beautie, and sotteth folly. a 1700 Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 297 Of Wine and Spirits..They..should Cellars drain, Which..should sot the Dane. |
† b. To blurt out stupidly. Obs.—1
| 1608 H. Clapham Errour Right Hand 44 He beginnes to puffe,..and then sotted out this question. |
c. With away. To waste or squander by sottish conduct.
| 1746 Chesterfield Lett. cxii. (1792) I. 304, I must..have destroyed my health and faculties by sotting away the evenings. 1782 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) IX. 6908/1 Brandy⁓shops, in which the inhabitants used to sot away their time in drinking strong liquors and smoking tobacco. 1850 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 510 The elder son of the forementioned squire had muddled and sotted away much of his share in the Leslie property. |
2. intr. To play the sot; to drink to excess; to soak. Also with it.
| 1633 Marmion Antiq. ii. i. (1875) 217 You have been sotting on't all night with wine. 1711 E. Ward Vulgus Brit. ix. 99 Where day by day they us'd to sot, At All-fours, Cribidge, or at Put. a 1716 South Twelve Serm. (1717) VI. 399 Those, who should have been watching the Motion of the Enemy, were sotting it at their Cups. 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 9 Periodical Writers that sot over beer. 1837 Dickens Pickw. vi, Beyond the few..reckless vagabonds with whom he..sotted in the alehouse, he had not a single friend. |
▪ IV. sot
obs. and dial. pa. tense and pple. of set v.1; obs. f. soot n.; var. swote (sweat) Obs.