▪ I. seethe, n.
[f. seethe v.]
Seething, ebullition (of waves); intense commotion or heat. Also fig.
| 1816 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XLI. 330 A rush of wandering winds, a seethe of waves, is heard. 1856 S. Dobell Eng. in Time of War 66 Nigher comes the seeth of fields on fire. 1865 A. Smith Summer in Skye I. 200 The seethe of the wave on the rock. 1901 H. Trench Deirdre Wed 45 He choked at his own spirit's seethe. |
▪ II. seethe, v.
(siːð)
Pa. tense seethed, † sod. pa. pple. seethed, † sodden. Forms: a. inf. 1 séoþan, 3–5 seoþe(n, 3–5 seþe(n, 3–6 sethe, 4–6 seth, (5 cethyn, sith, sede, syede), 6 seith(e, seeith, syeth, seath, 6, 9 seathe, 5–9 seeth, 4– seethe. Also 3rd sing. pres. ind. 1 s{yacu}þ, 4 seþ. b. pa. tense sing. 1 séaþ, 3 seð, 3–5 seþ, seth, 4–5 seeth, sethe; pl. 1 sudon, 3 sude(n, 3–4 sodun, 3–6 sode(n, 4–5 sothe(n; sing. and pl. 6–7 sod, sodd(e; weak form: 4–5 sethed(e, -ide, -it, seethede, 7– seethed. c. pa. pple. 1 soden, 3–4 i-sode, i-zode, 4–5 sode, sodun, -yn, y-soden, sooden, 4–7 soden, 5 soddyn, 6 sodene, sodne, sod(d)in, soddyne, 7 sudden, 4– sodden (see sodden); 5–7 sodde, 7 sodd, 5–9 sod; 3 siþen, 3–5 soþen, (4 soiþen), 4–5 soþin, -yn, -un, y-sothe(n, y-soothe, soothen, 5 soþe; weak form: 8–9 seethed.
[A Common Teut. strong verb (wanting in Gothic): OE. séoðan (pa. tense séað, pl. sudon, pa. pple. soden) corresponds to OFris. siatha (WFris. siede), OS. *sioðan (in pa. pple. gesodenemo ‘recocto’), MLG. sêden (LG. seden), Du. zieden, OHG. siodan (MHG., mod.G. sieden), ON. sióða (Sw. sjuda, Da. syde). The root, OTeut. *seuþ- (: *sauþ-: *suđ-) occurs in Goth. sauþ-s sacrifice (? originally ‘boiled flesh’), with which ON. sauð-r sheep is probably identical. From the weak grade *suđ- appears to have been developed the parallel root *sweþ- (: *swaþ-: *suđ-) in OHG. swedan to smoulder, MHG. swaden smoky vapour (mod.G. schwadem fire-damp), ? OE. swaþul smoky vapour. Brugmann refers the root to an Indogermanic type *kþeut-, found in Lith. szuntū (pret. szuntau) ‘I smoulder, stew’.
The original pa. tense (ME. seeth) was superseded by the form sod taken from the pa. pple. The verb is now conjugated weak, sod being obsolete, and sodden having ceased to be associated with this verb.]
1. trans. To boil; to make or keep boiling hot; to subject to the action of boiling liquid; esp. to cook (food) by boiling or stewing; also, to make an infusion or decoction of (a substance) by boiling or stewing. Obs. or arch.
OE. had certain figurative uses not found later: To try as by fire; to afflict with cares.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 276 Gif mon syþ garleac on henne broþe. c 1205 Lay. 20978 Þat orf þat heo nomen al heo sloȝen,..and suden and bradden. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1487 Iacob An time him seð a mete ðat man callen lentil ȝete. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8447 So muche honger hii adde þer,..Þat hii sode þe saracens & þat fless ete. a 1300 Cursor M. 6081 It sal noght siþen be bot bred, Þis lamb þat þai of sal be fedd. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxv. 29 Jacob..hadde sothun [1388 Jacob sethide, 1611, 1884 sod] potage. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 171 Wortes or othere herbes..The whiche she shredde and seeth for hir lyuynge. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. ix. (1495) 608 The floure of Anetum sod wyth wyne dooth away heed ache. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 247 Þe Emperour smote oute fire of a stone, and seþe his mete, as welle as he myȝt. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. ix. 196 And so that veneson was rosted baken and soden. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) II. 6 Progne..whiche sode hir oune childe after she had hym slayne. 1540 Moulton Mirr. Health f iv, Take hemlocks and seth them tyll they be softe as pappe. 1579 T. Stevens in Hakluyt's Voy. (1599) II. ii. 101 We saw crabs swimming on the water that were red as though they had bene sodden. 1607 Relat. Disc. River in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) Introd. 42 Wee sodd our kettle by y⊇ water syde. Ibid. 43 He..gave vs a Deare roasted; which according to their Custome they seethed againe. 1648 Gage West Ind. xii. (1655) 61 From the root of this tree cometh a juyce like unto a syrup, which being sod will become Sugar. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. vi. §4 (1712) 56 The Lye in which it is sodden or infus'd is good to wash the Head. 1713 Guardian No. 139 Androcles, having sodden the flesh of it by the sun. a 1779 Cook Voy. Pacific iv. iii. (1784) II. 321 This operation they repeat till they think the contents are sufficiently stewed or seethed. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxviii, Others were cut into joints and seathed in cauldrons made of the animal's own skins. 1835 Willis Pencillings I. ii. 19 Cold meat, seethed, Italian fashion, in nauseous oil. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 634 A poor man whose loyalty was suspected..was compelled to ransom his own life by seething the remains of his friends in pitch. |
| absol. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 383 He coude roste, and sethe, and broille, and frye. 1577–82 Breton Flourish Fancy, etc. (Grosart) 15/2 And what kinde cookes she hath, and how they make their fyre To roast, to seeth, to broile, to bake, and what you will desire. |
† b. With adv., to seethe out, seethe away (also fig.). Also, to separate from (a part) by boiling.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. i. 25, I shal sethen out [Vulg. excoquam] to the pure thi dros. c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 385 Than the ij. deuyls..Caste hem into a Cawderon and helde hem there, till the fleshe was sothyn fro the bone. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 172 In continually sething out and burning vp the vices of our lust. 1567 Harman Caveat (1867) 22 Then was..a great fat oxe sod out in Furmenty. 1595 Duncan App. Etym. (E.D.S.), Excoquo, to seathe away, to fyne. |
† c. To prepare or produce by boiling. Obs.
| ? a 1500 Chester Pl. vii. 73 To seeth salve for our sheepe. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. xiii. iv. [xv.] (1622) 183 A poison was sod [L. decoquitur virus] strong & violent. |
† d. To digest (food). Hence perh. the use in OE. for: To brood over (care, anxiety): cf. Gr. κήδεα πέσσειν. Obs.
| Beowulf 190 Swa ða mælceare maᵹa Healfdenes singala seað. Ibid. 1993 Ic ðæs modceare sorhwylmum seað. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xiv. (1495) 59 The fode is sodde and defyed by werkynge of kynde. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. xl. 71 Wherfore þe stomak..losyth his strengthe to fully sethe þe mete. 1628 [see seething vbl. n. 3]. |
2. intr. (for passive). To be boiled; to be subjected to boiling or stewing; to become boiling hot. Said of a liquid, or a substance boiled in a liquid; also of the pot or other receptacle. Also to seethe over.
| 13.. Sir Beues 3455 He let felle a led Ful of pich and of bremston, And hot led let falle þer on; Whan hit alþer swiþer seþ, Þemperur þar in a deþ. Ibid. 3460 Hire lord seþen in þe pich ȝhe sai. a 1400 Vis. St. Paul 133 in Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 255 Þer he sauh..Blake Maydens in Blac cloþing, And þei sodun euerichon In wellyng pich and Brumston. c 1430 Two Cookery Bks. i. 6 Let hem sethe to-gederys a whyle. c 1481 Caxton Dialogues viii. 30 Make the ynche to seethe... Fais bouillir lencre. 1541–72 Schole-house of Women 628 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 129 [He] Bad her take the pot, that sod ouer the fire. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 165 When it hath sod a while, and is thorowly melted, take it off the fire. 1646 Crashaw Sospetto d' Herode 37 And while the black soules boile in their own gore, To hold them down, and looke that none seeth o're. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 367 The water begins to seeth. 1827 Lamb Remin. Sir J. Dunstan in Hone's Every-d. Bk. II. ii. 843 The scent of horse-flesh seething into dog's meat. |
3. trans. To reduce to a condition resembling that of food which by boiling or stewing has lost its flavour or crispness; to soak or steep in a liquid; to dissipate the vitality or freshness of (the brain, blood, spirits, etc.) by excessive heat or by intoxicating liquor. Chiefly in passive; for special developments of the pa. pple. see sod and sodden.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 45 This piteous spectacle of her loue [sc. Leander drowned], sodden to haddocks meate. 1615 Heywood Four Prentises K 1, Such as shrinke not to haue their blouds sod with the dog-daies heat. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. vi. 380 They drown their wits, seeth their brains in ale [etc.]. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 47 By heate, whence the Spirits are dissipated and the braine as it were sod. 1813 Coleridge Remorse ii. ii. 188 His weak eyes seeth'd in most unmeaning tears. 1842 W. C. Taylor Anc. Hist. xvii. §9 (ed. 3) 557 They [the Huns] lived on raw flesh, or at best only sodden by being placed under their saddles and pressed against the backs of their steeds during a sharp gallop. 1844 Mrs. Browning Duchess May v, And the castle, seethed in blood, fourteen days and nights had stood. a 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xxii, There was a man..still alive; though seethed in drink, and looking like death. |
4. intr. (transf. from 2). Of a liquid, vapour, etc.: To rise, surge or foam up, as if boiling; to form bubbles or foam. Said also of a receptacle thus filled with foam or vapour; also of a flatulent stomach, of the heart or blood. Also with up.
| 1535 Coverdale Job xxx. 27 My bowels seeth with in me & take no rest. a 1552 Leland Itin. VI. 7 Sidingburne,..so caullid by reason of many springges that in the Chalke Hilles about it doth seeth and boyle oute. 1623 Webster Duchess Malfi ii. i, She puykes, her stomacke seethes. 1633 Ford 'Tis Pity iii. vii. 19 My belly seeths like a Porridge-pot. 1679 Dryden Œdipus iv. i, A thousand frantick Spirits Seething, like rising Bubbles, on the Brim. 1797 Coleridge Kubla Khan 17 And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,..A mighty fountain momently was forced. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §18. 126 Vapour..came seething at times up the sides of the mountain. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xvi. 133 The white surf which broke over their bows and seethed along the decks. |
5. fig. To be in a state of inward agitation, turmoil, or ‘ferment’. Said of a person in trouble, fever, etc.; of plans, elements of discontent or change; also of a region filled with excitement, disaffection, etc.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. i. 43, I will make a complementall assault vpon him, for my businesse seethes. 1820 Keats Isabella xv, For them alone did seethe A thousand men in troubles wide and dark. 1845 Disraeli Sybil v. viii, ‘All the north is seething’, said Gerard. ‘We must contrive to agitate the metropolis’, said Maclast. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh iii. 1141 She lay and seethed in fever many weeks. 1874 Green Short Hist. iv. §4. 194 The city had all through the interval been seething with discontent. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 506 The elements of that war had been seething in English society. 1894 M. Dyan All in Man's Keeping xxv. (1899) 348 His brain had no respite either. Plans seethed there incessantly. |
▪ III. seethe
variant of saithe.