▪ I. sought, n. north. dial.
(saʊt)
Forms: 4 soght, 5 souȝt, 7 sought, 9 sowt, soot.
[a. ON. *soht (later sótt, Icel. and Fær. sótt, Norw. sott, Sw. and Da. sot), = Goth. sauhts, OS. suht (hence once in OE.), OHG. and MHG. suht (G. sucht), Du. zucht: cf. also OEFris. secht, OWFris. siochte. The stem suh-, suk- is an ablaut-variant of seuk-: see sick a.]
Sickness, illness, disease. In later use spec. a disease of sheep or other animals.
See also the combs. gulesought and lungsought.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 14157 Wel þai trud þat he moght þair broþer sauue of al his soght. 14.. MS. Sloane 7, fol. 73 (H.), For the ȝalow souȝt, that men callin the jaundys. 1621 R. Brathwait Nat. Embassie (1877) 242 Scab, sought, the rot or any kind of murren. 1847 Halliwell, Sowt, the rot in sheep. Westm. 1876 Richardson Cumbld. Talk Ser. ii. 150 Ye'r sheep dee i' t' seekness or t' sowt. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss. 91 Sowt, the joint-ill in lambs and calves. |
▪ II. sought, ppl. a.
(sɔːt)
[pa. pple. of seek v.]
a. That is, or has been, searched for, desired, etc.
See also long-sought s.v. long adv. 9 a.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3254 To mesopotany suith come he, And son he fand þe soght cite. 1382 Wyclif Isaiah lxii. 12 Thou..shalt be clepid a soȝt cite, and not forsaken. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 77 Now Creta comes..To my sought view. 1710 Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. §121 Having found the sought figures. 1725 W. Halfpenny Sound Building 21 Then..you will describe the sought Arches v z t and w t. Ibid. 22. 1883 ‘Annie Thomas’ Mod. Housewife 149 The cleverness which makes her a sought woman in every coterie. |
b. With -after or -for.
| 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iv. ii, When he mist His sought⁓for father. 1778 The Refutation 13 The sought-for bribe I doubt you'll never see. 1829 Bentham Justice & Cod. Petit. 12 Such supposed facts as..may be styled unknown or sought-for facts. 1881 Trans. Obstet. Soc. Lond. XXII. 66 He was the fashionable and most sought-after accoucheur. 1944 Auden For Time Being (1945) 32 Her famous, memorable, sought-after evenings. 1978 Lancashire Life Apr. 45/2 Foulridge took umbrage,..continuing to build on its [sc. Foulridge's] reputation of being a sought-after spot to live. |