Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SO-BRI'E-TY, n. [Fr. sobrieté; L. sobrietas, from sobrius.]

1. Habitual soberness or temperance in the use of spiritous liquors; as when we say, a man of sobriety. – Hooker. Taylor.
2. Freedom from intoxication. Public sobriety is a relative duty. – Blackstone.
3. Habitual freedom from enthusiasm, inordinate passion or overheated imagination; calmness; coolness; as, the sobriety of riper years; the sobriety of age. – Dryden.
4. Seriousness; gravity without sadness or melancholy. Mirth makes them not mad, / Nor sobriety sad. – Denham.