Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SORE, a. [Sax. sar, pain, also grievous, painful; D. zeer; G. sehr; also Sax. swær, swar, or swer, heavy, grievous; Dan. svær; G. schwer; D. swaar. This seems to be radically the same word as the former. See Sorrow.]

1. Tender and susceptible of pain from pressure; as, a boil, ulcer or abscess is very sore; a wounded place is sore; inflammation renders a part sore.
2. Tender, as the mind; easily pained, grieved or vexed; very susceptible of irritation from any thing that crosses the inclination. Malice and hatred are very fretting, and apt to make our minds sore and uneasy. – Tillotson.
3. Affected with inflammation; as, sore eyes.
4. Violent with pain; severe; afflictive; distressing; as, a sore disease; sore evil or calamity; a sore night. Com. Prayer. – Shak.
5. Severe; violent; as, a sore conflict.
6. Criminal; evil. [Obs.] – Shak.

SORE, adv.

1. With painful violence; intensely; severely; grievously. Thy hand presseth me sore. – Com. Prayer.
2. Greatly; violently; deeply. He was sorely afflicted at the loss of his son. Sore sigh'd the knight, who this long sermon heard. – Dryden.

SORE, n.¹ [Dan. saar, a sore, a wound or an ulcer; D. zweer; G. geschwur; Sw. sår. See the next word.]

1. A place in an animal body where the skin and flesh are ruptured or bruised, as to be pained with the slightest pressure.
2. An ulcer; a boil.
3. In Scripture, grief; affliction. – 2 Chron. vi.

SORE, n.² [Fr. sor-falcon. Todd.]

1. A hawk of the first year. – Spenser.
2. [Fr. saur.] A buck of the fourth year. – Shak.

SORE, v.t.

To wound; to make sore. [Obs.] – Spenser.

SORE-HON, or SORN, n. [Irish and Scottish.]

A kind of servile tenure which subjected the tenant to maintain his chieftain gratuitously, whenever he wished to indulge himself in a debauch. So that when a person obtrudes himself on another for bed and board, he is said to sorn, or be a sorner. – Spenser. Macbean.

SOR'EL, n. [dim. of sore.]

A buck of the third year. – Shak.

SORE-LY, adv. [from sore.]

1. With violent pain and distress; grievously; greatly; as, to be sorely pained or afflicted.
2. Greatly; violently; severely; as, to be sorely pressed with want; to be sorely wounded.

SORE-NESS, n. [from sore.]

1. The tenderness of any part of an animal body, which renders it extremely susceptible of pain from pressure; as, the soreness of a boil, an abscess or wound.
2. Figuratively, tenderness of mind, or susceptibility of mental pain.

SOR'GO, n.

A plant of the genus Sorghum.

SO'RI, n. [plur. Gr. σωρος, a heap.]

The fructification of the ferns.

SO-RI'TES, n. [L. from Gr. σωρειτης, a heap.]

In logic, an argument where one proposition is accumulated on another. Thus, All men of revenge have their souls often uneasy. / Uneasy souls are a plague to themselves. / Now to be one's own plague is folly in the extreme. – Watts.

SORN'ED, pp.

Obtruded upon a friend for bed and board.

SORN'ER, n.

One who obtrudes himself on another for bed and board.

SO-ROR'I-CIDE, n. [L. soror, sister, and cædo, to strike, to kill.]

The murder or murderer of a sister. [Little used, and obviously because the crime is very infrequent.]

SOR'RAGE, n.

The blades of green wheat or barley. [Not used.] – Dict.

SOR'RANCE, n.

In farriery, any disease or sore in horses.

SOR'REL, a. [Fr. saure, yellowish brown; saurer, to dry in the smoke; It. sauro.]

Of a reddish color; as, a sorrel horse.

SOR'REL, n.¹

A reddish color; a faint red.

SOR'REL, n.² [Sax. sur, sour; Dan. syre, sorrel; W. suran.]

The popular name of certain species of Rumex, as Rumex acetosa, Rumex acetosella, &c., so named from its acid taste. The word sorrel is of the genus Oxalis. The Indian red and Indian white sorrels are of the genus Hibiscus.

SOR'REL-TREE, n.

A species of Andromeda.

SOR'RI-LY, adv. [from sorry.]

Meanly; despicably; in a wretched manner. Thy pipe, O Pan, shall help, though I sing sorrily. – Sidney.

SOR'RI-NESS, n.

Meanness; poorness; despicableness.

SOR'ROW, n. [Sax. sorg; Goth. saurga; Sw. and Dan. sorg, care, solicitude, sorrow; D. zorg; G. sorge, care, concern, uneasiness; from the same root as sore, heavy.]

The uneasiness or pain of mind which is produced by the loss of any good, real or supposed, or by disappointment in the expectation of good; grief; regret. The loss of a friend we love occasions sorrow; the loss of property, of health or any source of happiness, causes sorrow. We feel sorrow for ourselves in misfortunes; we feel sorrow for the calamities of our friends and our country. A world of woe and sorrow. – Milton. The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment. – Rambler.

SOR'ROW, v.i. [Sax. sarian, sargian, sorgian, Goth. saurgan, to be anxious, to sorrow.]

To feel pain of mind in consequence of the actual loss of good, or of frustrated hopes of good, or of expected loss of happiness; to grieve; to be sad. I rejoice not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance. – 1 Cor. vii. I desire no man to sorrow for me. Hayward. Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they should see his face no more. – Acts xx.