Forms: 2 sobben (5 sobbyn), 4–6 sobbe (4 zobbe), 5–7 Sc. sobe, 6– sob (7 sobb); 8–9 Sc. sab. [app. of imitative origin: cf. WFris. sobje, Du. dial. sabben to suck.]
1. intr. To catch the breath in a convulsive manner as the result of violent emotion, esp. grief; to weep in this fashion.
a. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 57. Ðe gastliche mann … lihtliche wepð oðer sobbeð, oðerhwile mid bitere teares, oðerhwile mid wel swete teares.
1340. [see SOBBING vbl. sb.].
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 326. He … Swowed and sobbed and syked ful ofte.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 319. Sche fond non amendement To syghen or to sobbe more.
1420–2. Lydg., Thebes, III. 3380. He can not but sighe, sobbe, and wepe.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XVIII. ii. 726. She sobbed and wepte a grete whyle.
1530. Palsgr., 724/1. The poore boye sobbed, as his herte shulde brust.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., III. i. 137. See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps. Ibid. (1599), Much Ado, II. iii. 153. Then downe vpon her knees she falls, weepes, sobs, beates her heart.
1611. Cotgr., Sanglotter,… to sob often.
1648. Hexham, II. Snoffen,… to Sigh, or to Sob.
1727. Gay, Begg. Opera, I. xiii. Polly. The Boy thus, when his Sparrow’s flown,… Whines, whimpers, sobs and cries.
1786. Burns, Tam Samson, ii. Kilmarnock lang may grunt an’ grane, An’ sigh an’ sab [v.r. sob], an’ greet her lane.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., I. 225. He sank on his knees … and sobbed like a child.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, I. ix. Both waved a farewell to him, and little Frank sobbed to leave him.
1891. E. Peacock, N. Brendon, II. 84. Narcissa sobbed with joy and love.
fig. 1821. Shelley, Adonais, xiv. 9. The wild Winds flew round, sobbing in their dismay.
b. To make a sound resembling sobbing.
1676. Mace, Musick’s Mon., 170. Cause Them to Sobb, by Slacking your Stopping Hand, so soon as They are Struck.
1721. Kelly, Scot. Prov., 76. Saugh will sob [in burning] if it was sommer sawn.
1785. Burns, Halloween, x. In loving bleeze they sweetly join, Till white in ase they’re sobbin.
1847. T. Brown, Modern Farriery, 410. If he dances about…, sobbing, and drawing his breath quickly, this will be found an indication of his being a whistler, or piper.
1852. Zoologist, X. 3427. ‘Sobbing’ up and down, as we say of sperm whales.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 49. The thunder … sobbing far away among the distant hills.
1893. Tablet, 27 May, 819. The great Soul Bell of St. Swithun’s was sobbing in the winter wind for the death of the bishop.
2. a. To break or burst with sobbing.
1614. Earl Stirling, Domesday, I. Poems (1637), 100. Heaven (clad with darknesse) mourn’d, th’ earth sob’d asunder.
b. refl. To bring (oneself) into a certain state, or to sleep, with sobbing.
1658. Verney Mem. (1907), II. 138. If you yourselfe were of such a humour, that you should … sigh & sobb and pout yourselfe into a sicknesse.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, Concl., Eveline wept,… she prayed—and, finally, sobbed herself to sleep, like an infant.
1851. Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., II. 398. On starving homes! where many a lip Has sobbed itself asleep.
1877. Mrs. Forrester, Mignon, I. 191. The child could sob herself to sleep on her father’s breast.
3. trans. a. To send out, bring up, etc., by sobbing or with sobs.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XVI. 419. He sobs his soul out in a gush of blood.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), V. 209. He sobb’d up his grief.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, V. 162. Then did I … almost sob my very soul away.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xiii. Here … you will live while there is breath in my body,—unless you wish to make me sob it out and die the sooner.
b. To utter with sobs. Usually with out.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, V. x. It was not without the utmost difficulty that she could sob out the cause of this fresh sorrow.
1862. Miss Braddon, Lady Audley, xxxv. ‘May God soften this blow for you,’ sobbed the young man.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xxii. 391. Sobbing out their entreaties on their knees.
Hence Sobbed ppl. a.; Sobber, one who sobs.
1894. A. Morrison, Mean Streets, 267. His bright, strenuous eyes were on the sobbers.
1895. W. Platt, Women, 98. Her sobbed thanks washed it as they fell upon it.
