Forms: 4–6 sobre, sobur (6 Sc. sobor), 5 Sc. sobyre, -ire, 5–6 Sc. sobyr, -ir, 4– sober. [a. OF. sobre (so mod.F., = It., Sp., Pg. sobrio), ad. L. sōbrius, which expresses the opposite of ēbrius drunk: the ulterior etym. is doubtful. The French word is also the source of MDu. and Du., MLG. and LG. sober.]
Various senses of the word tend to pass into or involve each other, and it is frequently difficult to decide which of these was principally intended by the writer.
I. 1. Moderate, temperate, avoiding excess, in respect of the use of food and drink; not given to the indulgence of appetite.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 311. Of Arthure men say … he was … sobre & honest.
1340. Ayenb., 221. Sobre ine mete and ine drinke.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 11. Thurgh hem that thanne weren goode And sobre and chaste.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., II. xxii. (Add. MS.). That we be sobre in mete and drynk, that we mowe come to everlastyng mede.
1530. Palsgr., 324/2. Sobre of meate and drinke, sobre.
1606. Chapman, Gentl. Usher, III. Shees as discreete a dame As any in these countries, and as sober, But for this onely humour of the cup.
1677. Horneck, Gt. Law Consid., v. (1704), 246. How the sober nation many times conquers the more debauched and vicious.
b. Of diet, etc.: Moderate, temperate; characterized by the absence of excess or indulgence.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. xxxi. 37. Helthe is of soule and of body, sobre drink.
1538. Starkey, England, II. ii. 179. You schal see veray few of sobur and temperat dyat, but they haue helthy and welthy bodys.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike (1580), 35. Sober diet is good.
1629. Hinde, J. Bruen (1641), x. 33. And many other such naturall helpes may we use for our sober refreshing and delight.
1743. Francis, trans. Horace, Odes, I. xx. 4. I. 105. Crude Vintage of the Sabine Grape, But yet in sober Cups, shall crown the Feast.
1797–1805. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., I. 365. The sober cheer of which you have already partaken.
c. Similarly of conduct, inclination, etc.
1509. Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 293. Her sobre temperaunce in metes & drynkes.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 1. Of all Gods workes … There is no one more faire and excellent Then is mans body,… Whiles it is kept in sober gouernment.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Sat., II. iii. 8. III. 203. When Saturn’s jovial Feast Seem’d too luxuriant to your sober Taste, Hither you fled.
2. Not addicted to the use of strong drink; habitually temperate in, or abstaining from, the use of alcoholic liquor; abstemious.
1382. Wyclif, Titus ii. 2. That olde men be sobre, chast.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 1533. Men moste enquere … Wher she be wys, or sobre, or dronkelewe.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, II. i. (1883), 21. That the dronken men shold be punysshyd And the sobre men preysed.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 39. He reckons a sober Chaplain in the Navy, to be a down-right Nonconformist.
1729. Law, Serious Call, ii. (1732), 27. When she feels this intention she will find it as possible to act up to it, as to be strictly sober and chaste.
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), II. 39. They are a sober people, and have none of the vices of the Eusofzyes.
1890. Besant, Demoniac, v. 50. A sober man himself, even a total abstainer.
transf. 1590. Sir J. Smythe, Disc. Conc. Weapons, Ded. 13. Archerie, which is the soberest exercise of all others to auoide drunkennes and other euills.
b. Of things: Not intoxicating.
a. 1795. Cowper, Moralizer Corrected, 10. The sober cordial of sweet air.
3. Free from the influence of intoxicating liquor; not intoxicated; not drunk. Also fig.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 443. I appele … from Alisaundre þe dronke to Alisaundre þe sobre.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, III. viii. (Skeat), l. 48. Right as whan any person taketh willing to be sobre, and throweth that away, willing to be dronke.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 339. Thou sobre [L. sobrius] hast medled not only with thy Nece, but also with thy Sister and daughter.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., I. ii. 93. Very vildely in the morning when hee is sober, and most vildely in the afternoone when hee is drunke.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Goodwife’s Ale, in Athenæum (1904), 1 Oct. You easily may guesse I am not quite Growne sober yett by these poore lines I wright.
1691. Hartcliffe, Virtues, 73. They thought, their Counsels might want Vigour, when they were sober, as well as Caution, when they had drank.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VIII. i. ‘What little dog, Sir?’ cried Delville, who now began to conclude he was not sober.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xv. He is as sober as sleep can make him, after a deep drink.
1885. Christ. World, 15 Jan., 38/5. The Heathen Chinee … is generally civil and always sober.
fig. 1390. Gower, Conf., III. 16. Than schalt thou have a lusti drauhte And waxe of lovedrunke sobre.
transf. 1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Acts ii. 10. This was the sobre fulnesse of swete wine.
1831. Scott, Cast. Dang., v. The sober hours of the morning.
† b. Fasting. Obs.–1
1535. Coverdale, Dan. vi. 18. The kynge wente in to his palace, and kepte him sober all night, so that there was no table spred before him.
II. 4. Of demeanor, speech, etc.: Grave, serious, solemn; indicating or implying a serious mind or purpose.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 532. He … sayde to hem with sobre soun, ‘Wy stonde ȝe ydel þise dayez longe?’
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 64. Sche him axeth … Fro whenne he cam, and what he wolde, And he with sobre wordes tolde.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle, V. x. (Caxton, 1483), 101. Pacyence come pryckyng with a sobre chere and hitte Ire in the helme.
c. 1450. in Aungier, Syon (1840), 320. Ther songe schal be sadde, sober, ande symple withe out brekyng of notes, and gay relesynge.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), 16. Tell forthe thy sentence, And I shall here the with sobre pacyence.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 40. To do his message … bothe with a bolde countenaunce, and a sober demeanure.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. ii. 76. Orl. Speak’st thou in sober meanings? Ros. By my life I do.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XI. ix. 148. The Islands King with sober countenance Aggrates the Knights, who thus his right defended.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, I. 219. He sooths with sober words their angry mood.
b. In the phrases in sober earnest or † sadness.
Skelton Magnyf. 682 uses Sober Sadnesse as a name.
1593. [see SADNESS 2 b].
1615. Bedwell, Moham. Impost., III. § 108. I say … in sober sadnes, that thou and all such … ought to obserue it well.
1667. Poole, Dial. betw. Protest. & Papist (1735), 181. In sober Sadness, it is enough to make any serious Christian abhor your Church.
1836. Pusey, in Liddon, Life (1893), I. xviii. 425. In sober earnest, I wish that we could have given you more time to think about it.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., i. 8. I have been startled by hearing it … urged in sober earnest very far outside the range of savage life.
5. Quiet or sedate in demeanor; of grave, dignified or discreet deportment; serious or staid in character or conduct.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. XI. 121. Þenne schaltou seo Sobre And Symple-of-speche.
c. 1393. Chaucer, Gentilesse, 9. Truwe of his worde, sobur, pitous, and fre.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3791. Ulexes … was … Sad of his semblaundes, sober of chere.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, III. 308. Perseys war trew,… Sobyr in pes, and cruell in battaill.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XVI. (Percy Soc.), 75. Be ye pacyent and sobre in mode.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 66. A yonge chylde as sober as a man of fiftye yeres.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., III. ii. 78. What damned error, but some sober brow Will blesse it?
1632. Milton, Penseroso, 32. Com pensive Nun, devout and pure, Sober, stedfast, and demure.
1693. trans. Blancard’s Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Medicus, a Physician, a Man highly skilful in the art of Physick, modest, sober and courteous.
1722. De Foe, Relig. Courtsh., I. ii. (1840), 43. I would have been the soberest, gravest, young fellow, that ever you saw in your life.
1783. Crabbe, Village, II.
| Some of the sermon talk, a sober crowd, | |
| And loudly praise, if it were preach’d aloud. |
1833. Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, ix. 109. So sober in her manner, that no one set about guessing whom she would marry.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 253. Sober people predicted that a girl of so little … delicacy would not easily find a husband.
b. Of bearing, movement, etc.: Showing no trace of haste, impatience, or the like.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 4988. Semblant made he sobur so as it him paide, but … in hert it liked him wel ille.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xix. (Christopher), 361. Cristofore þan of sobyre wil rase, & sad þame sone till: ‘frendis, tell me quhat ȝe seke!’
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. iii. 86. Our Newes shall goe before vs,… And wee with sober speede will follow you.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 380. Legions … move to meet their Foes with sober Pace.
1814. Scott, Lord of Isles, VI. xvi. Pacing back his sober way, Slowly he gain’d his own array.
6. Of natural forces († animals), etc.: Quiet, gentle, peaceful.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xcix. (Bodl. MS.). Whan he is tyed to a fige tree he leueþ al his fersenes & is sodenlich sobre.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2009. The se wex sober…, Stormes were stille.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 1031. A sobur brook amydde or ellis a welle.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 2477. The soft dew one fra the hewyne doune valis … And throw the sobir and the mwst hwmouris Vp nurisit ar the erbis.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 242. Thay sayled with a sober and safte wind.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 43 (Wreittoun) (1636), A 2 b. The aire was sober soft and sweet.
1662. J. Chandler, Van Helmont’s Oriat., 117. Sober rains are great with young of dew.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Scotch mist, a sober, soaking Rain.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 14. As sober evening sweetly siles along.
b. Of actions: Free from harshness or violence.
1455. in Charters, etc. Edinb. (1871), 81. He salbe arrestit in sobir maner as said is.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 185. He salbe content of thair sobir and gracious governaunce.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 19. Thei by sobre meanes and gentle exhortation brought all the souldiers to the campe.
7. Of living, etc.: Characterized by temperance, moderation or seriousness.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Gen. Conf., A godly, righteous, and sobre lyfe.
1565–6. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 418. Sanctandrois, quhair he wes in sobir and quiet maner, belevand to haif levit at Goddis peace.
a. 1629. Hinde, J. Bruen, iii. 10. Sober and single dancing of men apart.
1726. De Foe, Hist. Devil, I. ix. (1840), 102. He led a very religious and sober life.
1781. Cowper, Hope, 129. Men … Live to no sober purpose, and contend That their Creator had no serious end.
1810. Crabbe, Borough, xi. 186. A pious friend, who with the ancient dame At sober cribbage takes an evening game.
1825. Scott, Talism., vii. The dog … looked as if he were ashamed that anything should have moved him to depart so far out of his sober self-control.
b. Of a book: Serious, moral.
1844. Mrs. Houston, Yacht Voy. Texas, I. 48–9. Reading their Prayer Books, or some sober book from the ship’s library.
8. Of a temperate or moderate disposition; not readily excited or carried away; of a calm, dispassionate judgment.
1564. Brief Exam., 7*. The sagest and sobrest in this common wealth … conceyue a better opinion of them.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, III. iv. § 13. It is the constant acknowledgement of all sober inquirers into the original of the Greeks.
1685. Wood, Life, 12 Aug. The phanatiques (nay, some sober men) thinke that this army … is to bring in popery.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 77. His very Attempts … are sufficient to make sober Men dread the fatal Consequences.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., II. iv. (1869), I. 360. Sober people … would not venture into the competition.
1834. H. Miller, Scenes & Leg., xi. (1857), 157. The many soberer dreamers who were led to interpret amiss a surer word of prophecy.
1860. Farrar, Orig. Lang., ii. 38. Some of the most profound and sober intellects in Europe.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1873), III. v. 392. The sober and patient spirit of the English intellect.
b. Not desirous of great things or high estate; humble, unambitious.
1659. Hammond, On Ps. xxxix. 7. Paraphr. 210. Fit to be the matter of a sober mans ambition or hope.
1750. Gray, Elegy, 74. Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray.
1790. Burns, Ballad Dumfries Election, 132. The Robin in the hedge descends, And sober chirps securely.
9. Of color, dress, etc.: Subdued in tone; not glaring, gay or showy; neutral-tinted.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. ii. 132. Now shal my friend … offer me disguis’d in sober robes … as a schoole-master.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 832. Hungarians … attired in long sober garments of very fine purple cloth.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 599. Twilight gray Had in her sober Liverie all things clad.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 262. Ev’ning in her sober vest Drew the grey curtain of the fading west.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, I. i. 10. Till the shadows of twilight melted its various features into one tint of sober gray.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., ii. 139. This contrast between the brilliant colours of the flowers and the sober hue of the rest of the landscape.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 195. The sober tints of its feathers in winter.
transf. 1814. Sporting Mag., XLIII. 258. His palet is sober and clean, his pencil animated.
b. Unexciting or uneventful; dull.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Isab., I. Pref. p. xiv. The many sober hours I have passed in wading through black-letter tomes.
1860. Hawthorne, Marble Faun (1879), II. xii. 127. That life of sober week days.
10. Free from extravagance or excess.
1607. Shaks., Timon, III. v. 21. With such sober and vnnoted passion He did behooue his anger ere ’twas spent.
1794. Burke, Duration of Parliaments, Wks. II. 484. So was Rome destroyed by the disorders of continual elections, though those of Rome were sober disorders.
1852. Tennyson, Ode on Death Wellington, 164. That sober freedom out of which there springs Our loyal passion for our temperate kings.
1856. Macaulay, Goldsm., Misc. Writ. (1882), 303/2. The mirth of the ‘Goodnatured Man’ was sober when compared with the rich drollery of ‘She Stoops to Conquer.’
b. Moderate, sensible; free from exaggeration; not fanciful or imaginative.
1619. Sir A. Gorges, trans. Bacon’s De Sap. Vet., 141. We must therefore with a sober and humble iudgement distinguish betweene humanitie and diuinitie.
1674. Brevint, Saul at Endor, 115. They who will speak at a soberer rate, compare the Virgin to the Moon.
1771. Fletcher, Checks, Wks. 1795, II. 260. An expression which may be used in a sober, gospel sense of the words.
1781. Cowper, Conversat., 65. Ev’n when sober truth prevails throughout, They swear it, till affirmance breeds a doubt.
1825. Horne, Introd. Script. (ed. 5), II. App. VI. 788. The notes … give a sober but practical and evangelical exposition of the allegory.
1889. Jessopp, Coming of Friars, iv. 169. How much or how little of sober fact there may be in those thrilling incidents … it is impossible to say.
11. Guided by sound reason; sane, rational:
† a. Of persons. Obs.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 24. They have painted mee … a mad man amongst the sober.
1657. R. Carpenter, Astrol., Ded. In a Bedlam-house the mad People have their sober Keepers.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxvii. (1695), 186. Humane Laws not punishing the Mad Man for the Sober Man’s Actions.
1786. Boswell, Jrnl. Tour Hebrides (ed. 3), 213. Mad all his life, at least not sober.
b. Of the mind, discourse, etc.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. viii. 36. If some man in Bedlam should entertaine you with sober discourse.
1672. Sir T. Browne, Lett. to Friend, § 22 (1881), 142. [They are] content to think they dye in good Understanding, and in their sober Senses.
1729. Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 86. He was … in a state of mind sober enough to consider death and his last end.
1842. S. Lover, Handy Andy, xliv. While the people in their sober senses … were taken in, the old lunatic … could look down and see [etc.].
III. 12. Of things: Small, insignificant, slight; paltry, trifling, poor. Chiefly Sc. ? Obs.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, 228. He wrote vnto hym & said at he had done hym a litle sober trispas.
1523. St. Papers Hen. VIII. (1836), IV. 24. To breke the Chauncellour … fro the Governour, whiche Your Grace think wold bee doone with a sober thing.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 35. Sober goodis and geir with peace and concord growis ay mair and mair to great substance.
1602. Campion, Art Eng. Poesie, 27. He … only makes Th’ earth his sober Inne, but still heau’n his home.
1629. Sir W. Mure, True Crucifixe, 2340. His greatest wealth a sober seamelesse coate.
1643. Milton, Divorce, II. xvi. When they cannot reap the sobrest ends of being together in any tolerable sort.
1796. Statist. Acc. Scotl., XVII. 343. It requires the utmost exertion of his industry … to … afford a maintenance, very sober indeed, to his family.
† b. Moderate or few in number. Obs.
1513. More, Rich. III. (1883), 15. The Queenes frendes … broughte the Kynge vppe … with a sober coumpanye.
1548. W. Patten, Exped. Scotl., E vij. We … ar here now but with a sobre cumpenie. [Margin.] Sober, is the proper terme whearby the Scottes doo signifie smal, litle, easy, or slender.
1581. Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 420. Thair being sober nowmer of personis thairon.
13. Sc. Of persons: † a. Of low degree; humble, mean; of little importance or dignity. Obs.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, IV. xvi. (S.T.S.), II. 107. I am bot ane sobir knicht of romane armye.
1565. Extr. Burgh Rec. Aberd. (1844), I. 361. Of euery mariage, xviij d. of honest or reche folkis, and xij d. of sobir folkis.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 87. The iniurieis done to ony of them or the soberest of theme.
b. Of little use or worth.
1808. Jamieson, s.v., A sober servant, a very indifferent one.
c. In poor health; not very well.
1808. Jamieson, s.v., Very sober, ailing a good deal.
1882–. in Eng. Dial. Dict.
IV. 14. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic, as sober-blooded, -clad, -disposed, -hued, etc.; also soberlike, -sad, -wise.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. iii. 94. This same young *sober-blooded Boy doth not loue me.
1892. T. Wright, Blue Firedrake, i. A replica of his own starched, sober-minded and *sober-clad self.
1775. S. J. Pratt, Liberal Opin., xiv. (1783), I. 125. To the great annoyance of many *sober disposed people of the parish.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xxxiv. To-day all *sober-hued reflections were exorcised.
1592. Wyrley, Armorie, 117. He … backe his fighters drue Full *soberlike rash perils to eschue.
1863. Hawthorne, Our Old Home, 77. A *sober-paced pedestrian.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1542 (1594), L 1 b. So *sober sad, so wearie, and so milde.
c. 1614. Sylvester, Micro-cosm., 374. If sober-sad, Merry Greeks mee Meacok call.
1647. Cromwell, in Stainer, Sp. (1901), 44. Every *sober-spirited man.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. ii. 11. Come ciuill night, Thou *sober suted Matron all in blacke.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 746. The sober-suited songstress trills her lay.
1842. Tennyson, You ask me why, 6. It is the land … That sober-suited Freedom chose.
1850. W. Collins, Antonina, iv. The *sober-tinted trees.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Wks. (1866), I. 428. He … teacheth them here not to be over-wise, but *sober-wise.
a. 1618. Sylvester, Little Bartas, 1053, Wks. (Grosart), II. 94. Sound is the soule, which resteth (sober-wise) Content in Thee.
