a. and sb. [f. L. type sopōrific-us (f. sopor sleep: see -FIC), = F. soporifique (1687), Sp., Pg., It. soporifico.]
A. adj. 1. Inducing or tending to induce sleep; causing a person to sleep or slumber.
a. Of qualities, etc. (Cf. SOPORIFEROUS a. 2 a.)
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxiii. § 8. The colour and taste of opium,… as well as its soporific or anodyne virtues.
1763. C. Johnston, Reverie, II. II. i. 149. A phlegm,… which here seemed to have extended its soporifick influence over all present.
1765. Goldsm., New Simile, 38, Essays 186.
| For let folks only get a touch, | |
| It’s soporific virtue’s such, | |
| Tho’ ne’er so much awake before, | |
| That quickly they begin to snore. |
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xi. Coaxed to sleep by the soporific agency of sweetbreads.
1879. McCarthy, Own Times, xxvii. II. 297. Most of those who tried to listen found the soporific influence irresistible.
b. Of medicaments, drugs, etc. (Cf. SOPORIFEROUS a. 2 b.)
1775. Adair, Amer. Ind., 173, note. He acquiesced because of the soporific dose I gave him.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xv. He began to experience the incipient effects of his soporific draught.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, i. 3. The influence of drugs and soporific embrocations on the human frame.
1883. Law Reports 11 Q. B. D. 588. Charged … with having unlawfully administered soporific drugs to the plaintiff’s servants.
c. Of books, writings, talk, etc., or of persons in respect of these.
1727. Somerville, Fortune Hunter, iv. Poems (1810), 222. Hibernian matrons thus of old, Their soporific stories told.
1760. Foote, Minor, I. i. The soporific twang of the tabernacle of Tottenham court road.
1822. Byron, Juan, VIII. lxxxix. To quote Too much of one sort would be soporific.
1856. R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (ed. 4), I. 130. Dionysius in the East, then, is soporific.
1870. R. W. Dale, Week-day Serm., viii. 155. Soporific talk begins to flow.
d. In other contexts.
With quot. 1822–7 cf. SOPORAL a. 1.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 546. Hence the name of carotids, or soporific vessels,… was given to the arteries, whose ligature was supposed to produce this very singular result.
1834. Southey, Doctor, i. I thought of all sleepy sounds, and all soporific things.
1856. R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (ed. 4), I. 87. She lifts the lid, and there steals out a soporific vapour.
2. Of the nature of, characterized by, belonging to, sleep or sleepiness.
1754. Gray’s Inn Jrnl., No. 76. That soporific Awe, with which they behold Personages of this Cast.
1755. H. Walpole, Lett. (1846), III. 136. I must own I see no blame in thinking an active age more agreeable to live in, than a soporific one.
1896. J. Lamb, Ann. West Kilbride, vi. 161. The soporific tendencies of … a portion of the congregation.
3. Of persons: Drowsy, sleepy, somnolent; = SOPORIFEROUS 3.
1841. Caroline Fox, Old Friends (1882), 64. In vain did the soporific Transcendentalist demand the reason; he was to dress first and know after.
B. sb. 1. A substance, esp. a medicament, that induces sleep.
1722–7. Boyer, Dict. Royal, I. Un soporatif, a soporifick.
a. 1746. Holdsworth, Rem. Virgil (1768), 47. A strong medicine; and, in particular, a strong soporific.
1752. Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), II. 63. Nor has rhubarb always proved a purge, or opium a soporific.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 259. Soporifics (Anodynes; Narcotics).
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 242. The use of soporifics is limited by the extent of their other pharmacological effects.
transf. and fig. 1811. Miss L. M. Hawkins, C’tess & Gertr., I. Introd. p. xix. That soporific of houshold care, called ‘board-wages.’
1821. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Imperf. Sympathies. The question operated as a soporific on my moral feeling.
2. A sleepy or somnolent person. rare.
1808. W. Wilson, Hist. Diss. Ch., II. 92. This zealous writer forgot that every charge which he brought against Mr. Pike and his five soporifics, falls with additional weight on himself.
Hence Soporifical a., Soporifically adv.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 138. Another gentleman … proses away most soporifically.
1837. New Monthly Mag., LI. 365. We are becoming anatomical and soporifical.
