Sore a.¹

Forms: α. 1, 3 sar (2–3 sær, 3 ser); north. and Sc. 4–5 sar, 4–6, 8 sare (6 sear, seir); 4–5 sayre, 5–6 sayr, 5– sair (6 saire). β. 3, 5 sor, 5 soor, 5–6 soore, 6 Sc. soir, 4– sore (9 dial. soor, sooar). Compar. 1 sarra, 3–5 sarre, 5 sarrar; 3 sarure, sarer, 6 sarar, sairar, 6, 9 sairer; 4 sorrore, 5– sorer. Superl. 1 sarost, 4 sarrest, 6, 9 sairest, 6– sorest. [Common Teut.: OE. sár, = OFris. *sêr (WFris. sear, NFris. siar, sîr), MDu. seer (Du. zeer), OS. and MLG. sêr (LG. sêr, seer, etc.), OHG. and MHG. sêr (obs. and dial. G. seer, sehr), ON. sárr (Icel. sár, Norw. saar; MSw. sār, saar):—OTeut. *sairaz (whence Finnish sairas sick, ill). Cf. SORE sb.¹]

  Senses 1–8 are now mainly arch. or dial.

  I.  1. Causing or involving bodily pain; painful, grievous; distressing or severe in this respect: a. Of wounds, hurts, ailments, or similar causes of physical suffering.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxviii. (1871), 272. We wieton ðæt sio dieʓle wund bið sarre ðonne sio opene.

c. 1000.  in Thorpe, Laws, II. 278. Se læca þe sceal sare wunda wel ʓehælan, he mot habban gode sealfe þærto.

c. 1205.  Lay., 10423. I þan þridden dæie he sarne dæd þolede.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 112. Euer so þet flesch is cwickure, so þe pine þerof & þet hurt is more & sarre.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 3478. Hir breding was ful selcut sare, Bot hir chiltting was mikel mare.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1775. Þe payn of dede here es bitter and sare.

c. 1400.  Pety Job, 293, in 26 Pol. Poems, 130. A man … With hote and colde, and hungor sore, Turmented ys.

1422.  trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 205. Hit makyth a full heuy and a full Soore wounde.

1539.  Bible (Great), Ps. xxxviii. 7. My loins are filled with a sore disease.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 1568 (1594), L 2. Foole fool, quoth she, his wounds wil not be sore.

a. 1629.  Hinde, J. Bruen, lxvi. (1641), 219. His weaknesse increased, by reason of a sore stopping in his breast and throate.

1655.  Culpepper, etc. Riverius, XV. iii. 409. The same may also happen after sore labor in child-birth.

1831.  J. Wilson, Noctes Ambr., Wks. 1856, III. 186. You’ve been suffering under a sair hoast, I hear.

  b.  Of a blow, bite, weapon, etc.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 25543. Suet iesu … sufferd … dintes sare and smert.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 6972. Þai salle … fele of vermyn bytyng sare.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1259. Castor … suet vnto Sedar with a sore wepyn.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, III. 215. Thai band thaim fast with wedeis sad and sar.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxxii. 21. Thai … gaif him mony buffat sair.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., II. i. 268. Cammels…, who haue their Prouand Onely for bearing Burthens, and sore blowes For sinking vnder them.

1611.  Bible, Isaiah xxvii. 1. The Lord with his sore and great and strong sworde shall punish Leuiathan.

  transf.  c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 38. For ai þe heiar degre, þe sarrar is þe falle.

  c.  Of sickness.

  Passing into the merely intensive sense of ‘severe.’

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8061. In sekenes sar he fand him stad.

c. 1400.  Brut, 201. Þai … woxen made, or sore sikenesse þai had.

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., xxix. (Percy Soc.), 137. For to have remedy of his sore sekenes.

1611.  Bible, Deut. xxviii. 59. Sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

1808.  Jamieson, s.v. Sair, Sair sickness, a sair fever.

  2.  Causing or involving, accompanied by, mental pain, trouble or distress.

Deor’s Compl., 9. Beadohilde ne wæs hyre broþra deaþ on sefan swa sar swa hyre sylfre þing.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 425. Þæt me is on mode minum swa sar,… þæt hie heofonrice aʓan to aldre.

c. 1205.  Lay., 7418. Þider com tiðende þat him wæs sær [c. 1275 sor].

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6443. Þis ilk folk … Þat moyses had vnder hand, þai did him selcuth sore trauail.

c. 1500.  Three Kings’ Sons, 44. But ther is o sore point, they that shalle go, knowe not the way.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 765. The tidyngs of this matter came hastily to the Queene…, and that in the sorest wise.

1833.  Tennyson, Lotos-Eaters, Choric Song vi. Sore task to hearts worn out by many wars.

  b.  Of sorrow, repentance, or other feelings.

a. 900.  Cynewulf, Crist, 209. Nu þu ealle forlæt sare sorʓceare.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 2029. Abraham … cwæð, þæt him wære weorce on mode, sorʓa sarost, þæt [etc.].

a. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 21. Mid oðre loke of sare birewnesse.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9088. For sar it es mi repentance.

c. 1421.  26 Pol. Poems, xx. 106. Haue mynde of my sorwe sore!

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, V. 714. The sayr grewans ramaynyt in his entent.

1871.  B. Taylor, Faust (1875), I. x. 130. Besides his penitence was very sore.

  c.  Of manifestations of grief: Bitter, painful.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 83. He ne fecheð noht þe sore siches onneðerward his heorte.

13[?].  Cursor M., 4969 (Gött.). Ioseph herd þair murning sare.

c. 1400.  Anturs of Arth., vii. Withe siking sare.

1535.  Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 41. Paule loked with sore sighes.

1611.  Bible, Gen. l. 10. They mourned with a great and very sore lamentation.

  3.  Involving great hardships, painful exertion, unusual difficulty, etc.

a. 900.  Cynewulf, Crist, 1418. Ða mec ongon hreowan, þæt … moncynnes tuddor … sceolde uncuðne eard cunnian, sare siþas.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 36. Monies monnes sare iswinc habbeð oft unholde.

c. 1420.  Sir Amadace (Camden), xxi. God gif him a sore grace, And alle suche waisters as he wasse.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 637. I haue oft tymes swet in seruice full sair.

1508.  Fisher, 7 Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876), 182. Poule … gate his lyuynge with his owne sore labour.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., II. ii. 38. Sleepe,… The death of each dayes Life, sore Labors Bath.

a. 1629.  Hinde, J. Bruen, xxxii. (1641), 101. His painfulnesse in taking many long and sore journies.

1786.  Har’st Rig, cxiv. (1801), 35. In idle dreams they ne’er abound That ha’e sair wark.

1824.  Scott, Redgauntlet, let. xi. Sair wark he had to get the siller.

  absol.  a. 1375.  Joseph Arim., 620. Þorw his swete grace þe sarrest is passed.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 5519. Thei wolen … chaunge for softe ne for sore.

  b.  Of battle or other conflicts: Severe, fierce, hot.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 5897. The assembly was sorer o þe se banke.

1422.  trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 182. Aftyr many Sore battaillis,… he flow ouer the See.

1508.  Dunbar, Gold. Targe, 198. The salt was all the sarar.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. 180. There was a sore fray, and slayne and drowned mo than sixe hundred frenchmen.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, III. v. 24. I will perseuer in my course of Loyalty, though the conflict be sore betweene that, and my blood.

1671.  Milton, Samson, 287. In that sore battel when so many dy’d.

c. 1780.  Burns, ‘Ah! woe is me,’ i. For sair contention I maun bear.

1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xlii. He has had sair and frequent combats to sustain against the Evil One.

  4.  Pressing hardly upon one; oppressively heavy or severe; difficult to bear or support.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xlix. 30. God schawis the richt With soir vengence.

1535.  Coverdale, 1 Kings xii. 14. My father made youre yock sore, but I wyll make it yet sorer vpon you.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., II. iv. 3. I haue seene … things strange: but this sore Night Hath trifled former knowings.

1611.  Bible, Ezek. xiv. 21. How much more when I send my foure sore iudgements vpon Ierusalem.

1714.  Prior, Viceroy, xii. On all provisions … He laid a tax full hard and sore.

1766.  Goldsmith, Vicar, xxviii. The hand of Heaven is sore upon us.

1786.  Burns, Dream, vi. Your sair taxation does her fleece.

1860.  Geo. Eliot, Mill on Fl., III. v. It’s been a sore chance for you, young man, hasn’t it?

  b.  Of troubles, afflictions, evils, etc.

1563.  Winȝet, Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 101, marg. A dum pastour or a wicious, is a sair scurge on the peple.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., III. vi. 53. And for his dearest sake endured sore, Sore trouble of an hainous enimy.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., V. ii. 241. You must needs haue heard how I am punisht With sore distraction?

1679.  C. Nesse, Antichrist, 198. The nature of affliction which is usually sorest at last.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., III. 218. Man is to man the sorest, surest ill.

1799.  A. Young, Agric. Lincoln., 341. From 30 to 40 of this stock run in the fen, but to sore loss.

1819.  Shelley, Ode West Wind, 52. I would ne’er have striven As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.

1835.  T. Mitchell, Acharn. of Aristoph., 32, note. Those glaring contrasts, which form the sorest ill of poverty.

1871.  Palgrave, Lyr. Poems, 101. This is the sorest evil Of evils under the sky.

  c.  Of trials or temptations.

1572.  Satir. Poems Reform., xxxi. 78. Now thay cum in freindis clais, Quhilk is ane sairer sey.

1709.  Watts, Hymn, ‘With Joy we meditate the Grace,’ ii. He knows what sore Temptations mean.

1892.  Photogr. Ann., II. 893. Each of these advantages must prove a sore temptation to the hand-camera worker.

  d.  In intensive use: Very great or serious.

1555.  in Bonner, Homilies, 5*. We shall sone perceyue the offence not lyght, but verye sore and heynous.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 71. The same wil redound to my great blame and sore discredit.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., III. vi. 13. To lapse in Fulnesse Is sorer, then to lye for Neede.

1825.  Scott, Talism., iii. Committing what would have been a sore blot in his shield of arms.

1875.  Stubbs, Const. Hist., II. xiv. 53. Henry was now in sore want of money.

1886.  S. W. Linc. Gloss., 137. It’s a sore shame.

  5.  Severe, stern, hard or harsh: † a. Of language, commands, etc. Obs.

1526.  Tindale, 2 Cor. x. 10. The pistles (sayth he) are sore and strong: but his bodyly presence is weake.

1549.  Latimer, Ploughers (Arb.), 21. A soore word for them that are neglygent.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., III. i. 11. I must remoue Some thousands of these Logs, and pile them vp, Vpon a sore iniunction.

  b.  Of persons. Now dial. (Common in 16th c.)

1534.  More, Comf. agst. Trib., II. Wks. 1171/1. I dare not be so sore as vtterly to forbid it.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 123. I call him that is a cruell or mercilesse man, somwhat sore in iudgement.

1567.  Maplet, Gr. Forest, 87 b. She is verie extreme and sore towards hir yong.

1901.  G. Douglas, House w. Green Shutters, 324. Maybe the Lord Jesus Christ ’ll no’ be owre sair on me.

  6.  Of a strong, severe or violent character in respect of operation or effect: a. Of feelings.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., III. iv. 295. His … ouer soor inclinacioun of loue anentis hem.

1611.  Bible, Ps. ii. 5. Then shall hee speake vnto them in his wrath, and vexe them in his sore displeasure.

1810.  Crabbe, Borough, iv. 11. Some, when converted, sigh in sore amaze.

  b.  Of storms, weather, etc.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xvii. 14. He cast sore lighteninges, & destroyed them.

1556.  Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 28. Soch a sore snowe & a frost.

1593.  Marlowe, Edw. II., IV. vi. (1594), I. With awkward windes, and sore tempests driuen To fall on shoare.

1866.  Neale, Sequences & Hymns, 36. Brought her through the sorest tempest.

  c.  Of persons or other agents.

1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, Aduersarius acerrimus, a very sore and earnest [adversary].

1592.  Timme, Ten Eng. Lepers, B ij. Nimri was a sore driver.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., V. i. 188. And your water, is a sore Decayer of your horson dead body.

1656.  Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. lxvii. (1674), 85. Princes meet with no sorer enemies, than male-contents.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, II. 122/2. Cattle, Horses, &c. are sore hurts both to Gardens & Orchards.

  d.  Of actions. rare^–1.

1563.  Homilies, II. Whitsunday, iii. The byshops of Rome haue for a long time made a sore chalenge therunto.

  † 7.  Strong, weighty, valid. Obs.

1530.  Rastell, Bk. Purgat., III. vii. That is a very sore obieccyon that thou hast now put and aledged.

1551.  T. Wilson, Logike (1580), 83 b. To persuade hym the better, he vsed this sore reason.

  8.  dial. = SORRY a. (See quots.)

  In Destr. Troy 10445 sore appears to have this sense, but may be an error for sori SORRY a.

a. 1825.  Forby, Voc. E. Anglia (1830), 316. Sore, sorry, vile; worthless…. ‘He made a sore hand of it!’

1839.  Sir G. C. Lewis, Gloss. Heref., s.v., ‘A sore fellow’ means a rogue, a rascal, ‘A sore time’ means a sad time.

1866.  Brogden, Prov. Lincs., Sore, bad, sorry. He’s made a sore job of it.

1880.  Antrim & Down Gloss., 96. Sore,… pitiful or contemptible. ‘He’s a sore fool.’

  II.  9. Of parts of the body: In pain; painful, aching. Now spec., having the skin broken or raw.

a. 1000.  Riddles, XIV. 6 (Gr.). Ne wæs hyra ænʓum þy wyrs ne side þy sarre.

c. 1000–1150.  Sax. Leechd., III. 108. Wið mannes ceola þe byð sær. Þisne læce cræft man sceal ðon manne þe byð þe ceola sar.

c. 1205.  Lay., 19501. Me scal lacnien his leomes þat beoð sare.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 15101. O þair fete þat semed sare.

a. 1352.  Minot, Poems (ed. Hall), i. 15. Þai turned ogayn with sides sare.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 51. As a sore membre … [is parted] from membres þat beeþ hole … and in good poynt.

1489.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 149. vij elne of quhyte to be logouris to the King, the tyme his leg wes sayre.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W.), 220 b. No parte of our body can be sore or in payne, but al the other partes in maner feleth the same.

1542–3.  Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII., c. 8 § 1. Suche as ben peined with customable diseases: as womens brestes being sore.

1639.  in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 104. His gummes are soe sore, he will not yet suffer his nurse to looke into his mouth.

1695.  New Light of Chirurg. put out, 30. The Parts so stiff and sore, as if they never would be well.

1704.  F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1711), 57. I’m tyr’d, my Bones are sore.

1774.  Burke, Sp. Amer. Tax., Sel. Wks. I. 112. Your ministerial directors … then went mumping with a sore leg in America, canting and whining.

1824.  Scott, St. Ronan’s, xviii. What signifies healing a sore foot when there will be a broken heart in the case?

1847.  Marryat, Childr. New Forest, iv. My shoulder is quite sore with the rope.

1881.  Trans. Obstet. Soc. Lond., XXII. 14. In 9 cases there was no spot sore to touch.

  fig.  1725.  Pope, Odyss., III. 252. Who while my soul is sore Of fresh affronts, are meditating more.

  b.  Of the eyes, throat, etc.: Painful through inflammation or other morbid condition.

  (a)  a. 1400.  Stockholm Med. MS., fol. 128. For sore eyne … it is preuyd.

1565.  J. Halle, Hist. Expost. (Percy Soc.), 17. Well,… seyng that you can heale sore eyes, what is an eye?

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. i. 36. Thou greene Sarcenet flap for a sore eye.

c. 1680.  Beveridge, Serm. (1729), I. 28. Being troubled with sore eyes.

1765.  Gray, Shakespeare Verses, iii. But may not honey’s self be turn’d to gall By residence, by marriage, and sore eyes?

  fig.  1673.  Cave, Prim. Chr., III. i. 220. The brightness of his conversation offended the sore eyes of other men.

  (b)  1686.  in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 423. I have a cold and a sore Throat.

1719.  Quincy, Phys. Dict. (1722), 13. As they [tonsils] are subject to Inflammation, they frequently are the Occasion of what the common People call a sore Throat.

1787.  J. Collins, in Med. Comm., II. 364. Putrid sore-throat, or angina maligna.

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, li. The professional personages … would leave off their sore throats in order to sing at her parties.

1898.  Syd. Soc. Lex., s.v., Sore-throat, clergyman’s, chronic follicular pharyngitis.

  (c)  1853.  Mayne, Expos. Lex., 73/1. Aphtha,… the disease of infancy, otherwise called thrush, or sore mouth.

  c.  Sc. Of the head: Aching. A sore (Sc. sair) head, a headache.

1549.  Compl. Scot., vi. 67. The decoctione of it is remeid for ane sair hede.

1643.  Orkney Witch Trial, in Abbotsford Club Miscell., I. 177. Ȝe said also that Bessie Spence hes ay ane sore head, it is ay pained.

1739.  A. Nicol, Poems, 52 (Jam.). Syne supperless I go to bed; The morn I wake with a sare head.

1785.  Burns, Death & Dr. Hornbook, xxvi. Tippence-worth to mend her head, When it was sair.

1824.  Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., 324. A confounded sair head, proceeding from the effects of taking the wee drap.

1880.  Antrim & Down Gloss., 96. Sore head, sb. a headache.

  d.  A bear with a sore head, used allusively for a type of sullen irritability, peevishness or sensitiveness. Cf. SORE-HEAD, -HEADED.

1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, xxxviii. As sulky as a bear with a sore head.

  10.  Of persons: Suffering pain (from wounds, disease, or other cause). Freq. in alliteration with sick. Also absol.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 6229. In such solas, As folc miȝte þat vorwounded & sor & wery was.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1461. Now er we hale, now seke and sare.

c. 1400.  26 Pol. Poems, xxvi. 109. After he felle foule and sore For luste of wemen that was hym nygh.

1542–3.  Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII., c. 8 § 1. In case they [surgeons] wolde minister their cunninge to sore people vnrewarded.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 65. If you went in paine Master, this knaue wold goe sore.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xxxiv. 25. On the thirde day when they were sore [after circumcision].

1699.  Dryden, Ep. to J. Driden, 167, in Fables (1700), 99 (J.).

1837.  Major Richardson, Brit. Leg. (ed. 2), II. 291. He was exceedingly sore and faint with the bruises he had received.

  11.  Afflicted with sorrow or grief; pained, distressed: a. Of the heart, etc.

c. 1205.  Lay., 149. For he nefde nenne sune þe sarure was his heorte.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 4044. Manie tiding quad balaam ðor, ðe made balakes herte sor.

c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., 2141. Markes hert was sare.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 2074. With hoge harmes to haue, & his hert sarre.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccccv. 704. His mynde was so sore therof, that no man coude set hym therfro.

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), xviii. 4. I most departe Frome hir … With hairt full soir.

1721.  Ramsay, Prospect of Plenty, 11. ’Till … wi’ a heart right sair, He sees the bites grow bein, as he grows bare.

1785.  Burns, Halloween, viii. An’ Jean had e’en a sair heart To see’t that night.

1834.  Pringle, Afr. Sk., xiv. 435. They were brothers—until the herds of the Amakosa increased so as to make the hearts of the Boors sore.

1871.  C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, iii. I think I have made both your hearts sorer than they were before.

1891.  Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, vii. With a sore conscience [he] was constantly driven to do what he disapproved.

  b.  Of persons. Now dial.

c. 1205.  Lay., 638. Þe king wes on mode sar; þet wes for his monne lure.

13[?].  R. Glouc. (1724), 7051. Þeruore þe kyng vor hys deþ þe sorrore was.

13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1987. Vche segge as sore, to seuer with hym þere, As þay hade wonde worþyly with þat wlonk euer.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 349/1. Sore, dolens.

1525.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. lxi. [lxiii.] 203. The foresayd knyght helde hymselfe sore of the informacyon of his wyfe.

1876.  [Robinson], Whitby Gloss., 159. ‘I ’s varry sair for ’t,’ sorry for it.

  12.  a. Of persons or their feelings: Inclined to be irritated or grieved; irritable, sensitive.

1671.  Tillotson, Serm., 155 (J.). Malice and hatred, wrath and revenge, are very fretting and vexatious, and apt to make our minds sore and uneasie.

1738.  Pope, Epil. Sat., I. 55. Laugh at your friends, and, if your Friends are sore, So much the better, you may laugh the more.

1815.  Scott, Guy M., v. One of the few subjects on which he felt sore.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 233. The public mind was so sore and excitable that these lies readily found credit.

  b.  Sore place, point, spot, a point or matter in respect of which one is easily vexed or irritated.

1690.  W. Walker, Idiomat. Anglo-Lat., 426. It is a sore place; i. e. a thing that being touched upon will gall or grieve.

1863.  Bradford Advertiser, 18 July, 5/2. Some specially sore point to which you can direct your attack.

  c.  Similarly with subject, etc.

1833.  Ht. Martineau, Berkeley the Banker, I. viii. 167. It was indeed a sore subject in every house in Haleham.

1871.  Meredith, H. Richmond, xlviii. There lies the evil of a sore subject among persons of one household.

1886.  W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 251. Now that they are Christians, the thought of having three of their children interred in a Jewish cemetery is a very sore one with them.

  13.  Comb., as sore-foot, -hearted, -toed adjs.; sore-eyed a., having sore eyes; also applied to sheath-billed pigeons, which have reddish caruncles round the eyes.

1570.  Satir. Poems Reform., x. 394. Quhilk sycht to se … maid me sair hartit.

a. 1733.  in Prior’s Poems (1733), III. 110. He’s dropsical, she is sore-ey’d.

1756.  C. Smart, trans. Horace, Epist., I. ii. (1826), II. 191. To him, that is a slave to desire or to fear, house and estate do just as much good as paintings to a sore-eyed person.

1874.  W. Cory, Lett. & Jrnls. (1897), 364. Men who are a little too sore-toed for marching.

1911.  Eleanor Farjeon, in Blackw. Mag., Nov., 579/1. And now we see him arriving sorefoot at the Three Pigeons in Brentford.