Forms: α. 3 sucurs, sukurs, 4 socurs, -ourse, Sc. succouris, 4–5 socoures, 4–6 socours, Sc. succourss, 5 socors, socouris, 5, 7 secours, 6 souc(c)oures, Sc. succurss, -urris, 6–7 succors, succours, 7 succourse. β. 3–5 socur, 3–6 socour, 4 succure, sukour, soker, 4–5 sokour, socure, 4, 6 succur, 4–6 socoure, 5 soucour, socor, socowre, sokoure, 5–6 sucour, 6 suc(c)oure, socowr, Sc. suckyr, 6–7 sucker, 8 souccour, 6– (now U.S.) succor, 4– succour. [ME. sucurs, socurs, socours, etc., a. OF. (AF.) sucurs, soc(c)ours, etc. (mod.F. secours) = It. soccorso:—med.L. succursu-s, n. of action f. succurrĕre to SUCCOUR. The final -s was at an early date apprehended as the plural suffix and a new singular (succour) came into existence, the plural of which is identical with the old singular.
G. succurs (from OF.) is used in the military sense, and MDu. secors, socoers, in the general sense.]
1. Aid, help, assistance.
α. a. 1225. Ancr. R., 244. Inward,… bonen biwinneð sone sucurs & help … aȝean flesches fondunges.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 136. Thai waken Crist and askes socoures Wit orisoun.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 328. Till god sum succouris till him send.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1341. Withouten hys socourse, Twenty tyme y-swowned hath she thanne.
c. 1460. Sir R. Ros, La Belle Dame, 847. I can no mor, but aske of hem socours.
1533. Bellenden, Livy (B. M. MS.), III. v. (S.T.S.), II. App. 306. Þe romans knew vele þai war freyndis cumin to þair succurss.
a. 1542. Wyatt, ‘So feble is the threde,’ 3. But it have elleswhere some aide or some socours The runnyng spyndell of my fate anon shall end his cours.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasmus Par. Matt. iii. 11 b. Who so euer distrusting god doe leane vnto the souccoures of this world.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. iv. § 2. Luther … being no waies ayded by the opinions of his owne time, was enforced … to call former times to his succors.
β. c. 1290. Beket, 60, in S. Eng. Leg., 108. Þoruȝ grace þat heo hadde Of Iesu crist, and socur of men þat hire ouer ladden.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 24479. Her-wit come me son succur And sum lightnes o mi langur.
c. 1315. Shoreham, II. 5. Gode atende to my socour.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 3284. Þe folk fleiȝe vnfain And socour criden schille.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 293. Clepende and criende al the day For socour and deliverance.
c. 1450. Merlin, iii. 50. We haue heere no vitaile to abide after socour of oure frendes.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxvi. 29. At hellis ȝettis he gaf hyme na succour.
1523. Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII., c. 13. The said Haven [was] greatly amended to the sucour and comfort of all the marchauntes ther resortyng.
1551. Crowley, Pleas. & Payne, 221. No man shall him heare Nor at his nede shewe him succoure.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. iv. 75. Here’s a yong maid with travaile much oppressed, And faints for succour. Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., V. iv. 55. I might see from farre, some forty Truncheoners draw to her succour.
1681. Belon, New Myst. Physick, Introd. 23. To this purpose, we must fly again to Chymistry for Succor.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. iii. 151. Indians … bartered their fish … with our people. This was indeed some little succour.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 4, ¶ 6. The devotion of life or fortune to the succour of the poor.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 80. Many exiles, who had come … to apply for succour, heard their sentence, and went brokenhearted away.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, lvi. Paul’s first impulse was to fly to the succour of his Roman brethren.
† b. To do succour, to give assistance to. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4903. He þat has yow don socur Stoln haue yee of his tresur.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Compl. Mars, 292. Her that, with vnfeyned humble chere, Was euere redy to do yow socoure.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxv. 224. Oberon … dyd me such socoure and ayde, that I came to my purpose.
2. One who or that which helps; a means of assistance; an aid.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21846. To be vr socur at vr end.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1606. Ther may no thyng ben his socour.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Sam. xxi. 17. Abisay, the sone of Saruye, was to hym a socour.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 1019. Eek the blossom greet socour is Of euery tre ther swetnesse in the flour is.
c. 1450. Merlin, 11. God be my socoure in my moste nede as I haue seide trouth.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xxi. 19. Thou art my sucoure, haist the to helpe me.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Wisd. xvii. 11. Feare is nothing els, but a betraying of the succours, which reason offreth.
1620. Fletcher, etc., Double Marr., V. ii. You have lost two noble succors.
1696. Stanhope, Chr. Pattern (1711), 79. Since then so little confidence is due to his succours, the concern ought not to be great, if he withdraw … them.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 167, ¶ 6. The succours of sickness ought not to be wasted in health.
1829. I. Taylor, Enthus., x. 264. Christianity … even when unaided by those secular succours.
3. Military assistance in men or supplies; esp. auxiliary forces; reinforcements.
sing. α. a. 1225. Ancr. R., 232. Hwoso is siker of sukurs þet him schal sone kumen, & ȝelt tauh up his kastel to his wiðerwines.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIX. 641. In thar cuntre heir ar we, Quhar thar may cum vs na succourss.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., II. viii. 106. He had but a fewe folke but he wayted after a grete secours.
1523. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., V. 212. That my lord of Arrane and succurris suld haist thaim to him.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, V. ii. (S.T.S.), II. 147. Mvniciouns … to resist euery succurss or supple þat mycht cum þarefra.
1608. Chapman, Byron’s Conspir., I. i. 26. Spaines colde friendship, and his lingring succours.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Hen. VIII. (1683), 621. To send several Ambassadors into England and France to demand succours.
β. 1297. R. Glouc. 11980. Þat hom ne com no socour hii seie al so wel, So þat … hii ȝolde vp þen castel.
1340–70. Alisaunder, 148. Þei see no succour in no syde aboute, That was come to hur koste þe king for to lett.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 9700. Prayond hom … For to buske hym to batell, & þo buernes helpe In offence of hor fos, and hor fuerse socour.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, III. xi. 113. Kyng Pellinore … gaf hym an old courser, and kyng Arthur gaf hym armour and a swerd, and els had he none other socour.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 18 b. He was required to make hast,… although he brought no succor with him.
1666. Dryden, Ann. Mirab., lxxiii. Our watchful General had discern’d from far This mighty succour, which made glad the Foe.
1802. James, Milit. Dict., Succour, in war, assistance in men, stores, or ammunition.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 665. Succour, an enterprise undertaken to relieve a place besieged or blockaded, by either forcing the enemy from before it, or throwing in supplies.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), 414/1. To throw succour or help into a place means to introduce armed men, ammunition, provisions, &c. into a besieged place.
pl. a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 79. Perceivyng that their succours were taken, [they] playnely judged that the toune could not long continue.
1625–8. trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., II. (1688), 226. To provoke them to Battel, before all their Succours were come together out of France and Germany.
1663. Wharton, in 11th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 13. A great defeat given the Dutch by the Bishop … upon which the French succours are returned, re infecta.
1741. Middleton, Cicero, II. x. 417. Antony had invested it so closely … that no succours could be thrown into it.
1768. Boswell, Corsica, ii. (ed. 2), 114. The succours which he left, were not of much avail.
1805. James, Milit. Dict. (ed. 2), To throw in succours, to introduce armed men, ammunition, provisions, &c. into a besieged place.
1842. Macaulay, Lake Reg., xiii. There rode the Volscian succours.
1854. J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), I. xiii. 223. The French hoped that they were French ships conveying to them succors from Alexandria or from France.
4. Shelter, protection; a place of shelter, sheltered place, refuge. Obs. exc. dial.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5600. Þe kinges kin … O quam sprang of þe sauueur þat broght vs all in-to socur.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 323. Alle þat drawen men out of þe chirche or seintuarie, whanne þei fleen þeder for sukour after here manslauȝter or þefte, ben cursed.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 137. Of þe oþer deel be made places of socour for pore men.
c. 1450. in Kingsford, Chron. London (1905), 132. A ffalse Breton morderyd a wedew … and aftyrward he toke socor of Holy Chirche at Seynt Georgis in Suthwerk.
1458. in Turner, Dom. Archit. (1851), III. 43. It was a greet socour of erthe & of sonde.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 62. In tempest … warme barth vnder hedge is a sucker to beast.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea (1847), 100. It is full of good succors for shipping.
1628. in Foster, Eng. Factories India (1909), III. 217. This is noe good place to winter in, it being … noe sucker for them from the wether.
1636. in Wilts Arch. Mag., XXIII. 259. A place that in winter time was a special and usual succour for preserving the breed of young deer belonging to the Chace.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 72. Riggons neaver goe well of but att one time of the yeare,… unlesse it bee with such as have good succour for them.
1850. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XI. II. 687. The young beech plants must have ‘succour,’ that is shelter, themselves, or they will not grow.
1893. Wilts. Gloss., s.v., On bleak parts of the Downs the cottages are mostly to be found in the succours.
† 5. A tributary (of a river). Obs.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 199. One of the succours to Medway.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 644. Hauing gotten fresh helpe of some other streames, that send in their succours.
† 6. A pecuniary aid, subsidy. Obs.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., x. (1628), 322. A certaine payment was wont to be made among the souldiers like vnto that which is now called succors.
1619. Carleton, in Eng. & Germ. (Camden), 51. The succours of this state wilbe … 50m florins a monthe for the space of a yeare.
7. Comb., as succour-giver, -suer.
1593. succour suer [see SUBMISSIONER].
c. 1600. J. Bryan, in Farr, S. P. Eliz. (1845), II. 333. God help to me doth send, And to my succour-giuers is an assisting friend.
