A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1375-1490, 1551, 1632
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Sor(r)ow, v. Also: sorowe, sorou. P.p. also sorouyt. [ME and e.m.E. sorȝe (c1175), serrȝhe (Orm), soruu (Cursor M.), sorow (Rolle), OE sorᵹian.]
1. intr. To feel sorrow or sadness; to grieve for, regret. Also const. our.(1) pres. c1400 Troy-bk. ii 1075.
They sorow all thar commonly And of hyr pytte has for-thy 1551 Hamilton Catechism 4.
Quhat trew Christin hart will nocht … lament and sorrow, to se sa mony sectisp.t. c1450-2 Howlat 957 (A).
He solpit, he sorowit [B. sorrowit], in sighingis seirep.p. 1375 Barb. xx 284.
And quhen thai lang thus sorowit had a1400 Legends of the Saints xl 664.
Quhen modir & fadire bath Had sorouyt til the lyf thai lath(2) 1375 Barb. xx 484.
Lang quhile our hym thai sorowit swa
2. tr. To mourn, lament. c1400 Troy-bk. ii 792.
Cassandra … grevously the slaughtre thar … sorowed yhar c1490 Porteous Noblenes 171/21 (A).
I may complene sorowe & bevale mony men that in all thingis has counterfeit myne estait 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii 304.
Their time was come, which mortality might sorrow, but … not preuent
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