释义 |
▪ I. soar obs. form of sore. ▪ II. soar, n.|sɔə(r)| Also 7 soare. [f. soar v., perh. partly after F. essor. In Beaum. & Fletcher's Bonduca iv. iv. the second folio (1679) has ‘fearless of your bloody soars’; but the reading of the first folio (1647) is ‘fears’, evidently a misprint for ‘sears’, i.e. claws.] 1. The altitude attained in soaring; range of flight upwards. Also fig.
1596Edw. III, ii. i, Fly it a pitch aboue the soare of praise. 1667Milton P.L. v. 270 Within soare Of Towring Eagles. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 361 That eye so finely wrought Beyond the search of sense, the soar of thought. 1804J. Grahame Sabbath (1839) 22/1 A splendid cloud appeared..; then hovering, floats, High as the soar of eagle. 1892Pall Mall G. 26 May 7/1 It requires the highest soar of fancy to imagine [etc.]. 2. The act of soaring or rising high.
1817Coleridge Satyrane's Lett. ii. in Biog. Lit. (1882) 252 A liberated bird..who now after his first soar of freedom poises himself in the upper air. 1820Scott Abbot xv, It is ill whistling for a hawk when she is once on the soar. 1870Rossetti Poems, Ho. Life iv, Just when at that swallow's soar Your neck turned so. transf.1825Beddoes Poems, To Bryan Procter 166 Wings upraise thee long In the unvacillating soar of song. 1854Lowell Fireside Trav. (1864) 321 There is none of the spring and soar which one may see even in the Lombard churches. 1890Saintsbury Elizab. Lit. iv. 102 A little later we meet with that towering soar of verse which is also peculiar to the period. ▪ III. soar, v.|sɔə(r)| Forms: 4–5, 7 sore, 5–6 sowre, 5–7 soore (6 Sc. soir), 6–7 soare, 6– soar. [ad. F. essorer (= It. sorare) to fly up, to soar, repr. a pop. Lat. *exaurare, f. aura air.] I. intr. 1. a. Of birds: To fly or mount upwards; to ascend to a towering height; also loosely, to sail or skim at a great height. Occas. with up.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame i. 499 Faste be the sonne, as hye As kenne myght I with myn ye, Me thought I sawgh an Egle sore. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vii. 25 When þai see þat fewle sore in þe aer. 1486Bk. St. Albans, Hawking b ij, Hit may happyn that she will sowre so hegh in to the Eyre, that ye shall Nether se hir nor fynde hir. 1530Palsgr. 725/1, I soore, as an hauke dothe. 1587Mirr. Mag., Sabrina vi, What birde can flye, and soare, if stormes doe rage. 1688Holme Armory ii. xi. 229/2 He beareth Argent, an Eagle volant in bend, (soaring, or flying a loft). 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 500 Watchful Herons..mounting upward with erected Flight, Gain on the Skies, and soar above the Sight. 1788V. Knox Winter Even. xxv. (1790) I. 208 It is not till the wings have acquired strength and agility, that it..dares to soar undauntedly in the fields of air. 1830Herschel Study Nat. Philos. 84 A flight of Condors soaring in circles in a particular spot. 1867M. E. Herbert Cradle L. viii. 217 Here and there eagles and hawks soared above their heads. b. transf. Of persons, etc. Chiefly poet. or rhet.
c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 670, I have no cause, I wote wele, to sore, As doth an hawk. 1593Marlowe Edw. II, v. i, For such outragious passions cloye my soule, As..often am I sowring vp to heauen. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iii. i. 105 O, in what orbe thy mightie spirit soares. 1743C. Wesley Hymn, ‘Christ the Lord’ v, Soar we now where Christ has led. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 77 How oft..We..Soar'd in the swing,..Thro' sister elms. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 265 It was said..that James had furnished the wings with which his brother had soared to a higher region. 1875Manning Mission H. Ghost xii. 343 We believe ourselves to have wings, and to be soaring into heights of the spiritual life. c. In various fig. and transf. uses.
16051st Pt. Jeronimo ii. vi, By that argument you firmly proue honor to sore aboue the pitch of loue. 1648J. Beaumont Psyche xxiv. ccxii, Oft she resolved..to wait Heav'n's leisure, till her Heart might thither sore. a1735Ld. Lansdowne On Unnatural Flights in Poetry 23 Rash hyperboles that soar so high. 1754Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. i. 50 It soars above the reach of human Reason. 1820Scott Monast. xiii, On the present occasion..the wrath of good Dame Elspeth soared higher than usual. d. To fly away.
1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 136 Ther is no man such a Niasse, but that continuall..repulses wil make him soare away. e. To hover about a place. Also, of fish: To remain at the surface of the water.
1592Kyd Sol. & Pers. ii. ii, My ship shall be..blowne with sighs; So will I soare about the Turkish land, Vntill [etc.]. 1653Walton Angler 53 The Chubs..will presently rise up to the top again, and lie there soaring till some shadow affrights them again. f. Aeronaut. Of an aircraft or its pilot: to fly without the aid of an engine, esp. for an extended period without significant loss of altitude.
1893O. Chanute in Amer. Engineer & Railroad Jrnl. Feb. 85/2 M. de Sanderval..is to be commended for having made an earnest if unsuccessful effort to learn how to soar in a wind like a bird. 1903W. Wright in Jrnl. Western Soc. Engineers VIII. 402 On trial we found that the machine would soar on the side of a hill having a slope of about 7 degrees. Ibid. 407 It would be easy to soar in front of any hill of suitable slope, whenever the wind blew with sufficient force to furnish support. 1931V. W. Pagé ABC of Gliding vii. 159 An expert in Germany recently soared for a distance of 42 miles. 1940L. B. Barringer Flight without Power xii. 218 After being checked out in two-seaters, they are allowed to soar in single-seaters. 1976D. Piggott Gliding (ed. 4) viii. 49 In general, it is not wise to attempt to soar by circling if you are below 500 feet. 2. fig. To mount, ascend, or rise to a higher or more exalted level in some respect. The separate groups of quotations illustrate the main variations of usage. (a)1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 109 How high a pitch his resolution soares! 1647Cowley Mistr., Vain Love, Desires, which whilst so high they soar, Are Proud as that I lov'd before. 1811Shelley Love 14 Each energy of soul surviving More vivid, soars above. 1863M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. II. iii. 41, I don't believe that young lady's soul ever soars above laces and ribbons. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 181 His ambition did not soar high. (b)1601Barlow Serm. Paules Crosse 30 He soared in his highest pitch of fauour with her Maiestie. 1622in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1908) II. 147 They are nowe aloft and soare in pride. 1663S. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. (1687) 211 It will depress and thrust you down below others, while you seem to be..soaring to a pitch far above them. 1728Young Love Fame i. 157 When men of infamy to grandeur soar. 1757Johnson Idler No. 33 ⁋26 From whence they soared to the most elevated heights of literary fame. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xlviii, The feeling of pique..at seeing Effie..soar suddenly so high above her in life. (c)1615R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 173, I should desire..To take an Eagles wing and soare farre higher, Then hitherto my weake Muse could attaine. 1663S. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. (1687) 146 As they think him an Orator who mounts and soars aloft (as they call it) in high-flowen words. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 91 Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar. 1784Cowper Task v. 723 To be divinely free, To soar, and to anticipate the skies. 1816Shelley Dæmon i. 206 Then has thy rapt imagination soared Where..The temple of the mightiest Daemon stands. 1870Emerson Soc. & Sol., Courage Wks. (Bohn) III. 112 Poetry and eloquence catch the hint, and soar to a pitch unknown before. 3. a. Of inanimate objects: To ascend, rise up to a height. Also transf.
1697Dryden æneid viii. 558 The boiling waters roar; And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar. a1721Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) I. 12 The sigh which sent forth that..word, Up tow'rds the heavens like a bright meteor soar'd. 1812Byron Ch. Har. ii. iii, Till man shall learn Vainly his incense soars, his victim bleeds. b. Of a mountain, building, etc.: To rise majestically or imposingly to a great altitude. Also with up.
1812Byron Ch. Har. i. lx, Oh, thou Parnassus! whom I now survey,..soaring snow-clad through thy native sky. 1858Lytton What will He do? i. iv, At the rear of the palace soars up the old Abbey. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 154 Soaring over the city and the intervening valley, rose the height of Penhow. c. Of an amount, price, etc.: to rise or increase rapidly. Hence, of a commodity: to increase rapidly in price.
1929T. Wolfe Look Homeward, Angel xv. 196 She realized that in a very short time land values would soar beyond her present means. 1965New Statesman 30 Apr. 672/3 The improvement..cannot be more than a stopgap whilst numbers continue to soar. 1978I. B. Singer Shosha i. 12 The price of meat soared. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 1 a/4 Gold soared to another record of $380 at London's five major bullion firms. II. trans. 4. To exalt. rare.
1595Barnfield Poems, Sonnet to T. T. iv, So those rare Sonnets, where wits ripe doth lie,..doe soare thy fame to skie. 5. To perform or accomplish (a flight) by rising high. Freq. in fig. context.
1659Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. i. 21 Here he soareth so high a flight I cannot follow him. 1745Eliza Heywood Female Spect. (1748) IV. 71 A person of weak intellects, in attempting to soar too high a flight, not seldom shares the fate of Icarus. 1806H. Siddons Maid, Wife, & Widow I. Pref. p. xvii, Here we behold the muse of satire soaring the flights of an eagle. 6. To attain or reach (a height) by upward flight; to fly up through (the air, etc.). Also fig.
1667Milton P.L. vii. 421 They summ'd thir Penns, and soaring th' air sublime With clang despis'd the ground. 1742Young Nt. Th. iv. 612 Of lavish love, stupendous heights to soar. 1765Beattie To Churchill 34 He soars Pindaric heights, and sails the waste of Heaven. 7. To cause to soar.
1661J. Heath in J. W. Draper Cent. Broadside Elegies (1928) No. 43 A Cherubs wing hath soar'd him to this Hight. 1930R. Campbell Adamastor 88 Partaking the strain of the heavenward pride That soars me away from the earth I deride. 1978A. Welch Book of Airports ii. 28/1 Soaring the glider all the way back to where you started from is both exciting and satisfying. 1982Sci. Amer. July 60/1 With the engine off the craft can be soared like a hang glider. |