| 释义 |
▪ I. sob, n.1|sɒb|
Also 4–6 sobbe, 8–9 Sc. sab.
[f. sob v.1]
1. a. An act of sobbing; a convulsive catching of the breath under the influence of grief.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iv. 375 Among hise sobbes and his sykes sore. 1530Palsgr. 272/1 Sobbe that cometh in wepynge, sanglovt. 1563Sackville Induct. Mirr. Mag. lxxiii. The syghes, the sobbes, the diepe and deadly groane. 1583W. Hunnis (title), Seuen Sobs of a Sorrowfull Soule for Sinne. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 46 The rich mans reuenewes are serued in with bitter sops and sobs to. 1712–4Pope Rape Lock iv. 84 There she collects the force of female lungs, Sighs, sobs, and passions. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. vi. xv, And I with sobs did pray. 1821Shelley Ginevra 181 Some melted into tears without a sob. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola x, Her eyes had been swelling with tears again, and she ended with a sob.
b. A similar act or sound expressive of pain or exertion; an utterance resembling a sob.
c1480Henryson Pract. Medicyne 55 Sevin sobbis of ane selche. 1784Cowper Task iii. 328 Detested sport,..That feeds upon the sobs..Of harmless nature. 1793Wordsw. Evening Walk 443 The tremulous sob of the complaining owl. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxv, Right up Ben-Lomond could he press, And not a sob his toil confess.
†c. An act, on the part of a horse, of recovering its wind after exertion; an opportunity allowed to it of doing this; hence fig., a rest or respite. Chiefly in the phr. to give..a sob. Obs.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iii. 25 The man sir, that when gentlemen are tired giues them a sob, and rests them. 1593G. Markham Disc. Horsem. iii. I, If your Horse..cannot runne long with a winde, but if he want staies or sobbes. 1607― Cavelarice iii. i. 8 These staies and recouerings of wind in the horse, my maisters, the northerne riders call Sobs. 1624W. Browne Brown's 50 Years' Practice F 2, Euer yeeld willingly to your hand whensoeuer you see occasion to take him up to giue him a sobe, for that horse I hold to bee perfectly and truly mouthed. a1658Cleveland To his Hermaphrodite 44 But was he dead? Did not his Soul..break up House, like an expensive Lord, That gives his Purse a Sob, and lives at Board?
2. transf. A sound resembling that of a sob.
1765Compl. Maltster & Brewer 68 The first filling should not be until the sobs are quite down at the bung. 1820Hogg Sheph. Cal. vii, Goodnight to a' younger brothers, puffings o' love vows, and sabs o' wind! 1881Grove's Dict. Music III. 190 That species of musical sob produced by the repercussion of a prolonged note before the final cadence. 1897Watts-Dunton Coming of Love (1899) 9 With sea-sobs warning of the awakened wind.
3. Comb., as sob-broken, sob-like adjs.
1816J. Wilson City of Plague Poems 1825 I. 197 Sob-broken words of prayer! a1850Rossetti Dante & Circle i. (1874) 72 A voice so sob-broken, So feeble with the agony of tears. 1857Dufferin Lett. High Lat. (ed. 3) 93 Wilson's sob-like snores shook..the canvas walls. 1895Cent. Mag. Aug. 571/2 It was..occasionally making a sob-like sound.
b. colloq. (orig. U.S.) with reference to sentimental appeals to the emotions, as sob act, sob-raiser, sob-reporter, sob-singer, sob-song, sob specialist, sob squad, sob-talk, sob tune; sob brother U.S. colloq., a sentimental man; sob sister, a female journalist who writes sentimental reports or articles; a writer of sob stories; hence in various transf. uses, esp.: an actress who plays pathetic roles; a sentimental, impractical person, a do-gooder; a journalist who gives advice on readers' problems; sob story, a report or article designed to make a sentimental appeal to the emotions; transf. a narrative of one's misfortunes, a ‘hard luck story’; sob-stuff, speech or writing which makes a sentimental appeal to the emotions; also attrib.
a1953E. O'Neill Long Day's Journey into Night (1956) iv. 157 He's been putting on the old sob act for you, eh?
1914J. London Let. 23 Sept. (1966) 430 All I can say is that he is a weak-brother, a sob-brother. 1917S. Graham Priest of Ideal xxix. 278 Our great sob-raiser who persistently pleads in the Primer for all causes which obviously evoke pity and rage. 1929McGraw-Hill Book Notes 11 Feb., The story in that announcement..looked too much like the efforts of a newspaper sob-reporter. 1955Star (Johannesburg) 10 Oct. 8/2 Should a squad of police be seconded..to guard the American ‘sob singer’ Johnnie Ray?
1912Sat. Even. Post (N.Y.) 7 Dec. 9/3 Of the Daily Blatt's seven sob sisters six had husbands; and of the six it was more or less pure coincidence that five were supported by their wives. 1922Opportunities in Motion Picture Ind. (Photoplay Research Soc.) 5 Some sob-sisters have gratified their ambition to play comedy, and have played it well. 1927Sat. Even. Post (N.Y.) 24 Dec. 62/3 The sob sisters and the sob brothers..who didn't raise their boys to be soldiers. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xviii. 196 It's one of the things the sob-sisters are sure to write up. 1939Sun (Baltimore) 21 Feb. 9/8 Forecasting opposition to his plan by ‘sob-sisters’ Goodwin said ‘it wouldn't do any harm to give these sob-sisters a couple of wallops too’. 1963J. Mitford Amer. Way Death x. 153 Mrs. St. Johns is best known as one of the original sob sisters, a Hearst reporter in her youth. 1967Boston Herald 8 May 19/5 Now that Svetlana has become America's newest millionaire glamor girl sob-sister, American interest in peeking or looking through the iron curtain is at a new all-time high. 1972Listener 20 July 72/3 Sob sisters, those ladies who advise the unhappy about their problems.
1927New Republic 12 Oct. 211/1 He has possibly scored some moderate hits: in ‘Manhattan Mary’, ‘Broadway’, ‘The Five Step’.., a curiously constructed sob-song called ‘Memories’, and the title-piece. 1964J. P. Clark Three Plays 114 So you turn your broad back Upon me and will continue with your sob-songs?
1931Kansas City (Missouri) Star 3 Nov. 22/5 It is gratifying..that the sob specialists can find practically nothing..to be sorry about.
1912G. M. Hyde Newspaper Reporting 236 The search for human interest material is a modification of the ‘sob squad’ work of the sensational papers, on more delicate lines. 1913Writer's Mag. Nov. 174/2, I wrote the ‘sob’ story of ‘the City that Turned Down Santa’. 1923C. E. Montague Fiery Particles 177 Thomas Curtayne, the greatest of Irishmen, was to be buried in homely state... Here was a sob-story, manifestly. 1949Los Angeles Times 15 June ii. 4/4 How anyone could heed such a sob story is beyond me. 1979N. Hynd False Flags xxi. 188 ‘Sometimes a man tries to do too much.’.. ‘I'm familiar with the old sob story.’ 1982A. Mather Impetuous Masquerade xi. 170 And give him some sob-story?
1918H. C. Witwer in Collier's 11 May 15/2 Well, Joe, we gotta lot of new songs over here now, besides ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ which same is our favourite and a lot more of the old stand-bys, which runs more to the sob stuff. 1922C. Sidgwick Victorian xxvi. 193 When the girls talked sobstuff at school I always told them I meant to marry a millionaire. 1929D. H. Lawrence Pansies 128 A sickly people will slay us If we touch the sob-stuff crown of such martyrs. 1937A. Christie Murder in Mews ix. 223 Of course I'm sorry. I don't indulge in sob-stuff. But I shall miss him. 1978N. Marsh Grave Mistake iii. 90 He puts on a bit of an act like a guide doing his sob-stuff over Mary Queen of Scots in Edinburgh Castle.
1946Koestler Thieves in Night 219 ‘That's so much sob-talk,’ said Matthews.
1926E. O'Neill Great God Brown ii. i. 46 I love those rotten old sob tunes.
▪ II. sob, n.2 slang.|sɒb|
[prob. altered form of sov.]
A pound.
1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard iii. 113 Two hundred sobs was a small piece of fifty grand. 1973‘K. Royce’ Spider Underground v. 79 Norman could have back his fifty sobs; when I failed I didn't want compensation.
▪ III. sob, v.1|sɒb|
Forms: 2 sobben (5 sobbyn), 4–6 sobbe (4 zobbe), 5–7 Sc. sobe, 6– sob (7 sobb); 8–9 Sc. sab.
[app. of imitative origin: cf. WFris. sobje, Du. dial. sabben to suck.]
1. a. intr. To catch the breath in a convulsive manner as the result of violent emotion, esp. grief; to weep in this fashion.
a1200Vices & Virtues 57 Ðe gastliche mann..lihtliche wepð oðer sobbeð, oðerhwile mid bitere teares, oðerhwile mid wel swete teares. 1340[see sobbing vbl. n.]. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 326 He..Swowed and sobbed and syked ful ofte. 1390Gower Conf. II. 319 Sche fond non amendement To syghen or to sobbe more. 1420–22Lydg. Thebes iii. 3380 He can not but sighe, sobbe, and wepe. 1470–85Malory Arthur xviii. ii. 726 She sobbed and wepte a grete whyle. 1530Palsgr. 724/1 The poore boye sobbed, as his herte shulde brust. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iii. i. 137 See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps. 1599― Much Ado ii. iii. 153 Then downe vpon her knees she falls, weepes, sobs, beates her heart. 1611Cotgr., Sanglotter,..to sob often. 1648Hexham ii, Snoffen,..to Sigh, or to Sob. 1727Gay Begg. Opera i. xiii, Polly. The Boy thus, when his Sparrow's flown,..Whines, whimpers, sobs and cries. 1786Burns Tam Samson ii, Kilmarnock lang may grunt an' grane, An' sigh an' sab [v.r. sob], an' greet her lane. 1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 225 He sank on his knees..and sobbed like a child. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. ix, Both waved a farewell to him, and little Frank sobbed to leave him. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon II. 84 Narcissa sobbed with joy and love.
fig.1821Shelley Adonais xiv. 9 The wild Winds flew round, sobbing in their dismay.
b. To make a sound resembling sobbing.
1676Mace Musick's Mon. 170 Cause Them to Sobb, by Slacking your Stopping Hand, so soon as They are Struck. 1721Kelly Scot. Prov. 76 Saugh will sob [in burning] if it was sommer sawn. 1785Burns Halloween x, In loving bleeze they sweetly join, Till white in ase they're sobbin. 1847T. Brown Modern Farriery 410 If he dances about.., sobbing, and drawing his breath quickly, this will be found an indication of his being a whistler, or piper. 1852Zoologist X. 3427 ‘Sobbing’ up and down, as we say of sperm whales. 1879Farrar St. Paul (1883) 49 The thunder..sobbing far away among the distant hills. 1893Tablet 27 May 819 The great Soul Bell of St. Swithun's was sobbing in the winter wind for the death of the bishop.
2. a. To break or burst with sobbing.
1614Earl Stirling Domesday i. Poems (1637) 100 Heaven (clad with darknesse) mourn'd, th' earth sob'd asunder.
b. refl. To bring (oneself) into a certain state, or to sleep, with sobbing.
1658Verney Mem. (1907) II. 138 If you yourselfe were of such a humour that you should..sigh and sobb and pout yourselfe into a sicknesse.
1825Scott Betrothed Concl., Eveline wept,..she prayed—and, finally, sobbed herself to sleep, like an infant. 1851Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. ii. 398 On starving homes! where many a lip Has sobbed itself asleep. 1877Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 191 The child could sob herself to sleep on her father's breast.
3. trans.
a. To send out, bring up, etc., by sobbing or with sobs.
1718Pope Iliad xvi. 419 He sobs his soul out in a gush of blood. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) V. 209 He sobb'd up his grief. 1795Southey Joan of Arc v. 162 Then did I..almost sob my very soul away. 1867A. J. Wilson Vashti xiii, Here..you will live while there is breath in my body,—unless you wish to make me sob it out and die the sooner.
b. To utter with sobs. Usually with out.
1782F. Burney Cecilia v. x, It was not without the utmost difficulty that she could sob out the cause of this fresh sorrow. 1861C. M. Yonge Young Step-Mother iv. 42 ‘Things didn't use to be stupid when Ned was there!’ sobbed Gilbert. 1862M. E. Braddon Lady Audley xxxv, ‘May God soften this blow for you,’ sobbed the young man. 1879Froude Cæsar xxii. 391 Sobbing out their entreaties on their knees.
Hence sobbed ppl. a.; ˈsobber, one who sobs.
1894A. Morrison Mean Streets 267 His bright, strenuous eyes were on the sobbers. 1895W. Platt Women 98 Her sobbed thanks washed it as they fell upon it.
▪ IV. sob, v.2 Now dial. and U.S.
[Of obscure origin.]
trans. To soak, saturate, sop. (Usually in pa. pple.)
1625Markham Inrich. Weald Kent 7 A purer flowre then that which is sobbed in wet. 1658Evelyn Fr. Gard. (1675) 267 When the tree being sobb'd and wet, swells the wood, and loosens the fruit. 1679― Sylva (ed. 3) 178 As the Rain sobs it too much. 1692Rector's Bk. Clayworth (1910) 98 The meadows were so sobb'd, that it cost 15s to make the way..passable. 1725Family Dict. s.v. Sallet, Let them be rather discreetly sprinkled, than over-much sobb'd with Spring-Water. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Sob, to soak, to sop. a1859in Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 425 The high lands are sobbed and boggy. 1887Kentish Gloss. 154 The cloth..is all sobbed with the wet.
Hence sobbed ppl. a.; ˈsobbing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1664Evelyn Sylva 69 Moss is to be rubb'd..off..with a piece of Hair-cloth after a sobbing Rain. 1670Ibid. (ed. 2) 164 For which the best cure is, the plentiful sobbing it in water. 1690Pepys Mem. Royal Navy 72 Rendred black by its long sobbing in water. 1693Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. 31 Lest the Sob'd Leaves, shut up wet, should soon become foul and squalid.
▪ V. † sob, v.3 dial. Obs.
[Of obscure origin.]
trans. To frighten, scare.
In Milton Ref. Engl. i. 20 the correct reading is fob.
1671Skinner Etymol. Ling. Angl. s.v., To Sob one, (i.e.) dialecto Linc. Perterrefacere, Confundere. |