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soothe

verb
/suːð/

Etymology

From Middle English sothen (“to verify, prove the validity of”), from Old English sōþian (“to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþōn, from Proto-Germanic *sanþōną (“to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”). Cognate with Danish sande (“to verify”), Swedish sanna (“to verify”), Icelandic sanna (“to verify”). See also sooth. Displaced Old English frēfran, ġefrēfran (“to comfort, console, soothe”), and partially displaced Old English stillan, ġestillan (“to calm, become calm, pacify, quieten”) (whence modern still). The semantic evolution of "to verify, prove the validity of" → "to comfort" (first attested in the late 17th century) comes from the notion of assuaging someone by supporting the truth of what they say.

  1. derived from *h₁es-✻ — “to be”
  2. inherited from *sanþōną✻ — “to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”
  3. inherited from *sanþōn✻
  4. inherited from sōþian — “to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”
  5. inherited from sothen — “to verify, prove the validity of”

Definitions

  1. To restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility

    To restore to ease, comfort, or tranquility; relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.

    • Muſick has Charms to ſooth a ſavage Breaſt, To ſoften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
    • Yet Wayne Rooney scored at a good time, three minutes after the restart, to soothe any gathering nerves and the night can ultimately be chalked off as one of the finest occasions of Hodgson's 17 months in the job.

  2. To allay

    To allay; assuage; mitigate; soften.

  3. To smooth over

    To smooth over; render less obnoxious.

  4. ›+ 8 more definitions

    1. To calm or placate someone or some situation.

    2. To ease or relieve pain or suffering.

      • I am a cider drinker, I drinks it all of the day I am a cider drinker, it soothes all me troubles away

    3. To temporise by assent, concession, flattery, or cajolery.

    4. To bring comfort or relief.

    5. To keep in good humour

      To keep in good humour; wheedle; cajole; flatter.

    6. To prove true

      To prove true; verify; confirm as true.

    7. To confirm the statements of

      To confirm the statements of; maintain the truthfulness of (a person); bear out.

    8. To assent to

      To assent to; yield to; humour by agreement or concession.

      • To be ſhort, a wretched and curſed generation they be; hypocrites, pretending friendſhip, but they can not skill of plaine dealing and franke ſpeech. Rich men they claw, ſooth up and flatter: the poore they contemne and despiſe.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for soothe. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA