sowl
/soʊl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Good lorjus days, whot whofo times ar' theese! / Pot-baws ar scant, an dear is seawl an cheese!"
- "It [the word pittance] does not signify the whole share of each individual in a conventual meal, but merely that smaller portion of more tasty viands which in frugal housekeeping is used to give relish to the bread or pottage constituting the substance of the meal; what is still called sowl or sowling in some parts of England. The Pembrokeshire peasant says, "I have not had a bit of sowl to my bread for these six months"."
- "What was called "souling," or "sowling," was practised by the female portion of the poor, who visited their more wealthy neighbours, demanding "sowl," which signified, in its provincial acceptation, any condiment eaten with bread, such as meat, fish, &c., but especially cheese."
- "All Souls' Day was celebrated by souling, a custom going back to pre-Reformation days: soul cakers and mummers toured the village begging for a soul cake – a plain, round, flat cake seasoned with spices."
- "[W]here in tyme past wthin the p[ar]ish chirch of new Wyndesor hath ben kept yerely on Trinite Sunday an obitt wᵗʰ mass of requiem on the moro next followᵍ for the Sowles of all the Brethren and sisters of the Trinite brotherhood there, wᶜʰ tyme out of mynde hath bene usyd, the said Andrew for th' inlarging of the sᵈ anniv[er]sary or obiit for more merytte to all the seyd sowls and for the well of all his good friends sowls hath gyven to the wardens of the sᵈ fraternite or Brotherhood to the brothern and systers of the same frat[er]nite and to their successors for ev[er] a certaine tenem[en]t in new Wyndsor […]"
- "Of yowr cherity pray for the ſowls of Reynald Peckham the elder, Squire for the body of the moſt excellent Prince king Henry the eight, who deceſed 27 Feb. 1525. and for the ſowl of Ioice Colepeper his wife which deceſed 20. March, 1523."
Etymology
From Middle English sowel, souel, suvel (“food eaten with bread; food in general”), from Old English sufel, sufol (“anything (especially relish) eaten with bread; sowl”), from Proto-West Germanic *sufl, from Proto-Germanic *suflą (“entremets, viands”), from Proto-Indo-European *seu-, *sew- (“juice; moisture; rain”). The word is cognate with Danish sul (“sowl”), Middle Dutch suvel, zuvel (Dutch zuivel (“dairy products”)), Middle Low German suvel, süvel, suffel (“sowl”), Old High German sufil, sufili, Old Norse sufl, Norwegian suvl, sovl, sul (“milk porridge; food eaten with bread, porridge or soup”), Saterland Frisian süfel (“dairy products”), Swedish sovel (“sowl”), West Frisian suvel (“dairy products”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /soʊl/
- British English: /səʊl/
Usage
- British usage
- Archaic
- Transitive verb
- Obsolete
Inflected Forms
sowls (plural)
seawl (alternative)
sewl (alternative)
sool (alternative)
soul (alternative)
soule (alternative)
sow (alternative)
sowe (alternative)
sowel (alternative)
sowle (alternative)
sowli (alternative)
sowls (present, singular)