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单词 sorry
释义

sorryn.2

Brit. /ˈsɒri/, /ˈsʌri/, /səˈriː/, U.S. /ˈsɔri/, /ˈsɑri/, /ˈsəri/, /səˈri/
Forms:

α. 1500s sirray, 1500s syrray, 1800s– siree, 1800s– sirree, 1800s– sirry.

β. 1500s serray.

γ. 1700s– surry, 1800s surrie, 1800s– surree, 1800s– surrey.

δ. 1700s– sorry, 1800s– soorey, 1900s– sorree, 1900s– sorrey.

ε. Irish English (Wexford) 1800s sarree.

Forms with -e occurring three or more times are also occasionally attested.
Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: sirrah n.
Etymology: Variant of sirrah n.
Now regional and colloquial.
A familiar or (occasionally) contemptuous form of address to a man or boy; = sirrah n. Cf. no siree int., yessiree int.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > man > [noun]
churla800
werec900
rinkeOE
wapmanc950
heOE
wyeOE
gomeOE
ledeOE
seggeOE
shalkOE
manOE
carmanlOE
mother bairnc1225
hemea1250
mother sona1250
hind1297
buck1303
mister mana1325
piecec1325
groomc1330
man of mouldc1330
hathela1350
sire1362
malea1382
fellowa1393
guestc1394
sergeant?a1400
tailarda1400
tulka1400
harlotc1405
mother's sona1470
frekea1475
her1488
masculinea1500
gentlemana1513
horse?a1513
mutton?a1513
merchant1549
child1551
dick1553
sorrya1555
knavea1556
dandiprat1556
cove1567
rat1571
manling1573
bird1575
stone-horse1580
loona1586
shaver1592
slave1592
copemate1593
tit1594
dog1597
hima1599
prick1598
dingle-dangle1605
jade1608
dildoa1616
Roger1631
Johnny1648
boy1651
cod1653
cully1676
son of a bitch1697
cull1698
feller1699
chap1704
buff1708
son of a gun1708
buffer1749
codger1750
Mr1753
he-man1758
fella1778
gilla1790
gloak1795
joker1811
gory1819
covey1821
chappie1822
Charley1825
hombre1832
brother-man1839
rooster1840
blokie1841
hoss1843
Joe1846
guy1847
plug1848
chal1851
rye1851
omee1859
bloke1861
guffin1862
gadgie1865
mug1865
kerel1873
stiff1882
snoozer1884
geezer1885
josser1886
dude1895
gazabo1896
jasper1896
prairie dog1897
sport1897
crow-eater1899
papa1903
gink1906
stud1909
scout1912
head1913
beezer1914
jeff1917
pisser1918
bimbo1919
bozo1920
gee1921
mush1936
rye mush1936
basher1942
okie1943
mugger1945
cat1946
ou1949
tess1952
oke1970
bra1974
muzhik1993
α.
a1555 D. Lindsay Satyre of Thrie Estaits (1602) 28 Now sirray tell quhat is zour name?
?1562 Thersytes sig. A.iv Howe syrray, approche syr Launcelot de lake.
1594 Taming of a Shrew sig. D Well sirray your faire words hath something Alaied my Coller.
1823 Knight's Q. Mag. 1 300 Oi say, sirree, where be'st the gwain?
1884 Punch 1 Mar. 105/2 Pleased to meet you, Sirree, as one of the most re-markable men of your country!
1902 T. W. Reid W. Black iv. 155 He talked with a distinct twang..and he addressed me and his other friends as ‘Siree’ or ‘Colonel’.
1920 E. O'Duffy Wasted Island (new ed.) xv. 451 Now, sirree, what do you think of that adventure?
β. 1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. Biijv What serray what I say? (Quod he): doste thou not know thy selfe.γ. a1796 S. Pegge Two Coll. Derbicisms (1896) 69 Surry,..sirrah; and not a word of anger, for they use it to all ord'nary boys.1841 C. H. Hartshorne Salopia Antiqua 582 Surrey lad, a low and familiar address corrupted from Sirrah lad.1875 A. Porson Notes Quaint Words Dial. S. Worcs. 29 Now, surry, where be you coming scoating to with that 'orse?1988 in E. G. Stanley & T. F. Hoad Words: for Robert Burchfield's 65th Birthday 194 [Sheffield] Surry.δ. a1796 S. Pegge Two Coll. Derbicisms (1896) 65 Sorry,..sirrah; in speaking to a boy or lad.1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) 249 Shuddee loike to hae this 'ere, soorey?1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers ii. 31 ‘Shall ter finish, Sorry?’ cried Barker, his fellow butty.1931 J. Brophy & E. Partridge Songs & Slang Brit. Soldier: 1914–1918 (ed. 3) 359 Sorry, mate, pal, chum. Usually in vocative and chiefly among Yorkshire and Lancashire troops.1977 R. Scollins & J. Titford Ey up, mi Duck! II. 56 Sorrey, the local version of the traditional term ‘sirrah’... Nowadays, a term of familiarity, as in: ‘Eh up, sorrey! Aah's it gooin?’ Towards Nottingham the pronunciation sometimes approximates more to ‘Surrey’.1988 in E. G. Stanley & T. F. Hoad Words: for Robert Burchfield's 65th Birthday 194 [Sheffield] Sorry.ε. 1867 J. Poole Gloss. Wexford 66 Sarree, Sirrah.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

sorryadj.int.n.1

Brit. /ˈsɒri/, U.S. /ˈsɔri/, /ˈsɑri/
Forms:

α. Old English sarg- (inflected form), Old English–early Middle English sarig, Old English (rare)–Middle English sari, late Old English–early Middle English særi, early Middle English særȝest (superlative), early Middle English sariȝ, early Middle English seri, Middle English sarie, Middle English sary, Middle English sarye, 1800s– sarry (regional); English regional (northern) 1700s sarey, 1700s– sairy, 1700s– sary, 1800s saary, 1800s sayrey, 1800s– sairey, 1800s– sarie; Scottish pre-1700 sarie, pre-1700 sarye, pre-1700 1700s–1800s sary, pre-1700 1700s– sairie, pre-1700 1700s– sairy, pre-1700 1800s sarrie, 1700s sarry, 1700s sery, 1800s serie.

β. early Middle English sorj, Middle English soori, Middle English soory, Middle English–1600s sori, Middle English–1600s sorie, Middle English–1600s sory, Middle English–1600s sorye, late Middle English soree, late Middle English– sorry, 1500s soarye, 1500s–1600s sorrie, 1500s–1600s sorrye, 1600s sorre, 1600s sorrey; English regional 1800s– soary (Yorkshire), 1800s– surry (Yorkshire and east midlands), 1800s– sworry (Cumberland); Scottish pre-1700 sore, pre-1700 sorey, pre-1700 sori, pre-1700 sorie, pre-1700 sorri, pre-1700 sorrie, pre-1700 sory, pre-1700 sorye, pre-1700 1700s– sorry.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to West Frisian searich sore, spotty, scabby, Middle Dutch sērich , sērech , zērich , seerich sore, ill, scabby, sad, feeling grief or sorrow (Dutch (now regional) zerig , †zeerig sore, sensitive, hurt, sad, grieving, scabby, etc.), Old Saxon sērag sad (Middle Low German sērich ill, scabby), Old High German sērag (Middle High German sērec , sēric hurt, painful, sore, German regional sērich , sehrig , särig , etc. ill, painful, hurt, sensitive, scabby, etc.) < the Germanic base of sore n.1 + the Germanic base of -y suffix1. Compare sorry-mood adj., sorriness n.Already in Old English closely associated with the etymologically unrelated word sorrow n. (and its derivatives), which occupied the same semantic field of distress and suffering, and with which it developed an even closer formal resemblance in Middle English after the rounding of long ā to long open ō (compare especially reflexes of Old English inflected forms of sorrow n. with palatalized g , as e.g. soreȝe , soriȝe , sorye ); see discussion at sorrow n. The two words (and their derivatives) are often collocated: compare e.g. quots. OE, ?c1225 at sense A. 1c, a1616 at sense A. 5a at the present entry, quot. a1225 at sorrow n. 1aδ. , quot. c1450 at sorrow n. 6, quots. OE2, c1275 at sorry-mood adj. A number of formations in sorry adj. have near-synonymous parallels in sorrow n. (as e.g. sorrowness n. beside sorriness n., sorrowful adj. beside sorryful adj.), in which it can be difficult to determine which word is intended. The association between the two words remains so close that speakers of current English often use sorry adj. as an adjectival form of sorrow n. As a result, sorrow n. has exerted semantic and possibly formal influence on the present word. While cognates of sorry adj. and the related words sore n.1 and sore adj.1 denote both physical and mental suffering in early use (and are now largely restricted to aspects of pain), sorrow n. and its cognates primarily express the idea of mental and emotional suffering, and the narrowing of the present word to this branch of meaning has been attributed to its long-standing association with sorrow n. (See further C. Molina Avila in Estudios Inglese de la Universidad Complutense 5 (1997) 205–18.) The modern pronunciation (with short o ), reflecting a form with shortening of Middle English long ō , perhaps arose as a phonological development, either by shortening in the first syllable of trisyllabic inflected forms (although in this case the shortening must have been relatively late, after the rounding of long ā to long open ō ) or by similar shortening in trisyllabic derivatives with secondary stress (as e.g. sorriness n., sorrily adv., sorry-mood adj.), or perhaps resulted from remodelling after sorrow n.; it is possible that a combination of these factors was involved.
A. adj. (and int.)
1.
a. Distressed, sad; feeling grief or sorrow. Now rare except as merged with senses A. 2 and A. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > [adjective]
sorelyc888
gramec893
sorrowfuleOE
unblithec897
sorryeOE
carefulOE
charyOE
sickOE
yomerOE
sorry-moodOE
sweerc1000
yomerlyOE
sorrilyOE
woea1200
balec1220
sorry?c1225
sorec1275
sorec1275
gremefula1300
sada1300
ruthlyc1300
thoughtfulc1300
woebegonea1325
heavyc1330
grievousc1374
woefula1375
sorrowya1382
dereful?a1400
sorousa1400
sytefula1400
teenfula1400
wrotha1400
balefulc1400
tristy?c1400
tristc1420
dolefulc1430
wapped in woec1440
yhevidc1440
dolenta1450
condolentc1460
discomforted1477
tristfula1492
sorrow1496
dram?a1513
dolorous1513
earnful?1527
troublous1535
amort1546
mournfula1558
passioned1560
sadded1566
tristive1578
distressed1586
passionate1586
sorrowed1596
distressful1601
passionful1605
sighful1606
contristed1625
anguishinga1642
sadful1658
saddened1665
tristitious1694
sick as a parrot1705
pangful1727
woesome1778
grieving1807
ruesome1833
yearned1838
doleant1861
mournsome1869
thoughted1869
tragical1887
grief-stricken1905
α.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxiii. 490 Ða sceolde se hearpere [sc. Orpheus] weorðan swa sarig þæt he ne meahte ongemong oðrum monnum bion.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xlviii. 17 Ða Iosep geseah þæt his fæder sette his swiþran hand ofer Efraimes heafod, he wearþ swiðe sarig.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 1114 Þa wæron hi swa sari swa hi næfre ær ne wæron.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 69 (MED) Ðies ȝunge mann ȝiede a-wei sari.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 14204 Wenhauer þa quene særȝest wimmonne.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 408 Swilc tiding ðhugte adam god, And sumdel quemeð it his seri mood.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 20378 Sai now broþer, suet iohan, Qui ertu sa sari man?
a1425 (c1333–52) L. Minot Poems (1914) 24 Ful sari was sir Philip þen.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 570 Þe childe was sary and þerfore grett.
c1480 (a1400) Seven Sleepers l. 123 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 429 Sary ware þai þane ilkane.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 80 Lat ws in hairt nevir moir be sarie.
a1585 A. Montgomerie 2nd Invective in Poems (2000) I. xcix. 153 Quhair sevin ȝeirs it sowkit, sweillit, singit and sarie.
β. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 117 He forbed his apostles..þat hie neren noht sorie.a1300 Passion our Lord l. 147 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 41 Þo hi hedden al þis iherd heo were ful sori.c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 2161 Al sori mark gan go Til he miȝt tristrem kisse.c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) §385 Ay the moore strong þt the flessh is, the sorier may the soule be.a1450 Generides (Pierpont Morgan) (1865) l. 6746 No soryer man in erth may dwel Than I.a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 1020 Than was [nat] he a litill sory, for sir Launcelot loved hym muche more than ony other.1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Esdras xiii. 13 There came moch people vnto him: some were glad, some were sory.1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 36 In sight of thee soarye parents hee fel to the groundward.a1628 F. Greville Cælica lxxiii, in Certaine Wks. (1633) 115 Sadly clad for sorrowes glory, Making ioy, glad to be sorie.1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 130 I was in the greatest Confusion imaginable..; and began to be at odds with myself whether to be glad or sorry.1780 E. Burke Corr. (1844) II. 379 As to the party, I do not wonder that they are sorry.1820 Ld. Byron Blues ii. 1 Was there ever a man who was married so sorry?1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood iii. 16 You seem to be sorry, Rosa.1920 E. W. Smith & A. M. Dale Ila-speaking Peoples N. Rhodesia I. x. 265 There is a charm..which will cause a great crowd to gather to a man's funeral.., all feeling very sorry and weeping for him tumultuously.
b. Expressing or showing sorrow; mournful.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > [adjective]
carefulOE
charyOE
mourningOE
sorrowingOE
sorryOE
balec1220
heavy?c1225
ruefulc1225
ruthfulc1225
sorrowful?c1225
dolefulc1275
plaintivea1393
complainingc1430
lamentable?a1475
plaining?c1475
dolent1490
lamentatious1532
troublous1535
plaintfula1542
dirge-like1561
yearnfula1566
waymenting1573
mestive1575
lamentatory1576
mestful1577
wailful1579
lamentinga1586
weepy1602
deplorative1610
deploringa1616
gement1656
condolent1691
dirgeful1793
dirgy1830
lamentful1876
OE Beowulf (2008) 2447 Þonne he gyd wrece, sarigne sang, þonne his sunu hangað hrefne to hroðre.
OE Paris Psalter (1932) lv. 7 Ic nu leofum gode lif min secge, sette on ðinre gesyhðe sarige tearas.
a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 46 Þenne seit þe sole wid sorie chere: ‘Awei! wrechede bodi’.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 2182 (MED) With sobbinge and with sory teres This lord goth thanne an humble pas.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 15169 Mani sari sigh..sank tille his herte.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) §241 If he ne hadde pitee of mannes soule, a sory song we myghten alle synge.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Gen. xl. 7 Whi is ȝoure face soriere to dai than it ys wont?
1561 T. Norton & T. Sackville Gorboduc iv. ii But what doth meane The sory chere of her that here doth come?
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 89 Quhen sall my hart ceis of this sorie sang?
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. iv. vii. 215 A wicked wife makes a sorry countenance, an heavy heart.
1793 S. Thomson Poems Sc. Dial. 57 The streamlet sings..a drowsy burden to my sorry song!
1847 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Mar. 247 An old habit of procrastination has been revived, now that I am away from your sadly sorry look, when you see it is not conquered.
1888 Autumn Leaves May 228/1 I can tell by the eager or sorry expression of their faces..whether their anticipations are cheerful or otherwise.
1908 J. Payne Carol & Cadence 54 Thou shouldst..tune thy sorry song Of far forgotten wrong To some more modern ditty.
1976 M. Angelou Singin' & swingin' & gettin' Merry like Christmas (1977) xx. 155 I looked at the pianist, who was white and thin and had a long sorry face.
1992 J. Armstrong Steal Away (1993) 39 Miz Fidelia began a sorry lament as soon as her mother appeared.
c. Causing distress or sorrow; painful, grievous, dismal.sorry meal: see meal n.2 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > wretchedness > [adjective]
unledeeOE
sorryOE
evila1131
usellc1175
wanlichec1275
bad1276
sorry1372
meana1375
caitiff1393
loddera1400
woefula1400
foulc1400
wretched1450
meschant?1473
unselc1480
peevisha1522
miser1542
scurvy?1577
forlorn1582
villainous1582
measled1596
lamented1611
thrallfula1618
despicable1635
deplorable1642
so-and-so1656
poorish1657
squalida1660
lamentable1676
mesquina1706
shan1714
execrable1738
quisby1807
hole in the wall1822
measly1847
bum1878
shag-bag1888
snidey1890
pathetic1900
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > [adjective] > causing sorrow or grief
sorelyc888
sorrowfulOE
sorryOE
yomerlyOE
rueful?c1225
grievous1297
heavyc1374
sada1375
deefulc1380
grievable1390
grieffula1400
grievingc1450
trist?c1450
tristfula1492
dolorousa1500
doly?1553
mournful?1570
griefsome1635
tristifical1656
melancholy1710
OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) xxi. 359 Se bitera dæg & se micla cwyld & þara manna dream & seo sarie sorh & þara sawla gedal & se deadberenda [read deaðberenda] draca & deofla forwyrd & se nearwa seað & se swearta deað.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 86 Sare stiche of sari soreȝe & sorechful.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1974 Ðo iacob sag dat sori writ, He gret.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 7296 Þere hii smite to gadere & made a sori pley.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 3696 So þroli a sori þouȝt þirled min hert.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 1347 Thus was the hors in sori plit.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2922 Þat sari sight was on to se.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 6754 Halfdene kyng of danmarke Made in Ingland sary warke.
c1500 King & Hermit in M. M. Furrow Ten 15th-cent. Comic Poems (1985) 253 I ne hade neuer so sory a dey That I ne had a mery nyȝt.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid iii. iv. 13 The fluid of Stix, that sory place.
1575 G. Gascoigne Hearbes in Wks. (1587) 163 I must indite A wofull case, a chip of sorie chance.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) ii. ii. 18 This is a sorry sight. Lady. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. View more context for this quotation
1683 London Jilt: 2nd Pt. 19 After that this sorry course had lasted about seven or eight Months, my Mother..fell sick and was reduced to that extremity, that she dyed at the Weeks end.
1767 C. Smart tr. Horace Satires ii. i, in tr. Horace Wks. (new ed.) III. 143 May I make a sorry end [L. peream male], If you are not my worthiest friend.
1778 Sketches for Tabernacle Frames 17 A Bishop dangling is a sorry Sight.
1845 Foreign Q. Rev. 34 281 He spent two vexatious years in the sorry business of secularization and indemnization.
1879 H. R. Mighels Sage Brush Leaves 292 Two or three days ago, a young Frenchman was brought in with a sorry wound in the forehead.
1925 Rotarian Jan. 16/2 I find myself now in..a sorry situation.
1959 C. Mackenzie Lunatic Republic 208 It will be a sorry day for the Republic.
1996 D. W. Cross Pope Joan (1997) xxii. 285 Things had come to a sorry pass when Lothar needed children to fight his battles.
2. In predicative use, usually following a verb as to be, to look, to seem, etc.: grieved or vexed about a particular thing; regretful.Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense A. 3a.
a. With about, at, for, †of, etc.
ΚΠ
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. vi. 402 Se [sc. Symmachus] is swiðe sarig for ðinum earfoðum & for ðinum wræcsiðe.
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1900) II. 324 Þa..com þæt landfolc to.., þær heora hlafordes lic læg butan heafde, and wurdon swiðe sarige for his slege on mode.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 6981 Bruttes weoren særi [c1300 Otho sori] for swulchere isihðe.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 7051 Þer uore þe king uor is deþ þe soriore was.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) §415 Enuye..is sory of alle the bountees of his neighebore.
a1450 Generides (Pierpont Morgan) (1865) l. 2068 The pouer wer sory of that dooyng.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) ii. 65 He wes off his eschap sary.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) xxiv. 515 Moche sori was thadmyrall for the dethe of margaris.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxxviijv Yf any man were sory of the duke of Burgoyns death.
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. v. 4 The captaines..being very sorie for it had restored vnto him that which was taken.
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 435 If..these speeches haue proceeded only from your well-wishes to mee, I must be sorry for them.
1669 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa VI. iii. vii. 201 I was sorry at his Death.
1704 W. Congreve Let. 14 Oct. (1964) 32 I find you are resolved to be a man of this world, which I am sorry for, because it will deprive me of you.
1771 Mrs. Harris in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury (1870) I. 214 As you have reason to be fond of Spain and it's inhabitants, you may not be sorry at being remanded.
1806 Ann. Rev. 4 202 We are sorry at observing references to Bryant.
1920 E. Wharton Age of Innocence i. ix. 77 He was not sorry for the dénouement of his visit.
1980 S. W. Martins Great Estate at Work iv. 124 The estate was again sorry at the prospect of his leaving, but this time they thought someone was interested in taking on the farm.
2001 R. Tope Death to Rec. (2003) ix. 139 He hadn't seemed sorry about Sean's death. He'd been more upset at the disappearance of his fork.
b. With subordinate clause.
ΚΠ
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 70 Sorchful & sari ich am þet ich hit schal seggen.
c1300 St. Brendan (Harl.) l. 74 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 222 (MED) Þis monekes..sori were & wroþe ynouȝ þat we hadde so longe ibeo.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) l. 6130 (MED) Þe kyng was sory..Þat he ne miȝth ȝiue hem bataile.
c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 1082 Sche..seyde..that sche sory was That he hath had swych peryl.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 665 I am sary..at þi fourme Is lickenand on na lym..to my selfe.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lxxixv I am somwhat sory that king Henries seruantes of the seller made not maister Enguerant drinke.
1568 Abp. M. Parker Let. 6 Feb. in Corr. (1853) (modernized text) 310 But I am sorry he can so soon conceive displeasantly against me.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII i. ii. 111 I am sorry, that the Duke of Buckingham Is run in your displeasure. View more context for this quotation
1673 J. Dryden Marriage a-la-Mode iv. i. 54 I am sorry we shall not have one course together at the herd.
1733 D. Neal Hist. Puritans II. 216 He was sorry that an established doctrine of the Church should be so distasted.
1797 A. M. Bennett Beggar Girl II. xvi. 310 She was..sorry Doctor Cameron objected to her maternal arrangements.
1823 H. W. Longfellow in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow (1891) I. iii. 33 I am rather sorry that the Exhibition falls so late in the year.
1891 F. W. Farrar Darkness & Dawn II. lviii. 255 I am sorry..that the Emperor's commands admit of no such delay.
1908 Green Bag Nov. 558/2 Witness, Bierschnickit..took the chair indicated, and looked sorry that the seat was not a back one.
1938 J. Thurber Let. 24 Mar. (2002) 296 I am sorry I missed the chance to see Vienna as Viennese.
1953 J. Wain Hurry on Down (1960) 205 Well, Lumley, I'm sorry you're down on your luck.
1993 Horticulture Oct. 52/1 About euphorbias we are only sorry that we can grow so few outdoors.
2007 C. J. Pendergest Videls 219 You'll be sorry that you ever messed with me!
c. With infinitive.
ΚΠ
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. l. 2203 Of this aventure..Min herte is sory forto hiere.
a1450 (?c1421) J. Lydgate Siege Thebes (Arun.) (1911) l. 3967 (MED) Some of hem wer sory to departe.
1535 T. Starkey Let. in Eng. in Reign Henry VIII (1878) i. p. xix For sory hys hyghnes wold be to see you not to reche vn-to so manyfest a truthe.
1555 R. Eden in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde Pref. sig. bij They are sory to occupie the whyppe yf thou mightest otherwyse bee brought to obedience.
1619 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–21 (1906) 74 I am sorrye to heare of John Younges disaster.
1670 Lady M. Bertie in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 21 I am very sorry to heare that the small pox increase.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. iii. 30 I am sorry to tell you..that, in this article, your first fact is false.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia IV. viii. ii. 185 I shall not be sorry to hear it.
c1835 S. Smith Let. on Sir J. Mackintosh in Wks. (1859) II. 302/1 I am sorry to say I have none to send you.
1861 J. Pycroft Agony Point (1862) 419 There were not a few little ways and snuggeries that they felt sorry to be about to leave.
1929 O. Nash Let. 28 Oct. in Loving Lett. (1990) 65 I'm sorry to report that my arm is wide awake and seems likely to remain so for some time.
1974 New Yorker 25 Feb. 86/2 Serious horseplayers will be sorry to hear..that the take from the mutuels will again be seventeen per cent.
1994 P. O'Brian Commodore (1996) i. 21 I should be very sorry to see my Titicaca grebe decay.
3. Feeling or expressing remorse; penitent; apologetic. Frequently with clause, infinitive, or adverbial phrase giving the reason for such remorse or apology.
a. In predicative use following to be, to look, etc.
ΚΠ
OE Judgement Day I 88 Him þæt þonne geleanað lifes waldend, heofona hyrde, æfter heonansiþe godum dædum, þæs þe he swa geomor wearð, sarig fore his synnum.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 127 (MED) Þeih he michel mis-do, nis for ði na mare sori þanne ȝif he nadde naht mis-don.
?a1300 Thrush & Nightingale (Digby) l. 83 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 103 Hit is shome to blame leuedi, For hem þou shalt gon sori.
c1390 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 167 (MED) Schrift of mouþe mi sunnus schal slake, And I schal sece and beo sori.
c1400 Bk. to Mother (Bodl.) 43 (MED) Þou hast not be alwei sori seþ þou trespassist aȝens him.
c1460 Tree & 12 Frutes (McClean) (1960) 55 (MED) A soule..shuld be sory yif she bringe forth..þe bad frute of euyl werkis.
a1500 J. Mirk's Festial (Royal) (1981) 53 (MED) We knowlege owre offence and synnys, be contrite and sory þerfore, and be in will to amend vs.
1581 B. Rich Farewell Militarie Profession sig. E.iv I now forsake the former tyme I spent. And sorie am, for that I was miswent.
1606 T. Dekker Newes from Hell sig. G4 The soule sees deathes Barge tarrying for her, she begins to be sorrie for her ante-acted euils.
1671 H. Oldenburg Let. 11 Feb. in Corr. (1970) VII. 453 I am sorry I troubled you wth ye news of ye not-delivery of yr boxe, because it is come to hand since.
1741 S. Richardson Pamela xxiv Provided she humble herself,..and is sorry for her pertness.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest II. x. 86 I'm sorry I frightened you so last night.
1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) v. 37 ‘I'm sorry to give you so much trouble, Towlinson.’.. ‘Not at all, Miss.’
1863 G. Meredith Let. 19 Feb. (1970) I. 193 Did you say in it you are sorry for your virulent offensive letter that I received?.. If so, a slap on the back and we're friends again.
1911 E. Marshall Family vii. 120 Can't you see she's sorry?.. Kiss her and make up.
1952 M. Laski Village xiii. 187 ‘I'm really sorry,’ pleaded Margaret contritely.
1971 Black Belt Sept. 35/1 Barry told Suzy that she was a pretty lousy martial artist. He was sorry, but he was only being honest.
1989 T. Clancy Clear & Present Danger vi. 108 Okay, maybe I shouldn't 'a snapped the one over the rail—lost my cool, and I shouldn't have—okay, I'm sorry about that.
2006 I. Lawrence Gemini Summer (2008) 221 ‘Well, I'm sorry,’ she said, though she didn't look sorry, or sound sorry.
b. With ellipsis of verb: ‘I am sorry’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > regret > [adjective] > expressing regret
sorry1843
regret1897
soz1993
1843 Sargent's New Monthly Mag. Mar. 100/2 Miss Marion, good morning, see you to-morrow—sorry I'm in such haste.
1857 H. Melville Confidence-man xx. 143 Sorry we missed him just now. But you'll hear from him.
1888 H. Alger Errand Boy iv. 28Sorry to inconvenience you,’ he said, with a glance at the bag.
1901 R. G. K. Wrench Winchester Word-bk. 52 Sorry,..‘I beg your pardon.’ Not now confined to Winchester.
1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's Last Play Induct., in Misalliance 167 Sorry. Never heard of him.
1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 19/2 No! sorry, I thought you were Cardiff.
1938 E. Waugh Scoop ii. ii. 157 I will say you're a quick worker. Sorry to barge in on the tender scene.
1954 W. Faulkner Fable 76 He said, ‘All right. Sorry. I didn't know you had a wife.’
1982 W. J. Burley Wycliffe's Wild-Goose Chase i. 17Sorry to bother you on a Sunday morning...’ ‘Think nothing of it’.
2002 S. Perera Do Right Thing 116 Sorry for the crunching. I'm comfort eating.
c. Interrogatively, requesting the repetition of words that the speaker failed to hear or understand (or sometimes, finds hard to believe): ‘What did you say?’, ‘Could you repeat that?’, ‘Pardon?’. Also as int.
(a) Used alone.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > repetition > [adjective] > requesting that speaker repeat words
sorry1965
1965 W. Trevor Boarding-house vi. 69 He said sorry meaning pardon.
1972 T. Stoppard Jumpers II. 62 Miss Moore, is there anything you wish to say at this stage? Dotty (in the sense of ‘Pardon?’): Sorry? Bones: My dear, we are all sorry—.
1978 P. Howard Weasel Words vii. 46 For its part ‘sorry’ is coming to mean: ‘Please say that again; I did not hear you.’
1982 P. Redmond Brookside (Mersey TV transmission script) (O.E.D. Archive) Episode 3. 21 Girl. Right, I think that's it. I suppose you're signed with P.E.R.? Paul. Sorry? Girl. Professional and Executive Register.
2003 Independent on Sunday 23 Mar. i. 3/2 In extreme cases may prevent personal hygiene, which commonly leads to maggot infestation and death. Sorry? Yes, that's right, maggot infestation and death.
(b) In I'm sorry.
ΚΠ
1967 A. Wilson No Laughing Matter ii. 82I'm sorry?’ he asked with formal politeness.
1988 D. Waters Heathers (film script) (O.E.D. Archive) 13 Heather Chandler. You wanted to become a member of the most powerful clique in the school. If I wasn't already the head of it, I'd want the same thing.Veronica. I'm sorry? What are you oozing about?
2000 K. Atkinson Emotionally Weird (2001) 71I'm sorry?’ I said, thinking I must have mis-heard.
2007 P. Barker Life Class vi. 44 ‘I say, Tarrant, you're not chippy, are you?’ ‘I'm sorry?’ ‘Chippy. A bit, you know—’.
4.
a. Of a person: wretched, pathetic; poor.
(a) Generally.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > compassion > quality of exciting pity > [adjective]
armlyeOE
unseelyOE
rulyOE
ruefulc1225
ruthfulc1225
sorryc1225
piteousc1300
poorc1300
ruthlyc1300
pietousa1393
pitifulc1450
lamentablec1460
miserable?a1475
pitiablec1475
execrable1490
plainful1555
tristsum1567
passionatea1586
touchinga1586
pathetic1591
melting1593
remorseful?1615
compassionate1630
compassionable1635
ruesome1833
po'1866
little-boy-lost1957
c1225 Lofsong Lefdi (Royal) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 305 Ich a sari sunful þing bidde þin are.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1074 Ðo sori wrecches of yuel blod Wulden him ðor gret strengðe don.
a1350 Body & Soul (Harl. 2253) l. 96 in A. S. M. Clark Seint Maregrete & Body & Soul (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan) (1972) 141 Hy shal..þolien harde pinen wyþ þat sory Judas.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 1252 ‘Rest,’ quaþ sche, ‘þow sory wyȝt god ȝyue yuele chaunce!’
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 4417 Loo, sary sottis slike a sowme of synnars ȝe lufe!
a1550 Birch'd School-boy (Balliol Oxf. 354) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 404 My master lokith as he were madde: ‘wher hast thou be, thow sory ladde?’
1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 445 There is..one sorie boy, that helpeth ye priest to Masse.
1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 102 Whom they themselves account to be but a sorry obscure fellow.
1673 W. Cave Primitive Christianity i. iii. 49 The Christians were such a sorry inconsiderable people.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. xii. 86 Continue Esquire. It is a respectable addition, altho' every sorry fellow assumes it.
1780 W. Shaw Galic & Eng. Dict. I Peasan, a punchy sorry little fellow.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xi. 192 The baron..grew fat and wanton, and a sorry brute.
1886 Athenæum 30 Oct. 562/2 His hero is a sorry knave, without principle or rectitude.
1914 F. P. Adams By & Large (1920) 93 Their limbs were bent, their heads awry,They seemed two sorry freaks.
1970 R. Davies Fifth Business v. i. 219 Though their husbands may be men of mark to the world, they are sorry wretches at home.
2004 C. Channer Passing Through 261 You're nothing but a soggy, wrinkled bitch. I didn't want to take a photograph of you. I was just trying to be nice. You're a sorry woman, Mrs. Rawle.
(b) With reference to a particular occupation, activity, or role.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > [adjective] > unable or unapt > to do something spec.
unaptc1374
sorrya1400
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 19199 Seruauntis elles be we sory.
?1506 Lytell Geste Robyn Hode (de Worde) sig. A.ivv Or elles thou hast ben a sory housband And leued in stroke and stryfe.
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 501 A poore sorie Barbar, who had no more skill than he had learned by tradition.
1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie ii. sig. Kk6 A sorry gainer by the undertaking.
1680 W. Allen Perswasive to Peace & Unity (ed. 2) 81 We know what sorry Saints many of them appear to be.
1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 10 Tho' he's but a very sorry Horse-man, yet he's mightily given to the Chase.
1796 A. Thomson tr. Suetonius Lives First Twelve Cæsars 343 He would order the cover of the theatre to be taken off,..presenting..the most sorry gladiators, decrepit with age, and fit only for the pegma.
1834 F. Marryat Jacob Faithful II. iv. 91 I shall prove but a sorry sweetheart, for I never made love in my life.
1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 149 I am a sorry physician, and do but aggravate a disorder which I am seeking to cure.
1944 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 584/1 They were as sorry negationists and defeatists as this promiscuous old world has ever produced.
1993 Guardian 13 Nov. (Weekend Suppl.) 68/1 My husband limps, I can't ride a bike—a sorry pair of prospective tandemists.
b. Designating a poor or inferior example of something; of little account or value; pathetic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [adjective]
salec1299
bastarda1348
sorry1372
slight1393
shrewd1426
singlec1449
backc1450
soberc1450
lesser1464
silly?a1500
starven1546
mockado1577
subaltern1578
bastardly1583
wooden1592
starved1604
perishing1605
starveling1611
minor1612
starvy1647
potsherd1655
low1727
la-la1800
waif1824
lathen1843
one-eyed1843
snide1859
bobbery1873
jerkwater1877
low-grade1878
shoddy1882
tinhorn1886
jerk1893
cheapie1898
shaganappi1900
buckeye1906
reach-me-down1907
pissy1922
crappy1928
cruddy1935
el cheapo1967
pound shop1989
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > wretchedness > [adjective]
unledeeOE
sorryOE
evila1131
usellc1175
wanlichec1275
bad1276
sorry1372
meana1375
caitiff1393
loddera1400
woefula1400
foulc1400
wretched1450
meschant?1473
unselc1480
peevisha1522
miser1542
scurvy?1577
forlorn1582
villainous1582
measled1596
lamented1611
thrallfula1618
despicable1635
deplorable1642
so-and-so1656
poorish1657
squalida1660
lamentable1676
mesquina1706
shan1714
execrable1738
quisby1807
hole in the wall1822
measly1847
bum1878
shag-bag1888
snidey1890
pathetic1900
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > of little worth
undearc897
little worthc1175
sorry1372
petitc1390
simplec1440
noughty1508
quadrant1589
weak1600
cheapa1604
patch panel1606
unprizablea1616
petite1766
Sears-Roebuck1917
1372 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 82 (MED) A Sory beuerech it is, & sore it is a-bouth.
12 Concl. Lollards (Trin. Hall Cambr.) in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1907) 22 296 Pride with his sori genealogie of dedly synnes.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 807 Þe find..said wit hin his sari thoght, ‘Ic haue him don to suinc for noght’.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail lv. l. 326 For ho-so Entreth In to this place, he may ben Siker Of Sory Grace.
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 33 Sori loue haue she that tellith[e] not the name of hym that last praied her.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 209 Cosshe, a sorie house, cauerne.
1565 T. Stapleton Fortresse of Faith f. 90 It is not inough to make a few sory surmises.
1621 in W. Foster Eng. Factories India 1618–21 (1906) 339 A sorrie some for a Governour to borrowe.
1656 H. Jeanes Mixture Scholasticall Divinity 8 Thus, you see, that the feare of men hath..a poore, a sorry, and contemptible object.
1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 25 Nov. (1965) I. 286 Tis very good Luck to..get one sorry room in a miserable Tavern.
1771 H. Mackenzie Man of Feeling xiv I was forced to beg my bread; and a sorry trade I found it.
1849 D. M. Mulock Ogilvies iii That she now wrote the sorriest hand imaginable.
1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 153 You can put up with a sorry lodging for yourself, but beware of a bad stable for your steed.
1943 Triumphs of Engin. 141/2 In 1909 a gang commenced work on clearing the site of the sorry pile of wreckage.
1994 C. Grant X-Files: Goblins i. 4 You get the miseries, drink too much and pass out, and then I gotta lug your sorry ass to that sorry hole you call a house.
2002 Guardian 30 Jan. 21/2 A sorry excuse for a government that is propped up by western oil companies, arms sales, and systemic internal repression.
c. Of an animal, esp. a horse: in a poor condition or state of health.
ΚΠ
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Lion & Mouse l. 1493 in Poems (1981) 60 Vnhailsum meit is of ane sarie mous.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 116 Sum..Ar nou maid tame lyk ony lammis, And settin down lyk sarye crockis.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxv Than thou may take thy sory weke ewe away and put her in an other place.
1547 W. Salesbury Dict. Eng. & Welshe Oenyn, a sory lambe.
a1628 J. Carmichaell Coll. Prov. in Scots (1957) No. 192 A sarie ramb gets a sarie lamb.
1673 W. Cave Primitive Christianity i. i. 12 Trampled on by the sorriest Creatures, Mice, Swallows, &c.
1742 D. Hume Ess. (1870) xxiii. 158 One man, with a couple of sorry horses.
1760 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy I. x. 35 Mounted..upon a lean, sorry, jack-ass of a horse.
1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 113 Philip staked his handsome horse..against Archibald's sorry poney.
1849 E. E. Napier Excursions Southern Afr. I. 290 Mounted on very sorry hacks.
1875 L. F. Tasistro tr. Comte de Paris Hist. Civil War Amer. I. 295 The sorrier the horses the greater the consumption.
1920 J. P. Fletcher Pontefract iii. 45 Mounted on a sorry nag,..they took him out of his own hall and castle.
1998 B. White Quite Year for Plums (1999) vi. 46 The money you have poured into that sorry dog,..rabies shots, heartworm treatment, worms.
5.
a. In predicative use with for and complement, following to be or to feel: having sympathy or pity.
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 12433 Ioseph..was ful sary for þe childe.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope xi Allas, sayd the mayde, I am sory for yow.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 681/2 When I recorde the gentyll wordes he hath had unto me, it maketh my herte full sorye for hym.
1592 T. Kyd Spanish Trag. iii. sig. F2 I am in a sorte sorie for thee.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. v. 87 Phe. Why I am sorry for thee gentle Siluius. Sil. Where euer sorrow is, reliefe would be. View more context for this quotation
1668 J. Owen Nature Indwelling-sin xvii. 285 He considering his condition, tells him, Alas, I am sorry for you.
1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. iv. 101 Well, Sister, I am sorry for you.
1773 J. Wesley Let. 28 May (1931) VI. 29 I am sorry for William Sparks; but pride must have a fall. T. Johnson has better work.
1874 Atlanta Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 12 354 She saw a gopher on his back in the hot sun, and was sorry for the animal, and turned it over with her foot.
1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal I. vi. 157 I think we all feel sorrier for him than for many a better man.
1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song Prelude 29 The body would feel real sorry for her till next minute she'd be screeching at Andy or Tony.
1977 J. Johnston Shadows on our Skin 35 ‘What teacher do you have?’ ‘Miss McCabe.’ ‘God, is she still going. I'm sorry for you.’
1999 H. Redknapp & D. McGovern 'Arry (new ed.) xi. 171 Why should I feel sorry for him? I'd like to be earning what he'll be picking up this week.
b. sorry for oneself: in a state of self-pity; depressed, miserable; in a poor condition. Now chiefly in to feel sorry for oneself.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > compassion > [adjective] > full of self-pity
self-pityinga1628
sorry for oneself1767
self-pitiful1865
1767 W. Kenrick Widow'd Wife iii. iii. 50 Though I am horribly disappointed in my own expectations, I declare I am less sorry for myself than for him.
1827 W. Scott Chron. Canongate 1st Ser. I. iv. 55 The house was old and dilapidated, and looked sorry for itself.
1883 Temple Bar Oct. 268 ‘I do not see why you should be sorry for yourself,’ she answered... ‘Not many men have such a wife as I am to you.’
1918 Hist. Outlook Dec. 473/2 These wounded or maimed boys are not on the whole, I think, so very sorry for themselves.
1973 R. M. Brown Rubyfruit Jungle 148 I'm not sittin' here on this Goddamn subway train feeling sorry for myself.
1981 ‘J. Gash’ Vatican Rip (1983) xix. 156 I've never seen anybody look so sorry for himself, the pillock.
2006 P. Williams Rise & Fall Yummy Mummy ix. 83 There's no point feeling sorry for myself all the time, it doesn't get me anywhere.
B. n.1
1. A wretched or sorrowful person. Also with the and plural agreement: wretched or sorrowful people collectively. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > [noun] > sorrowful person
sorrowfuleOE
sorryOE
woebegone?a1400
dolent1530
vicegerent1591
griever1819
OE Crist III 1510 Sarge ge ne sohton, ne him swæslic word frofre gespræcon, þæt hy þy freoran hyge mode gefengen.
OE Ælfric Homily: De Duodecim Abusivis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 300 On manegum wisum man mæg wyrcan ælmyssan.., gif man seocne geneosað oððe sarigne frefrað.
OE Paris Psalter (1932) liv. 1 Gehyr min gebed, halig drihten, ne forseoh æfre sariges bene.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 137 (MED) Hali fasten..beȝiet ðe senfulle forȝifnesse..ðe sari, gladnesse.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 24861 (MED) Þaa sori loked ai sua for-suonken.
c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. xi. l. 193 (MED) Þus bed þe dobet..Sike with þe sory, singe with þe glade.
a1500 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1893) 90 298 Comforth þe sory..Haue rewth on þe synner.
1615 J. Amner Sacred Hymnes i. xxiii. sig. D.iv Ioye to the sorry, to God bee glory, to God bee glorie, Alleluia.
1906 B. Carman Pipes of Pan II. 46 The sorry are sad no more.
2. An utterance of ‘(I am) sorry’; a statement of regret or remorse; an apology.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > repentance or contrition > [noun] > acknowledgement of guilt or offence
peccavi1592
apology1597
sorry1807
amende1808
beg-pardon1906
1807 J. Austen Let. 8–9 Feb. in Sel. Lett. (2004) 81 You may accordingly prepare for my ringing the Changes of the Glads & Sorrys for the rest of the page.
a1864 R. S. Surtees Mr. Facey Romford's Hounds (1892) xliii. 277 Then came the thanks and the sorries, and the tantalising promises to write if they thought more of him.
1914 J. Stocking Via P. & O. 98 I did not want to send it [sc. an old chit book], with its past history of innumerable ‘sorrys’ all over Shanghai.
1976 P. Hill Hunters x. 130 I did what I did. I said my sorries. That's it.
2008 S. King Duma Key 406 ‘I never meant to hurt you, I'm so sorry—’ She put two fingers against my lips. ‘I don't want your sorry.’

Phrases

P1. Coupled with sick (chiefly in senses A. 1a and A. 4).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > [adjective]
sorelyc888
gramec893
sorrowfuleOE
unblithec897
sorryeOE
carefulOE
charyOE
sickOE
yomerOE
sorry-moodOE
sweerc1000
yomerlyOE
sorrilyOE
woea1200
balec1220
sorry?c1225
sorec1275
sorec1275
gremefula1300
sada1300
ruthlyc1300
thoughtfulc1300
woebegonea1325
heavyc1330
grievousc1374
woefula1375
sorrowya1382
dereful?a1400
sorousa1400
sytefula1400
teenfula1400
wrotha1400
balefulc1400
tristy?c1400
tristc1420
dolefulc1430
wapped in woec1440
yhevidc1440
dolenta1450
condolentc1460
discomforted1477
tristfula1492
sorrow1496
dram?a1513
dolorous1513
earnful?1527
troublous1535
amort1546
mournfula1558
passioned1560
sadded1566
tristive1578
distressed1586
passionate1586
sorrowed1596
distressful1601
passionful1605
sighful1606
contristed1625
anguishinga1642
sadful1658
saddened1665
tristitious1694
sick as a parrot1705
pangful1727
woesome1778
grieving1807
ruesome1833
yearned1838
doleant1861
mournsome1869
thoughted1869
tragical1887
grief-stricken1905
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 27 Þencheð vpoðe..seke & þe sarie inoure heorte.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xx. l. 326 For þer ne is syk ne sory..Þat he ne may [etc.].
?1403 in T. F. Simmons Lay Folks Mass Bk. (1879) 65 For al that er sek and sary.
a1450 York Plays (1885) 511 Whanne I was seke and soriest.
1591 R. Southwell Marie Magdalens Funeral Teares To Rdr. sig. A8 The copies therof flew so fast, and so false abroad, that it was in danger to come corrupted to the print..disguised in..some sicke and sory fethers of his owne phansies.
a1655 H. Tubbe Poems (1915) 78 She tells her huge, wide-gaping Auditorie, That She is greivous sick, and fearfull sorry To see the Power Rampant of the States So much declin'd.
1726 N. Uring Hist. Voy. & Trav. 179 Our true Sots..who, if you ask how they do next Day, say they are neither sick nor sorry.
1760 S. Foote Minor i. 41 The time has been, when I could have earn'd thirty shillings a day by own dry drinking, and the next morning was neither sick nor sorry.
1811 Ld. Byron Let. 29 June (1973) II. 54 In short I am sick, & sorry, & when I have a little repaired my irreparable affairs, away I shall march.
1876 T. Hardy Hand of Ethelberta II. xlvii. 259 Looking as sick and sorry as a lily with a slug in its stalk.
1911 R. Brooke Poems 71 And I was sorry and sick, and wished to die.
1920 C. O'Riordan Adam of Dublin xv. 163 He felt sick and sorry for all dead people as he entered the cemetery gates.
2003 ‘N. Roberts’ Birthright (2004) x. 169 It made her sick inside, sick and sorry.
P2. as long lives a merry man (also heart) as a sorry: see merry adj. Phrases 2c.
P3. better (to be) safe than sorry: see safe adj. Phrases 15.
P4. to say sorry: to apologize (with or without implication that the word sorry is actually spoken).
ΚΠ
1822 M. Edgeworth Frank: Sequel I. 183 Frank put his hand before Lewis's mouth, and stopped the word. ‘Do not say sorry, for I am glad; we shall be very happy together.’
1884 K. Wood Waife of Sea vi. 83 Trottie meant to say ‘sorry’, but could not easily express herself.
1936 D. Thomas Let. c20 Apr. (1987) 222 But I want to say Sorry, and I hope you'll forgive me.
1977 J. Johnston Shadows on our Skin 99 ‘Look where you're putting your big feet, kiddo.’ ‘I said sorry, didn't I?’
2008 Independent 29 Dec. (Life section) 5/5 Don't use the apology as a springboard for round two of the initial argument. You are supposed to be saying sorry.

Compounds

C1. Compounds of the adjective.
a. Forming parasynthetic adjectives, as sorry-eyed, sorry-flowered, sorry-hearted, etc.
ΚΠ
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Prov. vii. 7 I beholde the sori hertid ȝunge man.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Prov. ix. 17 And to the sory hertid she spac [etc.].
1736 W. Ellis New Exper. Husbandry 118 The Sap of a Winter-fell'd Oak, is almost as good as a sorry hearted one fell'd in Summer.
1786 J. Abercrombie Arrangem. Plants 51 in Gardeners Daily Assistant Miserable, or sorry-flowered [aster].
1819 Examiner 7 Feb. 81/2 They are apt to be sorry-minded enough.
1844 Ld. Houghton Poems Many Years 242 Without a wish for rest or friends, a sorry-hearted man.
1962 M. Hurd Immortal Hour vi. 61 Ernest Newman, who had up to that time been rather sorry-mouthed about the whole venture.
a1972 J. Berryman Delusions (1973) 59 A twelve-year-old all solemn, sorry-faced, described himself lately as ‘a lifetime prick’.
1993 I. Rankin Black Bk. (2000) xxiii. 220 A young man was sitting on the bunk, unshaven and sorry-eyed.
b.
sorry-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1745 tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Robert Chevalier I. iii. 263 Five or six sorry looking Clerks.
1796 Birth Night iii. iii. 70 I make but a sorry looking old hag, to be sure.
1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It v. 48 The cayote is a..sorry-looking skeleton.
1903 Daily Chron. 10 June 9/3 A mangy and altogether sorry-looking object.
2002 New Yorker 25 Nov. 80/1 Basra..is a beat-up, sorry-looking town, bisected by trash-strewn roads and canals filled with raw sewage.
c.
sorry-go-round n. [alteration of merry-go-round n., with substitution of sorry adj. for the first element; compare earlier merry-go-sorry n.] a repetitive cycle of depressing events; a vicious circle.Recorded earliest in attributive use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [noun] > depressing quality > depressing thing, person, or circumstances
cloudc1430
palla1450
melancholya1475
downdraughta1681
Job's comforter1738
damper1748
killjoy1776
wet blanket1810
down-drag1814
chill1821
dismals1829
shadow1855
down1856
a skeleton at the feast (or banquet)1857
wet blanket1857
depressor1868
dampener1887
sorry-go-round1898
wet smack1927
bringdown1935
droopy drawers1939
big chill1943
party pooper1947
misery1951
party poop1951
grinch1966
downer1969
1898 Manch. Guardian 3 Feb. 5/4 Self-proclaimed politicians, circumambulating the country in rather a sorry-go-round than a merry-go-round fashion.
1900 N. A. Smith Message of Froebel 7 He complains..that it makes existence a perpetual sorry-go-round of self-sacrifice.
1964 Punch 29 Apr. 630/1 It was time to stop the ‘sorry-go-round’ of inflation.
2007 E. Neiva Communication Games vii. 229 This is precisely the conception of knowledge that carries conventionalist semiotics into a tautological sorry-go-round.
C2. Compounds of the noun.
a. attributive. Designating an item used to express regret or condolences, as sorry card, sorry gift, etc. Also: (Australian) designating an event dedicated to expressing regret for the mistreatment of the Aboriginal peoples; chiefly in Sorry Day n. at Compounds 2b.
ΚΠ
1969 Times Reporter (Dover, Ohio) 13 Jan. 13/7 By this time you should have received a ‘Sorry’ card from the company.
1982 K. Auletta Underclass i. 14 Leon Harris remembers shooting people and sending unsigned ‘sorry letters’ to the relatives.
2002 H. Gooder & J. M. Jacobs in A. Blunt & C. McEwan Postcolonial Geographies xii. 211 It would seem that for many non-indigenous participants in the Sorry Events it was the performance of the apology that was centrally important.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 23 July d6/4 He teaches salespeople to suggest a ‘sorry gift’..for a wife who might be disappointed that her husband just dropped a sizable sum on his own wrist.
b.
Sorry Book n. (also with lower-case initials) originally and chiefly Australian (a) a book signed by prisoners or young offenders, as an acknowledgement of crimes committed (rare); (b) a book in which regret is expressed for the past oppression, persecution, or subjugation of one nation, ethnic group, etc., by another; esp. in the context of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia (cf. Sorry Day n.).
ΚΠ
1990 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 3 May 9/8 He'd free 50 precent of his prisoners tomorrow..: ‘I will personally select them, they will sign the sorry book and there will be no appreciable increase in the crime rate.’
1998 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 4 May 17 Many thousands of people..have already signed the ‘Sorry Books’ that are travelling around the country.
2006 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 4 Aug. c1 These are the contents of a ‘sorry book’, bound pages meant to capture the condolences of Santa Fe residents for the U.S. bombing of Japan during World War II.
2008 A. Rufus Stuck 184 ‘I am very sorry that as a young adult and teacher I did not teach the truth about our aboriginal friends. I am really very sorry,’ wrote a signer in one Sorry Book.
Sorry Day n. Australian (also more fully National Sorry Day) a national event held in Australia to commemorate, and express regret for, the former official practice of removing Aboriginal children from their families (cf. stolen generation n.), held annually on 26th May since 1998.
ΚΠ
1996 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 1 July 5 The group will also call for a national ‘Sorry Day’, similar to Anzac Day, but commemorating the Aboriginal ‘holocaust’.
1997 Bringing them Home (Human Rights & Equal Opportunities Comm., Austral.) 292 Nationally, there should be a ‘Sorry Day’ commemorating Aboriginal survival of the holocaust which is accorded the same recognition as ANZAC day.
1998 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 27 May 1 The Prime Minister yesterday stood firm in his refusal to make a formal national apology to the Aboriginal ‘stolen generations’, as thousands of Australians attended Sorry Day ceremonies around the country.
2008 G. Evans Responsibility to Protect vii. 166 An example of the symbolic approach is the apology offered to the indigenous people of Australia on behalf of all Australians by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in a moving address to the parliament on February 13, 2008, following the earlier institution of an annual ‘National Sorry Day’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

sorryv.

Brit. /ˈsɒri/, U.S. /ˈsɔri/, /ˈsɑri/
Forms: Old English sargian, Old English sarigian, late Old English gesaroged (past participle), Middle English–1500s sory, 1500s sorie, 1600s soried (past participle), 1600s 1800s– sorry.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymon: sorry adj.
Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to Old Frisian -sērigia (in bisērigia to wound, hurt, injure), Middle Dutch sērigen , zērigen to wound, hurt, injure, to damage, to feel sorrow, grieve, Middle Low German sērigen , sērgen to wound, hurt, injure, to grieve, afflict, Old High German sēragōn , sēregōn to wound, to grieve, afflict (Middle High German sērigen ) < the same Germanic base as sorry adj. In later use probably re-formed directly < sorry adj.; compare sorryful adj.With the late Old English past participle form gesaroged perhaps compare β. forms at sorrow n. and adj. In Old English the following prefixed forms are also attested: besārgian to lament, be sorry for (compare be- prefix), efensārgian to sympathize, commiserate (compare even adj.1 and n.2 Compounds 2a).
1. intransitive. To grieve, to sorrow; to feel sorry for. Now rare.In Old English also: †to feel care or anxiety (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > feel sorrow or grief [verb (intransitive)]
sorroweOE
sorryeOE
careOE
heavyOE
mournOE
rueOE
murkenOE
dole13..
likec1330
wailc1374
ensorrowc1384
gloppen?a1400
sytea1400
teena1400
grievec1400
angera1425
erme1481
yearna1500
aggrieve1559
discomfort?a1560
melancholyc1580
to eat one's (own) heart1590
repent1590
passion1598
sigh1642
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) v. vi. 402 Se biscop hefiglice sargade be ðæm fille & be minre forwyrde; forðon þe he mec mid syndrigre lufan lufode.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Mark (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 32 And he nam þa mid him Petrum & Iacobum & Iohannem; þa ongan he forhtian & sargian; & sæde him: unrot is min sawl oð deað.
OE tr. Defensor Liber Scintillarum (1969) lxxx. 414 Nemo qui in hoc saeculo non doleat nullus est qui in hac uita positus non suspiret : nænig þe on þyssere worulde na sargige nan ys se on þysum life gesett na orþige.
a1325 (?a1300) in G. H. McKnight Middle Eng. Humorous Tales (1913) 21 (MED) For ye hy sory nicht and day; Y may say hay wayleuay.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus i. f. 11v If he complayne, they sory with hym.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique f. 71v We rejoyce, we sorie, or we pitie an other mannes happe.
1606 J. Ford Fames Memoriall sig. G3v We mourne his death and sorry for his sake.
1870 Brit. Controversialist 3rd Ser. 452 If..man is naturally inclined to..condemn himself, sorrying in dust and ashes; then it may be of little consequence that the age of satire..has passed away.
1920 W. H. Hudson Birds & Man xii. 229 The aged vicar, sorrying at the loss of the birds.
2004 D. Mitchell Cloud Atlas (U.K. ed.) 318 Jus' that once I sorried for her.
2.
a. intransitive. Of a person: to feel pain. Of a part of the body, a wound, etc.: to be painful or sore. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > be painful [verb (intransitive)] > suffer pain
sorryeOE
urna1600
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. xxi. 322 Swelce eac seo þruh, in þære heo ærest bebyrged wæs, monegum monna, þe heora eagan sargedon & hefigodon, wearð to hælo.
OE Prognostics (Corpus Cambr.) (2007) 460 Gif on xi, on langum sare he sargað, & he gelomlice his hælo hafoð eft.
?a1200 (?OE) Peri Didaxeon (1896) 25 Eal se swyra sargiað swa swiðe, þæt he þane muþ uneaþe to don mæg.
b. transitive. To grieve, afflict, give pain to; to make painful or sore. Frequently in passive. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > cause of mental pain or suffering > cause mental pain or suffering to [verb (transitive)]
heavyc897
pineeOE
aileOE
sorryeOE
traya1000
sorrowOE
to work (also do) (a person) woeOE
angerc1175
smarta1200
to work, bake, brew balec1200
derve?c1225
grieve?c1225
sitc1225
sweam?c1225
gnawc1230
sughc1230
troublec1230
aggrievea1325
to think sweama1325
unframea1325
anguish1340
teen1340
sowa1352
distrainc1374
to-troublea1382
strain1382
unglad1390
afflicta1393
paina1393
distressa1400
hita1400
sorea1400
assayc1400
remordc1400
temptc1400
to sit (or set) one sorec1420
overthrow?a1425
visit1424
labour1437
passionc1470
arraya1500
constraina1500
misgrievea1500
attempt1525
exagitate1532
to wring to the worse1542
toil1549
lament1580
adolorate1598
rankle1659
try1702
to pass over ——1790
upset1805
to touch (also get, catch, etc.) (a person) on the raw1823
to put (a person) through it1855
bludgeon1888
to get to ——1904
to put through the hoop(s)1919
eOE Metrical Dialogue of Solomon & Saturn (Corpus Cambr. 422) i. 109 Æghwæðer brengeð sweopan of siðe; sargiað hwile fremdne flæschoman, feorh ne bemurneð.
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xlvi. 258 Gif he þonne biþ ær on þære lifre oþþe on þam lungenum gesargod.
OE Crist III 970 Grornað gesargad eal middangeard on þa mæran tid.
OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) clxxviii. 222 Wið li[þ]a sare, gyf hy of hwylc[um] belimpe oððe of cyle oþ[þe] o[f] ænigum þincge gesarg[a]de [beoð] [?a1200 Harl. 6258B ȝesarȝode beon].
3. transitive. To repent of (a sin). Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > repentance or contrition > repent (sin, wrongdoing, etc.) [verb (transitive)]
bireusyc1000
birewec1175
ruea1200
repenta1325
sorrya1450
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail li. 41 (MED) Mercy he scholde haue Of his God and he wolde it crave with stedfast herte, and his synnes sory.
4. intransitive. To provide for a person. Cf. sorrow v. 4. Obsolete.In quot. in prepositional passive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > supply > provide or supply (something) [verb (transitive)] > provide for the wants or needs of
frameOE
providec1425
sorrow1481
stake1547
exhibit1601
sorry1601
consult1682
organize1892
1601 J. Wheeler Treat. Commerce 57 That those who are traders may be equally and indifferently cared and soried for.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.2a1555adj.int.n.1eOEv.eOE
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