succour
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsʌkə/
enpr: sŭkər
ipa: /ˈsʌkɚ/
rhymes: -ʌkə(ɹ)
homophone: sucker
Forms: form: succours
form: succouring
form: succoured
form: succoured
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: succour
form: succour
form: succoured
form: succour
form: succourest
form: succoured
form: succouredst
form: succours
form: succoureth
form: succoured
form: succour
form: succoured
form: succour
form: succoured
form: succour
form: -
form: succouring
form: succoured
form: succor
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English socour, interpreted as the singular form of socours (“help; encouragement; remedy; protection; helper, protector”), which is from Anglo-Norman socurs, sucurs and Old French secors, secours (modern French secours), from Medieval Latin succursus (participle), from Latin succurrēre (“to run to the help of”), from Latin sub- (“from below”) + Latin currere (“run”).
The verb is derived from Middle English socouren (“to help”), from Anglo-Norman socure (compare modern French secourir), also from Latin succurrēre.
Senses: examples: text: [M]y maystres / Of whome I thinke / With pen and ynke / For to compyle / Some goodly stile / For thys moste goodly floure / The blossom of fresh colour / So Jupiter me succour
ref: a. 1530, John Skelton, “A Little Boke of Philip Sparow”, in The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper; […] In Twenty-one Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson [et al.], published 1810, →OCLC, page 297, column 1:
text: [A]s that famous Queene / Of Amazons, whom Pyrrhus did deſtroy, / The day that firſt of Priame ſhe was ſeene, / Did ſhew her ſelfe in great triumphant ioy, / To ſuccour the weake ſtate of ſad afflicted Troy.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 31, page 227:
text: For in that he himſelfe [Jesus Christ] hath ſuffered, being tempted, he is able to ſuccour them that are tempted.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 2:18, column 2:
text: For wee haue helpe from heauen that ſuccoureth vs, ſo as we are deliuered from our enemies, and our enemies are brought vnder foote.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Maccabees 12:15, column 2:
text: [T]hou keepeſt thy Flock under the ſhadow of thy Wing, and nouriſheſt them with the choiceſt Food; thou guideſt with the hand of thy Power, and ſuccoureſt them at every needful time, and thou relieveſt their greateſt wants: [...]
ref: 1683, Humphry Smith [i.e., Humphrey Smith], “The Meditations of an Humble Heart: Written Only for Friends, who can Read It”, in A Collection of the Several Writings and Faithful Testimonies of that Suffering Servant of God, and Patient Follower of the Lamb, Humphry Smith, who Dyed a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus, in Winchester Common-goal^([sic – meaning gaol]) the 4th Day of the 3d Moneth, in the Year 1663, London: Printed and sold by Andrew Sowle, […], →OCLC, page 291:
text: Say to the true believers, Sufficeth it not, that God succoreth you with three thousand of his angels? Truly, if you have patience, and fear God, he will come to succor you at need, and your Lord will assist you with five thousand of his angels sent from heaven; [...]
ref: 1835, “Chapter III. Entitled, the Lineage of Joachim, […]”, in The Koran, Commonly Called the Alcoran of Mahomet. Translated from the Arabic— […], Lancaster, Pa.: Printed for the publisher, by Boswell & M’Cleery, […], →OCLC, page 70:
text: Not him alone, who seeks thy clemency, / Thou succorest, but oftentimes in sooth, / Outrunnest prayer with liberality.
ref: 1854, Dante [Alighieri], “Canto XXXIII”, in C[harles] B[agot] Cayley, transl., Dante’s Divine Comedy. The Paradise: Translated in the Original Ternary Rhyme, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 245, lines 16–18:
text: "How shall I reward thee," cried the Star-Child, "for lo! this is the third time thou hast succoured me."
ref: 1891, Oscar Wilde, “The Star-Child”, in A House of Pomegranates, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine & Co […], →OCLC, page 154:
text: Mark did actually feel that he was being suffocated, and the silence of the waiting congregation roared in his ears like a flood of waters. [...] His heart beat with such violence that, when he fought his way up and out of the great whirlpool and beheld again the pale, upturned features of his listeners flickering in the homely gaslight, he was astonished that their hands were not stretched out to succour him.
ref: 1923, Compton Mackenzie, “The First Sermon”, in The Parson’s Progress, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, →OCLC, page 23:
text: On April 28 the Prince of Wales [later George V] unveiled in Brussels the British monument "offered [as he expressed it] by the British nation as a symbol of its deep and unchanging gratitude towards all those who succoured our prisoners of war and our soldiers in distress."
ref: 1923 May 5, “‘British Gratitude to Belgium’: The Prince in Brussels”, in The Illustrated London News, London: Illustrated London News and Sketch, →OCLC, page 752, column 1:
text: He [Charlemagne] was very forward in succoring the poor, and in that gratuitous generosity which the Greeks call alms, so much so that he not only made a point of giving in his own country and his own kingdom, but when he discovered that there were Christians living in poverty in Syria, Egypt, and Africa, at Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage, he had compassion on their wants, and used to send money over the seas to them.
ref: 1960, Einhard, translated by Samuel Epes Turner, The Life of Charlemagne (Ann Arbor Paperbacks; AA35), Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, published 1991, →ISBN, paragraph XXVII, page 55:
text: What heaven succours it protects with the gift of compassion.
ref: 1963, [Laozi], chapter LXVII, in D. C. Lau [i.e., Din-cheuk Lau], transl., Tao Te Ching (Penguin Classics; L131), Harmondsworth, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN; Tao Te Ching (Chinese Classics), 2nd edition, Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1989 (1996 printing), →ISBN, book 2, paragraph 165, page 101:
text: Celia had lain less asleep than in a state of suspended animation, succored by the sound of Bella's steady breathing and Sylvie's warmth beside her on the bed.
ref: 2010, Myla Goldberg, chapter 2, in The False Friend: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN, pages 6–7:
text: The [Holy] Spirit takes on Himself a part of the burden, by which our weakness is oppressed; so that He not only helps and succors us but lifts us up, as though He went under the burden with us.
ref: 2019 November, John Calvin, “July 15: Supported by God’s Hands”, in Susan Hill, compiler, Captivating Grace: 365 Devotions for the Reformed Thinker, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: abet
word: aid
word: assist
word: befriend
word: bestead
word: come to someone's aid
word: give someone a hand
word: grip
word: help
word: help out
word: lend a hand
word: lend a helping hand
word: mend
word: stead
word: succor
word: succour
word: support
word: sustain
word: relieve
antonyms: word: alleviate
word: analgesize
word: comfort
word: dave
word: ease
word: heal
word: relieve
word: soothe
word: benumb
word: numb
glosses: To give aid, assistance, or help.
examples: text: Shortlie after, Algar Earle of Cheſter, being conuicted of treaſon againſt the king, fled to Gruffyth king or prince of VVales, who gathered his power to reuenge the often wrongs, which he had receiued at the Engliſhmens hands, who euer ſuccoured his enimies againſt him.
ref: 1584, “Gruffyth the Sonne of Lhewelyn ap Sitsylht and Angharat”, in H. Lhoyd [i.e., Humphrey Llwyd], transl., edited by David Powel, The Historie of Cambria, now Called VVales: A Part of the Most Famous Yland of Brytaine, Written in the Brytish Language aboue Two Hundreth Yeares past: Translated into English […], imprinted at London: By Rafe Newberie and Henrie Denham, →OCLC, pages 98–99:
text: Mr. Pitt [i.e., William Pitt the Younger] presented, by his Majesty's command, a copy of the defensive alliance between his Majesty and the States General of the United Provinces, signed at the Hague, the 15th of April 1788; and translation. [...] Art 2. In case either of the high contracting parties should be hostilely attacked by any European Power in any part of the world whatsoever, the other contracting party engages to succour its ally as well by sea as by land, [...]
ref: 1788 May 23, “Copy of the Treaty of Defensive Alliance with Holland”, in [William Cobbett], editor, The Parliamentary History of England, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803. […], volume XXVII, London: Printed by T[homas] C[urson] Hansard, […] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown; [et al.], published 1816, →OCLC, columns 553–554:
text: [A] shout of joy burst from the despairing remnant of Major Courtland's troops, and a reinforcement of British rushed through the narrow defile to succour their exhausted comrades.
ref: 1824, [Eliza Lanesford Cushing], chapter IV, in Saratoga; a Tale of the Revolution. … In Two Volumes, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Published by Cummings, Hilliard & Co., →OCLC, page 65:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To provide aid or assistance in the form of military equipment and soldiers; in particular, for helping a place under siege.
examples: text: By this River ſide in the medovv, there vvere Cotes and Folds for Sheep, […] [B]y theſe VVaters they might be houſed, harboured, ſuckered, and nouriſhed, […]
ref: 1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC, pages 176–177:
qualifier: obsolete except dialectal
glosses: To protect, to shelter; to provide a refuge.
Derived terms: word: succourer
word: succorer