WORD FOR THE DAY

Your word for today is: surfeit, n.

surfeit, n.
 
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈsəːfᵻt/,  U.S. /ˈsərfət/
 
Forms:   ME forfete transmission error,   ME sorfait,   ME sorfet,   ME sorfete,   ME sorfett,   ME sorffet,   ME sourfait,   ME surfayte,   ME surfeet,   ME surfeete,   ME surfeyte,   ME surffeet,   ME surffete,   ME 16–17 surfett,   ME–15 surfayt,   ME–15 surfete,   ME–15 surfette,   ME–15 surphette,   ME–16 surfait,   ME–16 surfaite,   ME–17 (18– Eng. regional) surfet,   lME furfete transmission error,   15 sourfet,   15 surfecte,   15 surfyt,   15 surphet,   15–16 surffet,   15–16 (18– Eng. regional) surfit,   15– surfeit,   16 surfeite,   16 surffett;   Sc.  pre-17 sorfet,   pre-17 surfat,   pre-17 surfatt,   pre-17 surfet,   pre-17 surfett,   pre-17 surfette,   pre-17 surffet,   pre-17 surfute,   pre-17 surphat,   pre-17 17– surfeit,   19– surfeid.
 
Etymology: <  Anglo-Norman surfeit, surfet, surffet, sourfait, sourfet, Anglo-Norman and Middle French surfait, sorfait excess, surplus (late 12th cent. in Old French), excessive consumption of food or drink (13th cent. or earlier), in Anglo-Norman also trespass, crime, lawlessness (13th cent. or earlier), superfluity (c1285 or earlier), probably <  Old French sorfait, sorfeit, surfait, adjective (see surfeit adj.). Compare Old Occitan sobrefach. Compare surfeiture n.
 
Senses 4 and 5 are not paralleled in French.

With sense 4b compare earlier surfeit adj. 3 and surfeited adj. 1.
 
1. 
†a.  Excessive consumption of food or drink; overindulgence in eating or drinking; gluttony. Also in figurative contexts. Obs
 
a1387  J. Trevisa tr.  R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 329 Þese lyved lengest..for þey..dede noon surfeet of mete and of drynke [L. propter victus moderantiam].
 
c1450 (1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) (1989) l. 4422 All þe syn at solp may þe saule, As surfet, surquidry & slawth, þe seuyn all bedene
 
c1475 (1449)  Lydgate Seying of Nightingale (Harl.) l. 266 in Minor Poems (1900) 25 Agenst glotenye he drank eysel and galle, To oppresse surfayte of vicious folkes alle.
 
1577  H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture (new ed.) sig. Eiiv, Eate without surfet.
 
1671  Milton Samson Agonistes 1562 Feed on that first, there may in grief be surfet.
 
1684 Foxe's Actes & Monuments (ed. 9) III. 404/1 Fasting is only to avoid surfet.
 
1741  H. Brooke in  G. Ogle et al.  Canterbury Tales II. 180 This Letter too the Courier..To Britain's Dowager unweeting bore; And in the Surfeit of oblivious Wine Left her to perpetrate the black Design.
 
 b.  A particular instance of such behaviour; a gluttonous act; an excessive indulgence in food or drink, esp. one leading to discomfort or illness. Now rare except as merged with sense 2. Also in figurative contexts.
Later examples with of and the food or drink consumed possibly allude to the well-known tradition that Henry I died of ‘a surfeit of lampreys’: cf. quot. a1513 at sense 4a.
 
c1390 (1376)  Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. v. 210 After al þis surfet an Accesse he hedde.
 
c1400 (1378)  Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiii. l. 405, [I] more mete ete and dronke þen kende miȝt defie—And kauȝte seknesse sum-tyme for my sorfetes ofte.
 
a1500 (1449)  Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 706 Suffre no surfetis in thyn hous at nyht, War of rer sopers.
 
1580  J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) f. 15, Age seeketh rather a Modicum for sustenaunce, then feastes for surfets.
 
1649  in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 447 It's possible to have a surfeit of water as well as wine.
 
1732  J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet i. 269 The best Remedy after a Surfeit of Fruit.
 
1747  J. Wesley Primitive Physic (1762) p. xx, Strong Liquors do not prevent the Mischiefs of a Surfeit.
 
1853  Thackeray Eng. Humourists i. 23 He was half-killed with a surfeit of Shene pippins.
 
1973  P. G. Wodehouse Bachelors Anonymous xiii. 170 What more likely than that he should have..perished of a surfeit of brandy smashes.
 
†c.  An excessive quantity of food or drink consumed. Obs. Also in figurative contexts.
In later use merged with or understood as sense 2.
 
a1500 (1425)  tr.  Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 67 Many þat withdrew hem froo etynges of surfaytz.
 
?1550  H. Llwyd tr.  Pope John XXI Treasury of Healthe a v, If it chance a dronken man sodenly to fal spechlesse, he shall..dye..excepte eyther he fall to an agew, or els he receyue his spech agayne at the houre when the surfyt is digestyd.
 
1601  Bp. W. Barlow Serm. Paules Crosse Martii 1600 62 Himselfe a surfet to the realme, to be spewed out iustly.
 
1700  R. Blackmore Paraphr. Job xx. 87 His loathing Stomach..Shall cast the precious Surfeit up again.
 
1763 Let. to Author of North Briton 13 The Englishmen should all at once set upon the Danes before they had digested the surfeit of that drunken solemnity.
 
1790  E. Smith Contrast, or Mayoralty of Truborough i. 11 So saying, I flounc'd out of the room, and left him alone to digest the surfeit, my resolution unquestionably gave him.
 
1801 Sporting Mag. 17 121 Not having received that crop-full surfeit that you have.
 
 2.  Superabundance, superfluity; an excessive quantity or supply of anything; (formerly also) †a superfluous thing (obs.).
 
a1393  Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 4561 The Philosophre upon this thing Writ and conseileth to a king, That he the surfet of luxure Schal tempre and reule of such mesure.
 
a1400 (1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 22884 Agh we þer-on to seke resun Hu he dos alkin thing to nait, Certes þat war bot surfait.
 
a1500 (1425)  tr.  Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 52 What kyng þat wille continue giftys yn surfaytes ouer þat his kyngdom wyl suffyse to hym.
 
1634  T. Herbert Relation Trav. 224 Surfet of presuming ignorance.
 
1663  A. Cowley Ode on his Majesty's Restauration v, 'Tis Happy, which no Bleeding does indure A Surfet of such Blood to cure.
 
1765  B. Church Times 4 From whose honey'd lays Streams a rank surfeit of redundant praise.
 
1844  W. E. Gladstone Gleanings V. lvii. 125 Nor is he..to be reproached either with want of charity or with surfeit of pride.
 
1889 Spectator 26 Oct., An abundance, nay, a surfeit, of works treating..of Scotland..have been printed.
 
1919 Times 23 July 8/2 We have had a surfeit of airy theories and doctrinaire platitudes.
 
1951  S. H. Bell December Bride ii xvii. 197 Relief was gained by a run round the field to ‘joggle up their guts’ and the surfeit of tea and currant-bread was ejected in a brown liquid stream.
 
2003 From Victoria to Viagra (Wellcome Trust) 15/2 Everyday problems such as workplace arguments..are now casually attributed to a surfeit of testosterone or a deficit of serotonin.
 
†3.  An action that exceeds the limits of the law or of right; an instance of immoderate behaviour; a misdeed, a transgression; a fault. Obs.
 
c1400 (1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 2433 In syngne of my surfet I schal se hit ofte.
 
c1460 (1449)  Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 754 To do no surfet in woord nor in language.
 
a1475 (1449)  Lydgate Prayer upon Cross (Cambr. Hh.4.12)in  F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 142 O ihesu, grant..That..thy .v. wowndis..May wach in vs all surfetis reproueable.
 
a1500 (1450)  tr.  Secreta Secret. (Ashm. 396) 47 Men may pray to God-is clemencie..for oure giltes askyng pardone, and for our surfetes punycion or penaunce.
 
 4.
 
 a.  Illness attributed to excessive eating or drinking (or, occasionally, to extremes of temperature or some other environmental factor); an instance of this. Also in figurative contexts.
 
a1425 Dialogue Reason & Adversity (Cambr.) (1968) 39 For surfet many on hath perched; Ȝe, glotenye sleeth mo þan þe sweerd doth.
 
c1500  Lydgate Dietary (Rawl.)in  R. H. Robbins Secular Lyrics 14th & 15th Cent. (1955) 76 Moderat fode gevyth to man his helth And all surfetys doth from him remeve.
 
a1513  R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. ccxxix. f. cli, Kynge Henry..toke 
a surfet by etynge of a Lamprey & therof dyed.
 
1589  T. Nashe Anat. Absurditie sig. Diiiv, More perrish with the surfet then with the sworde.
 
1589 Pappe w. Hatchet in Lyly's Wks. (1902) III. 398 Bastard Senior was with them at supper, and I thinke tooke a surfet of colde and raw quipps.
 
1606  G. W. tr.  Justinus Hist. xxxvi. 115 He caught a surfet by the heat of the sun.
 
1631  R. Bolton Instr. Right Comf. Affl. Consciences 293 Hee drinke not so undiscreetly..of that immeasurable Sea, as..to fall into a surfet of security
 
1655  N. Culpeper et al.  tr.  L. Rivière Pract. Physick i. ii. 10 A surfet going before, with crude and sharp belchings.
 
1693  J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §17 More Fevers and Surfeits are got by People's Drinking when they are hot, than by any one Thing I know.
 
1762  O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 53 He died of a surfeit, caused by intemperance.
 
1837 Brit. Husb. (Libr. Useful Knowl.) II. 530 They [sc. pigs] are..not uncommonly seized with surfeit and indigestion.
 
1871  G. H. Napheys Prevention & Cure Dis. i. i. 44 He died of a surfeit.
 
1914  J. C. Rolfe Suetonius II. 81 Administered in a syringe, as if he were suffering from a surfeit and required relief by that form of evacuation as well.
 
2005  I. De Madariaga Ivan the Terrible 445 Jerome Bowes said later that Ivan died of a surfeit, and he could have died as a result of choking over food.
 
 b.  A disease in horses attributed to overfeeding (or, occasionally, to overheating, excessive exercise, or some other environmental factor); spec. urticaria or other skin disease. Now hist.
 
Cf. earlier surfeit adj. 3; cf. also surfeited adj. 1.
 
1623  G. Markham Countrey Contentments, or Eng. Huswife (new ed.) i. vi. 218 Neither doth the Horse euer take surfeit of Oates, (if they be sweet and dry) for albe he may well be glutted or stalled vpon them (with indiscreet feeding) and so refuse them for a little time, yet he neuer surfeiteth.
 
1639  T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. iii. 62 Or else doth show that he hath a surfet which he got..through intemperate riding, washing, raw, or evill food, or the like, whereby the horse is in danger to become morfounded.
 
c1720  W. Gibson Farriers New Guide ii. xii. 57 By a Surfeit is principally understood all such Maladies as proceed from immoderate Feeding.
 
1753  J. Bartlet Gentleman's Farriery xix. 162 The wet surfeit..appears on different parts of the body of a horse.
 
1830  J Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort Knowl. 297 When the coat of a horse stares, he is said to labour under a surfeit. The skin is covered with scurf and scabs... Sometimes the surfeit appears on the skin in small lumps.
 
1841  W. Dick Man. Vet. Sci. 88 An eruption which is called a Surfeit, or the Nettle-rash.
 
1877 Spirit of Times 24 Nov. 447/1 Your horse suffers from what is known as surfeit. It is supposed to arise from an excess of food, but this does not always originate it, as animals on pasture not infrequently are subject to it.
 
2002  K. P. Baker in  R. Knightbridge Hayes's Vet. Notes Horse Owners (ed. 18) vii. 149 Earlier texts refer to this condition as surfeit (excessive feeding).
 
 5.  Lack of moderation; excessive indulgence; excess; (also) an instance of this.
 
a1500 (1422)  J. Yonge tr.  Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 246 Trauaill of body, and company of women, a man may vse wyth-out surfaite.
 
1532 (1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer ii. f. cccxlixv, This is the sorynesse of fayned loue, nedes of these surfettes sicknesse must folowe.
 
1635  A. Stafford Femall Glory 23 [She] kept her soule from the surfets to which carnall delights invite all things humane.
 
a1680  S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) II. 73 Perpetual Surfeits of Pleasure have filled his Mind with bad and vicious Humours.
 
a1711  T. Ken Edmund in Wks. (1721) II. vii. 194 Surfeit, the odious Vice of laps'd Mankind, Intemperance in Beasts we rarely find.
 
1847  B. Disraeli Tancred I. ii. xvi. 326 All ends in a crash of iconoclastic surfeit.
 
1851  F. Lieber in Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl. 2 11 She..will at times go into her closet, and shutting her door, ‘indulge herself in a surfeit of sounds’.
 
1872 Asgard Norwegian Maiden 97 There was, too, a certain skill in this arrangement to avoid surfeit. With the rich middle classes, over-furnishing is very common.
 
1964 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 54 55/1 Nature is pained by surfeit but rejoices in moderation.
 
2000 Guardian (Nexis) 29 July 8 To register excess and surfeit in the very texture of his writing—to effect formally what he sees happening to Florida and America in general.
 
 6.  Satiety, repletion; weariness or disgust arising from excess, esp. excess of food or drink. Also: an instance of this.
Freq. in to (a) surfeit: to a tiresomely or nauseatingly excessive degree.
 
a1591  H. Smith Serm. (1593) 348 That you may sinne in gluttonie, and not to surfet, appeareth by the rich man in the sixteenth of Luke, who fared deliciouslie euerie day, and neuer surfeted.
 
1611  W. Vaughan Spirit of Detraction iv. xii. 157 Some nice stomackes ouerlarded with sacietie and surfeite.
 
1672  A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 116 He discourseth it at large, even to surfeit.
 
1684  Bp. G. Burnet tr.  T. More Utopia 122 They think the doing it so often should give one a Surfeit of it.
 
1743  R. Dodsley Pain & Patience 8 He whose luxurious Palate daily rang'd Earth, Air, and Ocean, to supply his Board..Shall find sick nauseous Surfeit taint his Blood.
 
1796  E. Burke Lett. Peace Regic. France i, in Wks. (1808) VIII. 148 Matter and argument have been supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit.
 
1855  R. A. Wilson Mexico 51 He enjoys to a surfeit these bounties of nature.
 
1878  R. Browning Poets Croisic vii, Swords, scrolls, harps, that fill The vulgar eye to surfeit.
 
1920  J. G. Brooks Labor's Challenge to Social Order iii. 27 We know to a surfeit, what democracy is in a platform.
 
1980 NY Times (Nexis) 26 Dec. c1/4 The visitor may very well experience a feeling of surfeit in the presence of so much decorative elegance.
 
2002 Observer Food Monthly Nov. 56/2 He defines and defends gourmandisme..following it through the various stages of delight and surfeit to its logical conclusion.
 
 7.  Mining. = afterdamp n. at after- prefix 3. Eng. regional (north.). Now rare.
 
1708  J. C. Compl. Collier 18 in  T. Nourse Myst. of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3), Some Collieries are very subject to this fatal Surfeit.
 
1812  J. Hodgson in  J. Raine Mem. J. Hodgson (1857) I. 97 This after-damp is called.surfeit by the colliers.
 
1883  W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining 246 Surfeit (N[orth of England]), choke-damp.
 
1954  S. I. Tomkeieff Coals & Bitumens 89/2 Surfeit, term in use among British miners for: (1) after damp or choke damp; (2) pressure exercised by a pent-up gas resulting in its escape with or without rupture of strata.
 
Compounds
 
C1. 
 a.  General attrib., as †surfeit suffocation.
 
1823  C. Lamb Amicus Rediv. in London Mag. Dec. 614/1 A case of common surfeit-suffocation.
 
 b.  Instrumental and objective, as surfeit-gorged, surfeit-slain, surfeit-swelled, surfeit-swollen, †surfeit-taking adjs.
 
1592  T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. G, Surfet-swolne Churles.
 
1594  Shakespeare Lucrece sig. F1v, So surfet-taking Tarqvin fares.
 
1600  Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. v. 50 Such a kind of man, So surfet-sweld, so old, and so prophane.
 
1682  T. Otway Venice Preserv'd i. 9 Surfeit-slain Fools.
 
1693  N. Tate in  Dryden tr.  Juvenal Satires ii. 19 A Sot..surfeit-gorg'd, and reeking from the Stews.
 
1746  P. Francis tr.  Horace Satires ii. ii. 30 The pale, Surfeit-swoln guest.
 
1775  T. Horde Disappointed Villainy ii. 25 A Half-pay Ensign, who bore some Analogy to my Surfeit-slain Master.
 
1817  C. R. Maturin Manuel iii. ii. 38 These fools, with their gross flattery, mock my mood, Till shamed Credulity resigns her charge, And Vanity lies perish'd—surfeit-slain!
 
1921 Iowa Agric. Exp. Sta. Bull. Nov. 105 The surfeit-swelled, overfed pigs show their discomfort thru heavy drinking and general uneasiness.
 
1970 N.Y. Mag. 27 Apr 74/3 The surfeit-gorged..townspeople gathered at their windows in awe.
 
 C2.
 
 surfeit water n. now rare (hist.) a medicinal drink taken after excessive consumption of food or drink; an indigestion remedy.
 
1633  J. Ford 'Tis Pitty shee's Whore iii. sig. F2, Flo. Did you giue her ought? Richard. An easie surfeit water, nothing else.
 
1757  A. Cooper Compl. Distiller iii. xvii. 173 There are two Kinds of Surfeit-water, one made by Distillation, and the other by Infusion.
 
1801 Sporting Mag. 18 22, I was obliged to take a little surfeit-water before I went to bed.
 
2005 Guardian (Nexis) 19 Feb. (Weekend section) 130 Lady Anne Blencowe..used it [sc. mace] liberally in everything from her surfeit water (for indigestion) to apple fritters.

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