soar

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English soren,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French essorer (“to fly up, soar”),^[5][6][3][2] with the loss of the first syllable,^[7][8][9] from Vulgar Latin *exaurō (“to rise into the air; to expose to the air”),^{[5][6][4][10]} from ex- (“out”) and aura (“breeze, air”),^[5][6][3] which is from Ancient Greek αὔρα (aúra, “breeze”).^[3][11] Partridge says the French verb first meant to expose to the air to dry, and that the falconers' reflexive s'essorer, of a bird raising itself into the air, was the direct source of the English word.^[11] The OED compares sorare.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of persons, to rise high: about 1374, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde; the sense used of birds, to fly upward to a great height, follows about 1384 in his House of Fame,^[12][5] and Gower uses it of a hawk or falcon in flight.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline gives the first sense as of birds rising high or sailing through the air without beating their wings,^[6] and Johnson (1755) likewise said it properly meant to fly without visible action of the wings.^[14] Figurative uses for rising to a higher level followed in the 1590s, as in Shakespeare's Richard II (1597);^[12][6] inanimate things rose up from 1697, and mountains and buildings rose majestically by 1812, in Byron.^[12][6] In 1893 it was applied to an aircraft flying without engine power,^[12] and since 1929 to prices rising rapidly.^[12][6] The noun, the height reached in soaring, is recorded from 1596, and the act of soaring from 1817 in Coleridge;^[12][5] the OED thinks it was perhaps partly modelled on French essor.^[12][9] In Australian slang of the 1880s to soar was to die.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – of persons, to rise high, in Chaucer.^[12]
• c. 1384 – of birds, to fly upward to a height.^[12][5]
• 1596 – noun, the height reached in soaring.^[12][5]
• 1597 – figuratively, to rise to a higher level.^[12]
• 1812 – of mountains and buildings, to rise majestically.^[12][6]
• 1817 – noun, an act of soaring.^[12][5]
• 1893 – of aircraft, to fly without an engine.^[12]
• 1929 – of prices, to rise rapidly.^[12][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fly or rise high into the air: The kite soared above the dunes.^[16][10][12]
2. Of a bird or aircraft, to glide at height, keeping up on rising air currents without flapping or engine power.^[16][10][12]
3. To rise quickly in amount, size or level: House prices soared last year.^[16][12]
4. Of a building or mountain, to rise to a great height: towers that soar over the city.^[12][6]
5. To rise to a higher or nobler level, as of the spirit or imagination.^[10][12][14]

Noun

1. The act of soaring; upward flight.^[16][10][12]
2. The height or range reached in soaring.^[16][10][12]

Word family

• soarer
• soaringly
• outsoar

Related words

• aura

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins