Etymologically
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soar

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Pronunciation

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

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