surfeit

comparative more surfeit · superlative most surfeit

1. archaicSated; surfeited; filled.First known use 16th c.

   “We are surfeit with sons of vassals of the king,” the merchant said.

   1959, D. V. S. Jackson, chapter I, in Walk with Peril, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, page 10

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   If it proceed from the third occaſion, which is ſurfeit of Meats and Drinks, either natural or unnatural, then the ſigns are theſe ; […]

   1686, Gervase Markham, Markham's Faithful Farrier, London: […] J. Millet for J Deacon, page 7

plural surfeits

1. countableAn excessive amount of something.

   A surfeit of wheat is driving down the price.

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   With what could be a surfeit of candour, [Mike] Skinner has described DJing as more creative than playing his own songs, because, to paraphrase, of the "stress" and "creativity" of not knowing what he'll be doing in three minutes' time.

   2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Apr 2019

   Synonyms: excess, glut, overabundance, superfluity, surplus, ug

2. uncountableOverindulgence in either food or drink; overeating.

   I feel too much thy blessing: make it [this excess]less, For fear I surfeit! Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

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   He insisted on stopping at a charmingly romantic cabman's shelter somewhere, at five o'clock this morning, and we had a surfeit of hot cocoa and currant buns.

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

   Synonyms: gluttony, overeating, overindulgence

3. countableA sickness or condition caused by overindulgence.

   King Henry I is said to have died of a surfeit of lampreys.

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   the Leaves they do eat to prevent surfeit and other diseases that are incident to those that heat their blood by travels

   1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC

4. countableuncountableDisgust caused by excess; satiety.

   Matter and argument have been supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit.

   1795–1797, Edmund Burke, “(please specify |letter=1 to 4)”, in [Letters on a Regicide Peace], London: [Rivington]

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   Now for ſimilitudes in certain Printed diſcourſes, I thinke all Herberiſts, all ſtories of beaſts, foules, and fiſhes, are rifled vp, that they may come in multitudes to vvait vpon any of our conceits, which certainly is as abſurd a ſurfet to the eares as is poſsible.

   a. 1587 (date written), Phillip Sidney [i.e., Philip Sidney], The Defence of Poesie, London: […] [Thomas Creede] for VVilliam Ponsonby, published 1595, →OCLC, →OCLC

   Synonyms: nausea

5. countableA group of skunks.

present singular third person surfeits · participle present surfeiting · participle past surfeited · past surfeited

1. transitiveTo fill (something) to excess.

   You are three men of sin, whom Destiny, That hath to instrument this lower world And what is in’t,—the never-surfeited sea Hath caused to belch up you;

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]

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   If this surfeited sponge of speculation, this crammed commercial cormorant, wanted more than that for his daughter, why could he not say so without asking disgusting questions such as these […]?

   1873 May 1 – December 22 (date written), Anthony Trollope, chapter 23, in The Way We Live Now. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published June 1875, →OCLC

   Synonyms: stuff

2. transitiveTo feed (someone) to excess (on, upon or with something).

   She surfeited her children on sweets.

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   […] ev’n the wholsomest Meats may be surfeited on, and there is nothing more unhealthy, than to feed very well, and do but very little Exercise.

   1665, Robert Boyle, Occasional Reflections upon Several Subjects, London: Henry Herringman, Reflection 10, page 186

   To the door of this, the twelfth house whose bell he had rung, came a housekeeper who made him think of an unwholesome, surfeited worm that had eaten its nut to a hollow shell and now sought to fill the vacancy with edible lodgers.

   1906, O. Henry, “The Furnished Room”, in The Four Million, New York: A.L. Burt, page 240

   If he said of a dish, in the local tongue: “I could do a bit of that!” or if he simply smacked his lips over it, she would surfeit him with that dish.

   1909, Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives’ Tale, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Volume 1, Book 2, Chapter 8, section 1, p. 318

   Synonyms: glut, overfeed, stuff

3. transitiveTo make (someone) sick as a result of overconsumption.

   […] I imagine him poisoned by his wines, or surfeited by a favourite dish;

   1755 January 2, George Colman, The Connoisseur, volume 1, number 49, London: R. Baldwin, page 299

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   […] that proportion of meat surfetteth, and surchargeth the stomacks of some, which is not enough to satisfie the hunger of others,

   1640, Thomas Fuller, Joseph’s Partie-Colored Coat, London: John Williams

4. figurativelytransitiveTo supply (someone) with something to excess; to disgust (someone) through overabundance.

   1697, Aphra Behn, “On an ungrateful and undeserving Mistress, whom he cou’d not help Loving” in Poems upon Several Occasions, London: Francis Saunders, p. 50, While some glad Rival in her Arms did lye, Glutted with Love and surfeited with Joy.

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   […] he shan’t shut me up in this dismal castle, and nauseate me with his surfeiting fondness:

   1795, Richard Cumberland, Henry, London: Charles Dilly, Volume 4, Book 10, Chapter 3, p. 18

   […] I suppose his majesty thought we had enough of it on the field, and did not wish to surfeit us with glory.

   1844 Jun, Charles Lever, chapter 53, in Tom Burke of “Ours”, volume 2, Dublin: William Curry, page 31

   After supper, surfeited with the subject, she yawned.

   1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 2, page 210

   The image-surfeited are likely to find sunsets corny; they now look, alas, too much like photographs.

   1977, Susan Sontag, “The Heroism of Vision”, in On Photography, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 77

   Synonyms: cloy, glut

5. figurativelysometimestransitiveTo satisfy (someone's appetite) to excess.

   […] his appetite for vulgar praise had not yet been surfeited;

   1796, Maria Edgeworth, “The Mimic”, in The Parent’s Assistant; or, Stories for Children, volume 2, London: J. Johnson, page 98

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   Every one has had the experience of being served with more food than can be eaten with relish and without waste. The effect is to surfeit the appetite and to limit the variety which a patron may have,

   1922, Lenore Richards, Nola Treat, chapter 2, in Quantity Cookery,, Boston: Little, Brown, page 8

   Synonyms: glut

6. intransitivereflexiveTo overeat or feed to excess (on or upon something).

   Those who do not surfeit themselves do not weary quickly of any particular article of diet.

   1917, R. L. Alsaker, chapter 16, in Maintaining Health, New York: Frank E. Morrison, page 174

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   And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 21:34

   Millions of people were starving, while the oligarchs and their supporters were surfeiting on the surplus.

   1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 17, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 251

   Synonyms: glut, indulge, overfeed, overindulge

7. figurativelyintransitivereflexiveTo indulge (in something) to excess.

   […] a more fantastic idiot had never surfeited herself on sweet lies, and swallowed poison as if it were nectar.

   1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter I, in Jane Eyre. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 16

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   After surfeiting itself with the Feast here provided for it, the Eye, by using a little Exercise in travelling about the Country, grows hungry again, and returns to the Entertainment with fresh Appetite.

   1748, William Gilpin, A Dialogue upon the Gardens of the Right Honourable Viscount Cobham, at Stow in Buckinghamshire, London: B. Seeley, page 54

   […] the intemperate zeal with which middle-aged men are apt to surfeit themselves upon a seductive folly which they have tasted for the first time.

   1869, Mark Twain, chapter 47, in The Innocents Abroad, Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, page 496

8. figurativelyintransitivereflexivesometimesTo become sick from overindulgence.

   […] they are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

   3 more examples

   I must confesse at my first reading of them [the miracles of Hildegard of Bingen], my belief digested some, but surfeted on the rest:

   1642, Thomas Fuller, chapter 13, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book I, page 43

   He that ſerves many Miſtreſſes, ſurfeits on his diet, and grovvs dead to the vvhole ſex: 'tis the folly in the vvorld next long ears and braying.

   1667 (revival performance), John Dryden, The Wild Gallant: A Comedy. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] Newcomb for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1669, →OCLC, Act II, page 17

   But are children to be allowed to surfeit themselves? Shall they be suffered to take their fill of dainties and make themselves ill, as they certainly will do?

   1861, Herbert Spencer, chapter 4, in Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical,, London: Williams and Norgate, page 149