Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Soothe

Soothe (so͞ot͟h), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Soothed; p. pr. & vb. n. Soothing.] [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. soðien to verify, AS. gesōðian to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.] 1. To assent to as true. [Obs.] Testament of Love.

2. To assent to; to comply with; to gratify; to humor by compliance; to please with blandishments or soft words; to flatter.

Good, my lord, soothe him, let him take the fellow. Shak.

I've tried the force of every reason on him, Soothed and caressed, been angry, soothed again. Addison.

3. To assuage; to mollify; to calm; to comfort; as, to soothe a crying child; to soothe one's sorrows.

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. Congreve.

Though the sound of Fame May for a moment soothe, it can not slake The fever of vain longing. Byron.

Syn. — To soften; assuage; allay; compose; mollify; tranquilize; pacify; mitigate.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.