Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Painful to the touch; tender.
  • adjective Feeling physical pain; hurting.
  • adjective Causing misery, sorrow, or distress; grievous.
  • adjective Causing embarrassment or irritation.
  • adjective Full of distress; sorrowful.
  • adjective Informal Angry; offended.
  • noun An open skin lesion, wound, or ulcer.
  • noun A source of pain, distress, or irritation.
  • transitive verb To mutilate the legs or feet of (a horse) in order to induce a particular gait in the animal.
  • adverb Sorely.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Reddish-brown; sorrel. See sorrel, and compare sorage, sore-eagle, sore-falcon, sore-hawk.
  • noun A hawk of the first year.
  • noun A buck of the fourth year. See sorrel, 3.
  • noun A state of suffering or pain; grief; sorrow; misery.
  • noun A wounded or diseased spot on an animal body; a painful or painfully tender place, with or without solution of continuity, on or near the surface of the body.
  • noun A source of grief, distress, annoyance, or bitterness; a misfortune; a trouble.
  • An obsolete spelling of soar.
  • To make sore; wound.
  • With physical suffering; so as to cause bodily pain; painfully.
  • In a manner indicating or causing mental pain; deplorably; grievously; bitterly.
  • Violently; fiercely; severely.
  • Exceedingly; thoroughly; intensely.
  • Firmly; tightly; fast.
  • Painful, as being the seat of a wound or of disease; aching; specifically, painfully sensitive to the touch: said of the part affected, or, by extension, of the entire member or person concerned.
  • Inflicting physical suffering; giving bodily pain.
  • Suffering mental pain; distressed; painfully sensitive; touchy.
  • Bringing sorrow, misery, or regret; distressing; grievous; oppressive.
  • Associated with painful ideas or feelings; accompanied by grief, anger, mortification, regret, discomfort, or the like; serving as an occasion of bitterness: as, a sore subject.
  • Severe; violent; fierce.
  • Exceeding; extreme; intense.
  • Wretched: vile; worthless; base.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Tender to the touch; susceptible of pain from pressure; inflamed; painful; -- said of the body or its parts.
  • adjective Fig.: Sensitive; tender; easily pained, grieved, or vexed; very susceptible of irritation.
  • adjective Severe; afflictive; distressing.
  • adjective obsolete Criminal; wrong; evil.
  • adjective (Med.) inflammation of the throat and tonsils; pharyngitis. See Cynanche.
  • adjective See Angina, and under Putrid.
  • noun A place in an animal body where the skin and flesh are ruptured or bruised, so as to be tender or painful; a painful or diseased place, such as an ulcer or a boil.
  • noun Fig.: Grief; affliction; trouble; difficulty.
  • noun (Med.) See under Gold, n.
  • adjective rare Reddish brown; sorrel.
  • adjective (Zoöl.) See Sore, n., 1.
  • adverb In a sore manner; with pain; grievously.
  • adverb Greatly; violently; deeply.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A young hawk or falcon in the first year.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A young buck in the fourth year. See the Note under Buck.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Causing pain or discomfort; painfully sensitive.
  • adjective Dire; distressing.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English sār.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English sor, from Old English sār (noun) 'ache, wound' and sār (adj.) 'painful, grievous', from Proto-Germanic *sairan (noun) (compare Dutch zeer 'sore, ache', Danish sår 'wound'), and *sairaz (adj.) 'sore' (compare German sehr 'very'), from pre-Germanic *sh₂ei-ro-, enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ei- 'to be fierce, afflict' (compare Hittite sāwar 'anger', Welsh hoed 'pain', Ancient Greek aimōdía 'toothache').

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