SOBER • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Sober

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/sˈoʊbər/ Listen

adjective

Sober adj. (compar. soberer; superl. soberest)

1.

Temperate in the use of spirituous liquors; habitually temperate; as, a sober man. "That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy name."

2.

Not intoxicated or excited by spirituous liquors; as, the sot may at times be sober.

3.

Not mad or insane; not wild, visionary, or heated with passion; exercising cool, dispassionate reason; self-controlled; self-possessed. "There was not a sober person to be had; all was tempestuous and blustering." "No sober man would put himself into danger for the applause of escaping without breaking his neck."

4.

Not proceeding from, or attended with, passion; calm; as, sober judgment; a man in his sober senses.

5.

Serious or subdued in demeanor, habit, appearance, or color; solemn; grave; sedate. "What parts gay France from sober Spain?" "See her sober over a sampler, or gay over a jointed baby." "Twilight gray Had in her sober livery all things clad."

Synonyms: Grave; temperate; abstinent; abstemious; moderate; regular; steady; calm; quiet; cool; collected; dispassionate; unimpassioned; sedate; staid; serious; solemn; somber. See Grave.

verb

Sober v. t. (past & past part. sobered; pres. part. sobering) To make sober. "There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again."

Sober v. i. To become sober; often with down. "Vance gradually sobered down."

See images of 'Sober'

Etymology of 'Sober'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sober" Quotes from Famous Books

... and Mr. Blackburne, who told me that it was certain now that the King must of necessity come in, and that one of the Council told him there is something doing in order to a treaty already among them. And it was strange to hear how Mr. Blackburne did already begin to commend him for a sober man, and how quiet he would be under his government, &c. The Commissioners come to-day, only to consult about a further reducement of the Fleet, and to pay them as fast as they can. At night, my Lord resolved to send the Captain of our ship ...

— The Diary of Samuel Pepys • Samuel Pepys

... steam-plow, I find by a recent article in the Cornhill Magazine, is that an English laborer must not any more have a nest, nor bantlings, neither; but may only expect to get on prosperously in life, if he be perfectly skillful, sober, and honest, and dispenses, at least until he is forty-five, with the ...

— Love's Meinie - Three Lectures on Greek and English Birds • John Ruskin

... sent me to see if Sir Wilfull be sober, and to bring him to them. My lady is resolved to have him, I think, rather than lose such a vast sum as six thousand pound. Oh, come, Mrs. Foible, I hear ...

— The Way of the World • William Congreve

... would not have bought —thinking to please you—the Grainrouge domain, and then she could have lent you that money as well as the thirty thousand francs she brought with her. She is in despair at your decision; she fears the climate of India for your health. She entreats you to be sober, and not to let yourself be trapped by women—That made me laugh; I am as sure of you as I am of myself. You will return to me rich and faithful. I alone know your feminine delicacy, and the secret sentiments which make you a human ...

— The Marriage Contract • Honore de Balzac

... the seventeenth of March, and she and Betty were driving home from the Capitol after listening to the Senator from Vermont on the situation in Cuba,—to that cold, bare, sober statement of the result of personal investigation, which produced a far deeper and more historical impression than all the impassioned rhetoric which had rent the air since the agitation began. He appeared to have no feeling on the matter, no personal bias; he told what ...

— Senator North • Gertrude Atherton

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