FromMiddle Englishsurfeite,surfet, a borrowing fromAnglo-Normansurfet,surfeit andOld Frenchsorfet,sorfait, past participle ofsurfaire(“to augment, exaggerate, exceed”), fromsur-(“over”) +faire(“to do”). The adjective is derived from the noun.
surfeit (comparativemoresurfeit,superlativemostsurfeit)
- (archaic)Sated;surfeited;filled.[from 16th c.]
1686,Gervase Markham,Markham's Faithful Farrier, London: […] J. Millet for J Deacon,page 7:If it proceed from the third occaſion, which isſurfeit of Meats and Drinks, either natural or unnatural, then the ſigns are theſe ;[…]
1959, D. V. S. Jackson, chapter I, inWalk with Peril, New York:G. P. Putnam's Sons,page10:“We aresurfeit with sons of vassals of the king,” the merchant said.
surfeit (countable anduncountable,pluralsurfeits)
- (countable) Anexcessiveamount of something.
Asurfeit of wheat is driving down the price.
2019 January 26,Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, inKatharine Viner, editor,The Guardian[1], London:Guardian News & Media,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on8 April 2019:With what could be asurfeit 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.
- (uncountable)Overindulgence in eitherfood ordrink;overeating.
c.1596–1598 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii]:I feel too much thy blessing: make it [this excess]less,
For fear Isurfeit!
Now comes the sick hour that hissurfeit made.
1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Luke21:34:And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged withsurfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
- (countable) Asickness or condition caused by overindulgence.
King Henry I is said to have died of asurfeit of lampreys.
- Disgust caused by excess;satiety.
a.1587 (date written), Phillip Sidney [i.e.,Philip Sidney],The Defence of Poesie[2], London: […] [Thomas Creede] forVVilliam Ponsonby, published1595,→OCLC,→OCLC: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 aſurfet to the eares as is poſsible.
- (countable) A group ofskunks.
excessive amount of something
overindulgence in either food or drink; overeating
sickness or condition caused by overindulgence
disgust caused by excess; satiety
surfeit (third-person singular simple presentsurfeits,present participlesurfeiting,simple past and past participlesurfeited)
- (transitive) Tofill (something) to excess.
- Synonym:stuff
1610–1611 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene iii]: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;
1875,Anthony Trollope, chapter 23, inThe Way We Live Now[3], volume I, London:Chapman and Hall, […]:If thissurfeited 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[…]?
- (transitive) Tofeed (someone) to excess (on,upon orwith something).
- Synonyms:glut,overfeed,stuff
Shesurfeited her children on sweets.
1665,Robert Boyle,Occasional Reflections upon Several Subjects[4], London: Henry Herringman, Reflection 10, page186:[…] ev’n the wholsomest Meats may besurfeited on, and there is nothing more unhealthy, than to feed very well, and do but very little Exercise.
1906,O. Henry, “The Furnished Room”, inThe Four Million[5], New York: A.L. Burt, page240: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.
1909,Arnold Bennett,The Old Wives’ Tale[6], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Volume 1, Book 2, Chapter 8, section 1, p. 318: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 wouldsurfeit him with that dish.
- (transitive) To make (someone)sick as a result ofoverconsumption.
1640,Thomas Fuller,Joseph’s Partie-Colored Coat[7], London: John Williams:[…] that proportion of meatsurfetteth, and surchargeth the stomacks of some, which is not enough to satisfie the hunger of others,
1755 January 2,George Colman,The Connoisseur[8], volume 1, number49, London: R. Baldwin, page299:[…] I imagine him poisoned by his wines, orsurfeited by a favourite dish;
- (transitive, figurative) Tosupply (someone)with something to excess; todisgust (someone) throughoverabundance.
- Synonyms:cloy,glut
- 1697,Aphra Behn, “On an ungrateful and undeserving Mistress, whom he cou’d not help Loving” inPoems upon Several Occasions, London: Francis Saunders, p. 50,[9]
- While some glad Rival in her Arms did lye,
- Glutted with Love andsurfeited with Joy.
1795,Richard Cumberland,Henry[10], London: Charles Dilly, Volume 4, Book 10, Chapter 3, p. 18:[…] he shan’t shut me up in this dismal castle, and nauseate me with hissurfeiting fondness:
1844 Jun,Charles Lever, chapter 53, inTom Burke of “Ours”[11], volume 2, Dublin: William Curry, page31:[…] I suppose his majesty thought we had enough of it on the field, and did not wish tosurfeit us with glory.
1977,Susan Sontag, “The Heroism of Vision”, inOn Photography[12], New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page77:The image-surfeited are likely to find sunsets corny; they now look, alas, too much like photographs.
- (transitive) Tosatisfy (someone's appetite) to excess (both literally and figuratively).
- Synonym:glut
1796,Maria Edgeworth, “The Mimic”, inThe Parent’s Assistant; or, Stories for Children[13], volume 2, London: J. Johnson, page98:[…] his appetite for vulgar praise had not yet beensurfeited;
1922, Lenore Richards, Nola Treat, chapter 2, inQuantity Cookery,[14], Boston: Little, Brown, page 8:Every one has had the experience of being served with more food than can be eaten with relish and without waste. The effect is tosurfeit the appetite and to limit the variety which a patron may have,
- (intransitive, reflexive) Toovereat orfeed to excess (on orupon something).
- Synonyms:glut,indulge,overfeed,overindulge
1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Luke21:34:And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged withsurfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
1917, R. L. Alsaker, chapter 16, inMaintaining Health[15], New York: Frank E. Morrison, page174:Those who do notsurfeit themselves do not weary quickly of any particular article of diet.
- (intransitive, reflexive, figurative) Toindulge (in something) to excess.
1748,William Gilpin,A Dialogue upon the Gardens of the Right Honourable Viscount Cobham, at Stow in Buckinghamshire[16], London: B. Seeley, page54:Aftersurfeiting 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.
1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym;Charlotte Brontë], chapter I, inJane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume II, London:Smith, Elder, and Co., […],→OCLC,page16:[…] a more fantastic idiot had neversurfeited herself on sweet lies, and swallowed poison as if it were nectar.
1869,Mark Twain, chapter 47, inThe Innocents Abroad[17], Hartford, CT: American Publishing Company, page496:[…] the intemperate zeal with which middle-aged men are apt tosurfeit themselves upon a seductive folly which they have tasted for the first time.
- (intransitive, reflexive) To becomesick fromoverindulgence (both literally and figuratively).
c.1596–1598 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene ii]:[…] they are as sick thatsurfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing.
1642,Thomas Fuller, chapter 13, inThe Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […],→OCLC, book I,page43:I must confesse at my first reading of them [the miracles ofHildegard of Bingen], my belief digested some, butsurfeted on the rest:
1667 (revival performance),John Dryden,The Wild Gallant: A Comedy. […], In the Savoy[London]: […] T[homas] Newcomb forH[enry] Herringman, […], published1669,→OCLC, Act II,page17: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.
1861,Herbert Spencer, chapter 4, inEducation: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical,[18], London: Williams and Norgate, page149:But are children to be allowed tosurfeit themselves? Shall they be suffered to take their fill of dainties and make themselves ill, as they certainly will do?
to feed someone to excess
to overeat or feed to excess
to sicken from overindulgence
- “surfeit”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “surfeit”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “surfeit”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
- “surfeit,adj.”, inOED Online
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000.