sophister 
nal, as in pliilnsofilirr.] 1. A man of learning; 
a teacher; specifically, a professional teacher 
of philosophy ; a sophist. 
And jut the! seien sothliche, and so doth the Sarrasyns, 
That lesus was bote a logelour, a laper a-monge the eo. 
mune. 
And a mphistre of sorcerie and pseudo-propheta. 
Piers Plowman (C), xviii. 311. 
As the sophister said in the Greek comudy, "clouds be- 
come any thing as they are represented.' 
Jer. Taylnr, Works (ed. 1836), I. 688. 
2. A sophist ; a quibbler ; a subtle and falla- 
cious reasoner. 
These impudent sophisters, who deny matter of fact with 
so steeled a front. Evelyn, True Religion, Pref., p. xxx. 
You very cunningly put a Question about Wine, by a 
French Trick, which I believe you learn'd at Paris, that 
you may save your Wine by that Means. Ah, go your 
Way ; 1 see you're a Sophister. 
N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 74. 
The age of chivalry is gone ; that of sophisters, econo- 
mists, and calculators has succeeded. 
Burke, Rev. in France. 
3. In English universities, a student advanced 
beyond the first year of his residence, now gen- 
erally called a soph. At Cambridge during the first 
year the students have the title of freshmen, or first-year 
men; during the second, second-year men, or junior sophs 
or sophisters ; and during the third year, third-year men, 
or senior sophs or sophisters. In the older American col- 
leges the junior and senior classes were originally called 
junior sophisters and senior sophisters. The terms were 
similarly applied to students in their third and fourth 
years in Dublin University. Compare sophomore. 
1 have known the railingest sophisters in an university 
sit non plus. G. Harvey, Four Letters. 
In case any of the Sophisters fail in the premises re- 
quired at their hands. 
Quincy, Hist. Harvard Univ., 1. 618 (Hall's College Words). 
sophistert (sof'is-ter), v. t. [< sophister, .] 
To maintain by a fallacious argument or soph- 
istry. Foxe. 
soptiistic (so-fis'tik), a. and n. [< OF. (andF.) 
sophistique = Sp. sofistico = Pg. sophistico, so- 
fistico = It. sofistico, adj. (F. sophistique = It. 
sofistica = G. sophistik, n.), < L. sophisticas, < 
Gr. oixjiioTiKot;, of or pertaining to a sophist, 
< ao0(or//f, sophist: see sophist.] I. a. Same as 
sophistical. 
But we know nothing till, by poaring still 
On Books, we get rs a Sophistik skill. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Furies. 
Sophistic quantity. See quantity. Sophistic syllo- 
gism, a deceptive syllogism invented for gain. 
II. . The methods of the Greek sophists; 
sophistry. 
sophistical (so-fis'ti-kal), a. [< ME. 'sofistical 
(in the adv.);' < sophistic + -al.] 1. Pertain- 
ing to a sophist or to sophistry; using or in- 
volving sophistry ; quibbling ; fallacious. 
Whom ye could not move by sophisticall arguing, them 
you thinke to confute by scandalous misnaming. 
Milton, Church-Government, i. 6. 
2f. Sophisticated; adulterated; not pure. 
There be some that commit Fornication in Chymistry, 
by heterogeneous and sophistical Citrinations. 
Howett, Letters, I. vl. 41. 
Sophistical disputation. See disputation, 2. 
sophistically (so-fis'ti-kal-i), adv. [< ME. so- 
fistically; < sophistical + -ly 2 .] In a sophis- 
tical manner; fallaciously; with sophistry. 
Who sofistically speketh is hateful. 
Wyclif, Ecclus. xxxvii. 20. 
The gravest [offense] ... is to argue sophistically, to 
suppress facts or arguments, to misstate the elements of 
the case, or misrepresent the opposite opinion. 
J. S. Mill, Liberty, ii. 
sophisticalness (so-fis'ti-kal-nes), n. The state 
or quality of being sophistical. Bailey, 1727. 
sophisticate (so-fis'ti-kat), r.; pret. and pp. so- 
phisticated, ppr. sophisticating. [< ML. sophis- 
ticatus, pp. of sophisticare (> It. sofisticare = Sp. 
sofisticar = Pg. sophisticar, sofisticar = F. so- 
phistiquer), falsify, corrupt, adulterate, < LL. 
sophisticus, sophistic : see sophistic.] I. trans. 
1. To make sophistical; involve in sophistry; 
clothe or obscure with fallacies ; falsify. 
How be it, it were harde to construe this lecture, 
Sophisticatid craftely is many a confecture. 
Skeltnn, Garland of Laurel, 1. 110. 
I have loved no darkness, 
Sophisticated no truth. 
M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, ii. 
2. To overcome or delude by sophistry; hence, 
to pervert; mislead. 
If the passions of the mind be strong, they easily so- 
phisticate the understanding. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v., Ded. 
The majority . . . refused to soften down or explain 
away those words which, to all minds not sophisticated, 
appear to assert the regenerating virtue of the sacrament. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiv. 
3. To adulterate ; render impure by admixture. 
6773 
Me lets me have good tobacco, and he does not 
HyhMiHitr it with naek-lees or oil 
//. Jnimnit, AleliemJHt, i. 1. 
Tradesmen who put water in their wool, anil moisten 
their eloth that it may stnteh; tavern keepers who so- 
l>lii*H<'<iti> and mingle wines. 
I. 11' Israeli, Curios, of Lit., I. :!. 
4. To deprive of simplicity; subject to the 
methods cir influence of art. 
He is rattling over the streets of London, and pursuing 
all tin: n(tplti)tticatr<l joys which tmcetii it to supply tlir phir. 
where nature in relinquished. V. Knoz, Essays, vii. 
5. To alter without authority and without no- 
tice, whether to deceive the reader or hearer, 
or to make a fancied improvement or correc- 
tion; alter, as a text or the spelling of a word, 
in order to support a preconceived opinion of 
what it was or should be. 
How many . . . turn articles of piety to particles of 
policy, and sophisticate old singleness into new singularity ! 
Ken. T. Adams, Works, 1. 178. 
As to demarcation, following Dr. Webster, they take the 
liberty of sophisticating Burke, in making him write de- 
markation. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 288. 
II. intraiis. To use sophistry ; deal sophisti- 
cally. 
We may occasionally see some man of deep conscien- 
tiousness, and subtle and refined understanding, who 
spends a life in sophisticating with an intellect which he 
cannot silence. J. S. Mm, Liberty, ii. 
sophisticatet (so-fis'ti-kat), a. [< ME. sophisti- 
cate; < ML. sophisticate, pp.: see the verb.] 
1. Perverted; corrupt. 
And such [pure and right] no Woman e'er will be; 
Mo, they are all Sophisticate. Cowley, Ode, st. 1. 
Very philosophic (nat that whiche is sophisticate and con- 
sisteth in sophismes). Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, ill. 11. 
2. Adulterated; impure; hence, not genuine; 
spurious. 
Zlf it be thykke or reed or blak, it is sophisticate : that is 
to seyne, contrefeted and made lyke it, for disceyt. 
Mandeville, Travels, p. 61. 
Hee tastes Styles as some discreeter Palats doe Wine, 
and tels you which is Genuine, which Sophisticate and 
bastard. Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Criticke. 
sophistication (so-fis-ti-ka'shon), . [Early 
mod. E. sophistication; = Sp. sofisticacion = Pg. 
sophisticafdo = It. sofisticazione, < ML. sophis- 
ticatio(n-), < sophisticare, sophisticate: see so- 
phisticate.] 1. The act or process of sophisti- 
cating, (a) The use or application of sophisms; the 
process of investing with specious fallacies ; the art of 
sophistry. 
Skill in special pleading and ingenuity in sophistication. 
Mrs. Coif den Clarke. 
(6) The process of perverting or misleading by sophistry ; 
hence, loosely, any perversion or wresting from the proper 
course ; a leading or going astray. 
From both kinds of practical perplexity again are to be 
distinguished those sell-sophistications which arise from a 
desire to nnd excuses for gratifying unworthy inclinations. 
T. H. Oreen, Prolegomena to Ethics, I 314. 
(c) Adulteration ; debasement by means of a foreign ad- 
mixture. 
A subtile discouery of outlandish merchants fraud, and 
of the sophistication of their wares. 
Hakluyfs Voyages, To the Reader. 
2. A sophism ; a quibble ; a specious fallacy. 
Tyndalles tryflinge sophistications, whyche he woulde 
shoulde seeme so solempne subtile insolubles, ... ye shall 
se proued very frantique folyes. 
Sir T. More, Works (ed. 1567), I. 355. 
3. That which is adulterated or not genuine; the 
product of adulteration. 4. A means of adul- 
teration ; any substance mixed with another for 
the purpose of adulteration. 
The chief sophistications of ginger powder are sago-meal, 
ground rice, and turmeric. Encyc. Brit., I. 172. 
SOphisticator (so-fis'ti-ka-tor), n. [< K>plii- 
ticate + -or 1 .] One who sophisticates, in any 
sense of the word; especially, one who adul- 
terates. 
I cordially commend that the sophitticators of wine may 
suffer punishment above any ordinary thief. 
T. Whitaker, Blood of the Grape (1654), p. 107. 
sophisticism (so-fis'ti-sizm), H. [< sophistic + 
-ism.] The philosophy or methods of the soph- 
ists. 
sophistress (sof'is-tres), n. [< sophister + 
-ess.] A female sophist. [Rare.] 
Mar Shall I haue leaue (as thou but late with me) 
That I may play the Sophister with thee? 
Pom. The Sophistresse. 
Heywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 116). 
You seem to be a Sophistress, you argue so smartly. 
If. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 379. 
sophistry (sof 'is-tri), . ; pi. sophistries (-triz). 
[< ME. sophistrye, sophistrie, sofi/stry (= G. 
sophisterei = Sw. Dan. sofisteri), < OF. wpM*- 
trrie = Sp. It. sofisteria = Pg. sophisteria (< 
ML. sophistria); as sophist + -ry.] 1. The 
Sophora 
lllethoils of teaeliill";. c|i iet rilies. or pnie'. 
<pf the I irook Mipliists. 2. r'allaeinn 
reasoning sound in appeai-anee nni\ 
illy. n-asniiiii"; deceptive from intention or 
passion. 
Ilie Illlyehe inallje'e Hlft Ine x.uerrth otln-i npenli. Ii. 
other stillelirhe he art oth'T l> 
1 1. K,. 
Sophistrie is ever occup n\ in^ th, tnieth 
alwales to be false, or dies that whiche IB false to In tin. . 
.v,'r T. n'ilnm, Rule of Reason. 
Men of great conversational powers almost universally 
practise a sort of In :uid exaggeration, whieli 
deceives, for the DMMDMlt, both tbanui ir au- 
ditors. Macaulay. Athenian orators. 
3t. Argument for exereise merely. 
The more youthful exercises of tophutry, themes, and 
declamations. ' 
4f. Trickery; erat'l. 
II. -in thoughte it did hem [the birds] good 
To singe of him, and in hir song despyse 
The foule cherl that for his covetyse 
Had hem betrayed with his sophutrye. 
<cer, Good Women, 1. 137. 
=8yn. 2. See def. 2 of fallacy. 
Sopnoclean (sof-o-kle'an), a. [< L. Soplm 
< Gr. 2o^oK>.7/c, Sophocles (see def.), + -on.] Of 
or pertaining to Sophocles, an illustrious Athe- 
nian dramatic poet (495-406 B. c.). 
sophomore (sof'o-mor), . and a. [Formerly 
xiiplihiiori', the altered form sophomore being 
made to simulate a formation < Gr. oo$6f, wise, 
+ /aupof, silly, foolish, as if in allusion to the 
exaggerated opinion which students at this age 
are apt to have of their wisdom ; not found in 
early use (being a technical term not likely to 
occur often outside of university records), but 
prob. orig. "sophimor, "sopliimour, < OF. as if 
"sophismour, "sophismeor, < ML. as if 'sophis- 
mator, lit. 'one who makes arguments or uses 
sophisms,' < 'sophisntare (> It. sofismare = Pg. 
sophismare), with equiv. sophismaticare, use 
sophisms, < L. sophisma, a captious argument, 
a sophism: see sophism. Sophomore, sophimore, 
prop, "sophimor, is thus lit. ' sophismer, as if di- 
rectly < sophime (ME. form of sophism) + -orl. 
It is practically equiv. to sophister, both appar. 
meaning in their orig. university use 'arguer' 
or ' debater.' Cf . wrangler in its university use .] 
1. n. A student in the second year of his college 
course. [U. S.] 
The President may give Leave for the Sophimoret to 
take out some particular Books. 
Laws rale Coll. (1774), p. 23 (Hall's College Words). 
II. a. Pertaining to a sophomore, or to the 
second year of the college course ; character- 
istic of sophomores: as, sophomore studies; 
sophomore rhetoric. [U. S.] 
sophomoric (sof-o-mor'ik), a. [< sophomore + 
-!>.] 1. Of or pertaining to a sophomore or a 
sophomore class. [U. S.J 
Better to face the prowling panther's path 
Than meet the storm of Sophomoric wrath. 
Hanxtrdiana, IV. 22 (Hall's College Words). 
2. Characteristic of the traditional sophomore ; 
bombastic; inflated; conceited; complacently 
ignorant; immature and over-confident. [U. S.] 
He [Davis] writes that he " never expected a Confeder- 
ate army to surrender while it was able either to fight or 
to retreat"; but, sustained only by the sophomoric elo- 
quence of Mr. Benjamin, he had no alternative. 
The Century, XXXIX. 568. 
They satone day drawn thus close together, sipping and 
theorizing, speculating upon the nature of things in an 
easy, bold, sophomoric way. 
G. W. Cable, Old Creole Days, p. 13. 
sophomorical (sof-o-mor'i-kal), a. [< sopho- 
moric + -al.] Same as soiiliomoric. [U. S.] 
Some verbose Fourth of July oration, or some sophomori- 
col newspaper declamation. /'. 11. Stoure, Oldtown, p. 435. 
Sophora (so-fo'ra), H. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737), 
< Ar. sofdra, a yellow plant (applied to one 
faded), < asfar, yellow: see saffron.] A genus 
of leguminous plants, of the suborder Papilio- 
nacese, type of the tribe ftophorese. It Is charac- 
terized by Bowers with a broadly obovate or orbicular 
banner-petal and oblong wings and keel, grouped in ter- 
minal racemes or panicles, and followed liy thick or round- 
ish or four-winged pods which are constricted into a suc- 
cession of necklace-like joints (see cut under moniUform), 
and are usually indehiscent. There are about 30 species, 
natives of warm regions of both hemispheres. They are 
trees and shrubs, rarely perennial herbs, and bear odd- 
pinnate leaves, usually with very numerous small leaflets, 
but sometimes only a few, and then large and rigid. The 
flowers are white, yellow, or violet, and highly ornamen- 
tal. Three species occur within the United states : S. 
tecundijlora, the coral-bean of Texas (sec/rigolito); S. af- 
ftnit, a small tree of Arkansas and Texas, with hard, heavy, 
coarse-grained, yellow and finally red wood, and resinous 
pods, from which a domestic ink is made; and S. tomat- 
tasa, a shrub of the Florida coast, with showy yellow Bow. 
ers, also widely distributed along tropical shores of Amer- 
