succour
Syllables: suc·cour/ˈsʌkə/US/ˈsʌkɚ/
succour noun: aid, assistance, or relief given to one in distress; ministration.
Noun
succour (countable and uncountable, plural succours)
- Aid, assistance, or relief given to one in distress; ministration.
- Now ſtands the Brere like a Lord alone, / Puffed up with pryde and vaine pleaſaunce: / But all this glee had no continuaunce. / For eftſoones Winter gan to approche, / The bluſtring Boreas did encroche, / And beate upon the ſolitarie Brere: / For nowe no ſuccour was ſeene him neere.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Aegloga Se[c]unda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC, folio 6, verso
- His hand, that oft the enemy did lame, / He reach't to thoſe whoſe ſuccors were diſmayde; [...]1583, George Whetstone, A Remembraunce of the Life, Death, and Vertues of the Most Noble and Honourable Lord, Thomas Late Erle of Sussex, […] VVho Deceased at Barmesey the 11th of June 1583, London...
- Aid or assistance in the form of military equipment and soldiers, especially reinforcements sent to support military action.
- Then Diocleſian, / Calling aloud for Succour to the Guard, / Soon gave 'em the Alarm, and made 'em fly / With all the Wings of Speed, to reſcue 'em; [...]1690, indicated as Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher [actually John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, and revised by Thomas Betterton], The Prophetess: Or, The History of Dioclesian. … With Alterations...
- [T]he Allies having raiſed the Siege of Barcelona, penetrated as far as Madrid, which King Philip abandon'd and went to Head the Succours ſent him by France, as he declared in his Manifeſto: which Succours were ſo conſiderable, that being join'd with the Troops that had been compell'd to raiſe the...1741, unknown [formerly attributed to Daniel Defoe], The Life and Adventures of Mrs. Christian Davies, the British Amazon, commonly called Mother Ross: […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for R[ichard]...
- Protection, refuge, shelter; (countable) a place providing such protection, refuge or shelter.
- The gilleflower also, the skilful doe knowe, / doe looke to be couered, in frost and in snowe. / The knot, and the border, and rosemarie gaie, / do craue the like succour for dieng awaie.1878, Thomas Tusser, “Decembers Husbandrie”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam]...
Verb
succour (third-person singular simple present succours, present participle succouring, simple past and past participle succoured)
- To give aid, assistance, or help.
- [M]y maystres / Of whome I thinke / With pen and ynke / For to compyle / Some goodly stile / For thys moste goodly floure / The blossom of fresh colour / So Jupiter me succoura. 1530, John Skelton, “A Little Boke of Philip Sparow”, in The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper; […] In Twenty-one Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson [et...
- [A]s that famous Queene / Of Amazons, whom Pyrrhus did deſtroy, / The day that firſt of Priame ſhe was ſeene, / Did ſhew her ſelfe in great triumphant ioy, / To ſuccour the weake ſtate of ſad afflicted Troy.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 31, page 227
- Synonyms:
- abet, aid, assist, befriend, bestead, minister, come to someone's aid, give someone a hand, grip, help
- To provide aid or assistance in the form of military equipment and soldiers; in particular, for helping a place under siege.
- Shortlie after, Algar Earle of Cheſter, being conuicted of treaſon againſt the king, fled to Gruffyth king or prince of VVales, who gathered his power to reuenge the often wrongs, which he had receiued at the Engliſhmens hands, who euer ſuccoured his enimies againſt him.1584, “Gruffyth the Sonne of Lhewelyn ap Sitsylht and Angharat”, in H. Lhoyd [i.e., Humphrey Llwyd], transl., edited by David Powel, The Historie of Cambria, now Called VVales: A Part of the Most...
- Mr. Pitt [i.e., William Pitt the Younger] presented, by his Majesty's command, a copy of the defensive alliance between his Majesty and the States General of the United Provinces, signed at the Hague, the 15th of April 1788; and translation. [...] Art 2. In case either of the high contracting...1788 May 23, “Copy of the Treaty of Defensive Alliance with Holland”, in [William Cobbett], editor, The Parliamentary History of England, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803. […], volume XXVII...
- To protect, to shelter; to provide a refuge.
- By this River ſide in the medovv, there vvere Cotes and Folds for Sheep, […] [B]y theſe VVaters they might be houſed, harboured, ſuckered, and nouriſhed, […]1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC, pages 176–177
succour meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
succour in Tamil
- உதவிசெய், உற்றுழியுதவு
succour in Urdu
- دستگیری, فریاد رسی, مدد
succour in Malayalam
- ആപത്തിൽ സഹായിക്കുക, ഒത്താശചെയ്യുക, ഉപകരിക്കുക
succour in Kannada
- ಸಹಾಯ, ಪ್ರೋತ್ಸಾಹ, ಒದವಿ, ನೆರವು, ಒತ್ತಾಸೆ, ಒದವಿಗ
More languagesFewer languages
- succour in Punjabi
- ਮਦਦ madad
- succour in Malay
- bantu
- succour in Indonesian
- bantu
Examples of succour in a sentence
- Bring vs where we may reſt our ſelues, and feed: / Here's a yong maid with trauaile much oppreſſed, / And faints for ſuccour.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First...
- Wee'll take up cudgels, and have one bowt with 'em, / They ſhall know nothing of this union: / And till they find themſelves moſt deſperate, / Succour ſhall never ſee 'em.1623 (first performance), John Fletcher, William Rowley, “The Maid in the Mill”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey...
- To Thee therefore, O bleſſed Jeſus, my tender Redeemer, my merciful Lord, I flee for Succour; [...]1728, anonymous [incorrectly attributed to Saint Augustine], “An Humble Address to the Son”, in Geo[rge] Stanhope, transl., Pious...
- Fatal propenſity! which preſents a barrier to the wholeſome ſuccours of advice, and cuts off retreat from error.1796, “Letter XII”, in Elizabeth Hamilton, transl., Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah; […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London...
Synonyms of succour
- aid
- assist
- bestead
- minister
- come to someone's aid
- give someone a hand
- grip
- help
- help out
- lend a hand
9 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of succour
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | succours |
| alternative US | succor |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | succours |
| present participle | succouring |
| past participle | succoured |
| past | succoured |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | succourest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | succouredst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | succoureth |
Origin of succour
The noun is derived from Middle English socour, interpreted as the singular form of socours (“help; encouragement; remedy; protection; helper, protector”), which is from Anglo-Norman socurs, sucurs and Old French secors, secours (modern French secours), from Medieval Latin succursus (participle), from Latin succurrēre (“to run to the help of”), from Latin sub- (“from below”) + Latin currere (“run”). The verb is derived from Middle English socouren (“to help”), from Anglo-Norman socure (compare modern French secourir), also from Latin succurrēre.
Words formed from succour
Words that rhyme with succour
Questions about succour
- What does succour mean?
- Succour means aid, assistance, or relief given to one in distress; ministration.
- What is succour in Tamil?
- Succour in Tamil is உதவிசெய், உற்றுழியுதவு. See Succour meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use succour in a sentence?
- Bring vs where we may reſt our ſelues, and feed: / Here's a yong maid with trauaile much oppreſſed, / And faints for ſuccour.
- What part of speech is succour?
- Succour can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce succour?
- Succour is pronounced /ˈsʌkə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of succour?
- The plural of succour is succours.
Words near succour in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: succour (page history and authors); succour (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); succour (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); succour (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); succour (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਮਦਦ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-succour.wav.
Cite this entry: “succour.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/succour. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.