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From Middle Englishsublimen, sublime, sublyme(“to exalt, extol, glorify, honour; (alchemy) to refine (a substance) by vaporizing in a closed container; to obtain (a substance) by cooling vapour obtained through sublimation; to extract (a pure substance) from a mixture by sublimation; to sublimate (a substance)”),[1] from Middle Frenchsublimer, Old Frenchsublimer(“to exalt, glorify, honour; to refine (a substance) by vaporizing in a closed container; of a substance: to undergo sublimation”) (modern Frenchsublimer), and from its etymonLatinsublīmāre, the presentactiveinfinitive of sublimō(“to elevate, raise; to soar”) (compare Late Latinsublimō(“to elevate, raise; to exalt, glorify, honour; to sublimate, vaporize”)), from sublīmis(“elevated, raised; exalted, uplifted, sublime; elevated in style”)[2] (from sub-(prefix meaning ‘under; up to’) + possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European*Heh₃l-(“to bend”) (whence Latinlīmen(“threshold”) and līmus(“askew; sideways”))) + -ō(suffix forming regular first-conjugationverbs).
Sub[tle]. […] VVho are you? / Ana[nias]. A faithfull Brother, if it pleaſe you. / Sub. VVhat's that? / A Lullianiſt? a Ripley? Filius artis? / Can you ſublime, and dulcefie?
1677, Nehemiah Grew, “ Experiments in Consort of the Luctation Arising from the Affusion of Several Menstruums upon All Sorts of Bodies, Exhibited to the Royal Society, April 13. and June 1. 1676. Chapter II. What may be Observed of Minerals.”, in The Anatomy of Plants., : W. Rawlins, for the author, published 1682, →OCLC, page 246:
The aſhes either of Pit-Coal, or Sea-Coal, make no Efferveſcence vvith Alkalies or Acids. VVhence the ſaline Principle is altogether volatile, and ſublimed avvay by the fire.
[W]e may finde […] that confirmation in grace, I say, by which free will is transfigured and sublimed into a state divine; […]
1649, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Ad. Sect. 10. Considerations Touching the Vocation of Five Disciples, and of the First Miracle of Jesus Done at Cana in Galilee.”, in The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life According to the Christian Institution., London: R. N. for Francis Ash,, →OCLC, 2nd part, page 8:
[B]y his [Jesus's] preſence he alſo hallovved marriage, and made it honourable, not onely in a civill account, and the rites of Heraldry, but in a ſpirituall ſenſe, he having nevv ſublim'd it by making it a Sacramentall repreſentment of the union of Chriſt and his Spouſe the Church.
1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Section III”, in Clerus Domini: or, A Discourse of the Divine Institution, Necessity, Sacrednesse, and Separation of the Office Ministerial., London: R Royston, published 1655, →OCLC, paragraph 11, page 17:
An extraordinary miniſtery needs an extraordinary and a miraculous gift; that is a miraculous calling and vocation and deſignation by the holy Ghoſt; but an ordinary gift cannot ſublime an ordinary perſon to a ſupernaturall imployment; […]
[T]hat Art being ſtrengthned by the knovvledge of things, may at length paſs into Nature by ſlovv degrees; and ſo in proceſs of time may be ſublim'd into a pure Genius vvhich is capable of chooſing judiciouſly vvhat is true; […]
[H]e, the œconomiſt, diſpoſer, and ſhepherd of his ovvn kindred, ſubliming himſelf into an airy metaphyſician, vvas reſolved to knovv nothing of his flocks, but as men in general.
That beauty, which the hues of thought create / By thee enchanted,—slakes the mental fire / That parches us within: and yearning dreams, / And aspirations high as immortality, / Thy power sublimeth with mysterious aid.
His very selfishness therefore is sublimed into public spirit: and this public spirit is stimulated to fierce enthusiasm by sympathy, by the desire of applause, and by the dread of infamy.
But thou (dear Vine) forbid'ſt me to be long, / Although thy Trunk be neither large, nor ſtrong, / Nor can thy Head (not helpt) it ſelf ſublime, / Yet like a Serpent, a tall Tree can climb, […]
Formerly, to attack a community intrenched in laws, customs, institutions, and beliefs, required dauntless courage—a soul sublimed by an idea above the region of vanity and conceit—a character resolutely facing responsibilities it clearly realized, and especially a penetrating vision into the spirit and heart of the objects assailed.
1640, John Parkinson, “Camphora. Camfire.”, in Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent:, London: Tho Cotes, →OCLC, page 1575:
[Camfire, i.e., camphor] ſeemeth plainely to be ſo made by art, being caſt as it vvere or ſublimed into broad round pans or diſhes and little above the thickneſſe of ones thumbe, […]
Especially of the sun: to heat (something) and cause vapours, etc., to rise from it.
Some the French VVriters, ſome our ovvn deſpiſe; / The Ancients only, or the Moderns prize: / […] / Meanly they ſeek the Bleſſing to confine, / And force that Sun but on a Part to Shine; / VVhich not alone the Southern VVitſublimes, / But ripens Spirits in cold Northern Climes; […]
1871, Charles Kingsley, “Monos”, in At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies., volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 181–182:
[O]n the swamps of the Caroni the malarious fog hung motionless in long straight lines, waiting for the first blaze of sunrise to sublime it and its invisible poisons into the upper air, where it would be swept off, harmless, by the trade-wind which rushed along half a mile above our heads.
1653 (indicated as 1654), Jeremy Taylor, “The Real Presence and Spiritual of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, Proved against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. Section V. Subject Continued .”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., volume IX, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co.; and Richard Priestley,, published 1822, →OCLC, paragraph 10, page 476:
[I]t [bread used for communion] is made 'sacramental and eucharistical,' and so it is sublimed to become the body of Christ. But it is natural food still, […]
1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost., London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker; nd by Robert Boulter; nd Matthias Walker,, →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books:, London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1873, →OCLC, lines 482–484:
[F]lours and thir fruit / Mans nouriſhment, by gradual ſcale ſublim'd / To vital Spirits aſpire, […]
1740, Geo[rge] Cheyne, “Discourse I. Philosophical Conjectures about the Nature and Qualities of the Original Animal Body, and of Its Progressive State in Its Several Stages of Existence.”, in An Essay on Regimen., London: C Rivington,; Bath, Somerset: J. Leake,, →OCLC, § 27, page 36:
[T]hat ſpiritual Subſtance vvas analogous to Matter infinitely rarefied, refin'd or ſublim'd: Then, in the Geometrical Manner of conſidering ſuch reſpective Qualities and their Subject, Body infinitely rarefied, refin'd and ſublim'd, vvould at laſt terminat in limited Space or Expanſion; […]
Ring for your valet—bid him quickly bring / Some hock and soda-water, then you'll know / […] / For not the blest sherbet, sublimed with snow, / […] / After long travel, ennui, love, or slaughter, / Vie with that draught of hock and soda-water.
The noun is derived from Middle Frenchsublime(“elevated style in writing; quality in art or nature inspiring awe, reverence, etc.”) (modern Frenchsublime), from the adjective: see further above.[3]
1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis., London: Jacob Tonson,, →OCLC, page 384, lines 740–741 and 747–750:
The Heroe, looking on the left, eſpy'd / A lofty Tovv'r, and ſtrong on ev'ry ſide / […] / Vain is the force of Man, and Heav'ns as van, / To cruſh the Pillars vvhich the Pile ſuſtain. / Sublime on theſe a Tovv'r of Steel is rear'd; / And dire Tiſiphone these keeps the VVard.
We had entered the clouds. For half-an-hour we were muffled in a cold, damp mist, and total darkness, and had begun to think of going indoors when, all at once, the car burst into the pure and starlit region of the upper air. A cry of joyous admiration escaped from us all. The spectacle before us was indeed sublime.
Know how sublime a thing it is, / To suffer and be strong.
1851 (date written), Matthew Bridges, “Song of the Seraphs [Crown Him with Many Crowns]”, in The Passion of Jesus, a Collection of Original Pieces Corresponding with the Five Sorrowful Mysteries in the Rosary of Our Blessed Lady, London, Dublin: Richardson and Son,, published 1852, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 64:
Crown Him the Lord of Years! / The Potentate of Time,— / Creator of the rolling spheres, / Ineffably sublime!
You know, when I first met you, Claire, I thought that here might finally be a chance for me to be a class-act for once. To develop something sublime about myself. Well fuck sublime, Claire. I don't want dainty little moments of insight. I want everything and I want it now.
Thy even Thoughts vvith ſo much Plainneſs flovv, / Their Senſe untutor'd Infancy may knovv; / Yet to ſuch height is all that Plainneſs vvrought, / VVit may admire, and letter'd Pride be taught: / Eaſie in VVords thy Style, in Senſe ſublime, / On its bleſt Steps each Age and Sex may riſe, / 'Tis like the Ladder in the Patriarch's Dream, / Its foot on Earth, its height beyond the Skies.
Cigarettes are poison and they taste bad; they are not exactly beautiful, they are exactly sublime. The difference, to use the terms in which [Immanuel] Kant makes the distinction, means that smoking cigarettes gives rise to forms of aesthetic pleasure painfully at odds with the affect arising from the contemplation in tranquillity, say, of a well-wrought urn.
1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost., London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker; nd by Robert Boulter; nd Matthias Walker,, →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books:, London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1873, →OCLC:
His fair large Front and Eye ſublime declar'd / Abſolute rule;
Car[los]. VVhat is your opinion of the Play? / Yo[ung] Mag[got]. […] There are a great many ſublimes that are very Poetical.
1687, G[ilbert] Burnet, “A Defence of the Reflections on the Ninth Book of the First Volum of Mr. Varillas’s History of Heresies. Being a Reply to His Answer.”, in Reflections on Mr. Varillas’s History of the Revolutions that have Happened in Europe in Matters of Religion., Amsterdam: J. S., →OCLC, page 8:
[S]ince there are tvvo ſorts of Sublimes, the one of Nonſence, and the other of Eloquence, I vvill not take upon me to judge to vvhich of theſe this belongs.
1727, William Warburton, “Part II”, in A Critical and Philosophical Enquiry into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles, as Related by Historians., London: Thomas Corbett,, →OCLC, pages 78–79:
Novv, vvhat a fine Opportunity vvas here of introducing his Story, in all the Blaze and Terror of anxious and diſordered Nature? VVith vvhat a Sublime might that Flaſh of Lightning have been brought in, to grace the approaching Ruin, […]
No solemn, antique gentleman of rhyme, / Who having angled all his life for fame, / And getting but a nibble at a time, / Still fussily keeps fishing on, the same / Small "Triton of the minnows," the sublime / Of mediocrity, the furious tame, […]
[T]he vvhole capacity of the eye, vibrating in all its parts muſt approach near to the nature of vvhat cauſes pain, and conſequently muſt produce an idea of the ſublime. Or if vve take it, that one point only of an object is diſtinguiſhable at oince; the matter vvill amount nearly to the ſame thing, or rather it vvill make the origin of the ſublime from greatneſs of dimenſion yet clearer.
[Our old meeting house's] double row of windows, of which I knew the number by heart, its doors with great wooden quirls over them, its belfry projecting out that the east end, its steeple and bell, all inspired as much sense of the sublime in me as Stratsburg Cathedral itself, and the inside was not a whit less imposing.
And, after, feigning pique at what she call'd / The raillery, or grotesque, or false sublime— / Like one that wishes at a dance to change / The music—clapt her hands and cried for war, / Or some grand fight to kill and make an end: […]
The ſublime and the ridiculous are often ſo nearly related, that it is difficult to claſs them ſeparately. One ſtep above the ſublime, makes the ridiculous; and one ſtep above the ridiculous, makes the ſublime again.
There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?
For Asa Skinner was a man possessed of a belief, of that sentiment of the sublime before which all inequalities are leveled, that transport of conviction which seems superior to all laws of condition, under which debauchees have become martyrs; which made a tinker an artist and a camel-driver the founder of an empire.