Definition of "sublime"

(transitive)

1. (chemistry) Synonym of sublimate

   1. (generally) to change (a solid substance) into a gas without breaking down or passing through the liquid state by heating it gently.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • 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?

        1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, Act II, scene v, signature [D3], recto

      • 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.

        1677, Nehemiah Grew, “[Several Lectures Read before the Royal Society.] 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. […], [London]: […] W. Rawlins, for the author, published 1682, part IV (The Anatomy of Seeds, […]), page 246

   2. (archaic) To obtain or purify (a substance) in this manner.  quotations

      Quotations

      • [I]t [niter, or sodium carbonate] Calcineth, Sublimeth and Diſſolveth Minerals and Metals.

        1670 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), “III. The Natural History of Niter, or, a Philosophical Discourse of the Nature, Generation, Place, and Artificial Extraction of Niter, with Its Vertues and Uses, by William Clarke. London, 1670. in 8°. [book review]”, in Philosophical Transactions: Giving Some Accompt of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours of the Ingenious in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume V, number 61, London: […] T. N. for John Martyn […], printer to the Royal Society, page 2010

2. (by extension, figurative) To raise (someone or an intangible thing) to a state of (especially moral or spiritual) excellence; to exalt.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Thoſe vvords vvhich doe ſublime the quinteſſence of bliſſe, […]

     1591, P[hilip] S[idney], “[Sonnet 77]”, in Sir P. S. His Astrophel and Stella […], London: […] [John Danter] for Thomas Newman, page 23

   • Miſtris Medulla, the Sunne of honour ſhine upon your hopes, till it ſublime you to a Ladiſhip: I vvill attend you preſently.

     1625 February 20 (date licensed; Gregorian calendar), I. [i.e., James] S[hirley], The Schoole of Complement. […], 2nd edition, London: […] I. H. for Francis Constable, […], published 1637, Act III, page 31

   • [W]e may finde […] that confirmation in grace, I say, by which free will is transfigured and sublimed into a state divine; […]

     1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], A Soveraigne Salve to Cure the Blind. […]‎, London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons], archived from the original on 2023-10-20, page 35

   • [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.

     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, […], 2nd part, page 8

   • 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; […]

     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[ichard] Royston […], published 1655, paragraph 11, page 17

   • [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; […]

     1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], page 7

   • Monimia hears not my complaints; her ſoul, ſublimed far, far above all ſublunary cares, enjoys that felicity, of vvhich ſhe was debarred on earth.

     1753, [Tobias Smollett], “His Return to England, and Midnight Pilgrimage to Monimia’s Tomb”, in The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom. […], volume II, London: […] W. Johnston, […], page 239

   • [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.

     1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], pages 273–274

   • Call it not / Revenge; thus sanctified and thus sublimed, / 'Tis duty, 'tis devotion.

     1814, Robert Southey, “Canto III”, in Roderick, the Last of the Goths, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co. […], page 45

   • This character may be considered as a personification of the pride of will and eagerness of curiosity, sublimed beyond the reach of fear and remorse.

     1820, William Hazlitt, “Lecture II. On the Dramatic Writers Contemporary with Shakespear, Lyly, Marlow, Heywood, Middleton, and Rowley.”, in Lectures Chiefly on the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth. […], London: Stodart and Steuart, […]; Edinburgh: Bell and Bradfute, page 57

   • 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.

     1832, Robert Montgomery, “Book VI”, in The Messiah. […], London: John Turrill, […], page 243

   • 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.

     1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, page 193

   • […] Bob's countenance was sublimed by his recent interview, like that of a priest just come from the penetralia of the temple.

     1880, Thomas Hardy, “A Discovery Turns the Scale”, in The Trumpet-Major […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], page 94

3. (obsolete)

   1. To cause (someone or something) to ascend; to raise (someone or something) to a high position.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • I am ſublim'd! groſſe earth / Supports me not. I vvalk on ayr!

        1632 June 4 (date licensed; Gregorian calendar), Phillip [i.e., Philip] Massinger, The City-Madam, a Comedie. […], London: […] Andrew Pennycuicke, […], published 1659, Act III, scene iii, page 45

      • 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, […]

        1669, John Denham, “Cato Major of Old Age. A Poem. The Third Part.”, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy. , published 1703, page 34

      • 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.

        1857 July, [Edwin Percy Whipple], “Editor’s Table”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume XV, number LXXXVI, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], page 265, column 1

   2. To cause (juice or sap) to rise in a plant.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • [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, […]

        1640, John Parkinson, “Camphora. Camfire.”, in Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, page 1575

   3. Especially of the sun: to heat (something) and cause vapours, etc., to rise from it.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • 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 VVit ſublimes, / But ripens Spirits in cold Northern Climes; […]

        1709, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W. Lewis […], published 1711, page 24

      • [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.

        1871, Charles Kingsley, “Monos”, in At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., pages 181–182

   4. To purify (someone) from a bad influence or from sin.  examples

   5. To raise (someone) to a high office or status; to dignify, to exalt.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • Thou Vermine, haue I tane thee, out of dung, / […] / Sublim'd thee, and exalted thee, and fix'd thee / I'the third region, the high ſtate of grace?

        1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, Act I, scene i, signature B2, recto

   6. To raise (a physical thing) to a state of excellence; to improve.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • [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, […]

        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 [Of the Words of Institution].”, 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, paragraph 10, page 476

      • [F]lours and thir fruit / Mans nouriſhment, by gradual ſcale ſublim'd / To vital Spirits aſpire, […]

        1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 482–484

      • [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; […]

        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[harles] Rivington, […]; Bath, Somerset: J. Leake, […], § 27, page 36

      • 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.

        1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], canto II, stanza CLXXX, page 209

(intransitive)

1. (chemistry) Synonym of sublimate

   1. Of a substance: to change from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid state, with or without being heated.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • Then diſtil it, and you ſhall have a Philoſophical ☿ [mercury], and what Sublimeth is the Sulphur, which keep apart.

        1883, J[ohn] U[ri] Lloyd, “Elixirs”, in Elixirs: Their History, Formulæ, and Methods of Preparation […] (Pharmaceutical Preparations), 2nd edition, Cincinnati, Oh.: Robert Clarke & Company, page 9

   2. Of a substance: to change from a gas into a solid without passing through the liquid state.  examples

2. (by extension, figurative) To become higher in quality or status; to improve.  examples

(chiefly poetic, archaic or obsolete) High, tall, towering; also, positioned in a high place; high-up, lofty.  quotations

(figurative)

1. Of an aspect of art or nature: causing awe or deep respect due to its beauty or magnificence; awe-inspiring, impressive.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1897, John Munro, chapter VI, in A Trip to Venus

2. Of flight: ascending, soaring.  examples

3. Of an idea or other thing: requiring great intellectual effort to appreciate or understand; very elevated, refined, or subtle.  examples

4. Of language, style, or writing: expressing opinions in a grand way.  examples

5. Of a person or their actions or qualities: intellectually, morally, or spiritually superior.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Know how sublime a thing it is, / To suffer and be strong.

     1838 October, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Light of Stars”, in Voices of the Night, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1839, page 13

   • Crown Him the Lord of Years! / The Potentate of Time,— / Creator of the rolling spheres, / Ineffably sublime!

     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, stanza 5, page 64

   • 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.

     1991, Douglas Coupland, “Adventure without Risk is Disneyland”, in Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, page 159

6. Of an office or status: very high; exalted; also, used as an honorific (often capitalized as Sublime) to refer to someone of high office or status, especially the Ottoman sultan; or to things associated with such a person.  examples

7. (informal, loosely) excellent, marvellous, wonderful.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “To Dr. [William] Sherlock, on His Practical Discourse Concerning Death”, in Poems on Several Occasions, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], page 37

   • 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.

     1993, Richard Klein, “Cigarettes are Sublime”, in Cigarettes are Sublime, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, pages 62–63

8. (chiefly poetic, archaic) Of a person: dignified, majestic, noble.  quotations

   Quotations

   • the sublime Julian leader

     1842, Thomas De Quincey, “Cicero”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine

9. (chiefly poetic, archaic) Of a person: haughty, proud.  quotations

   Quotations

   • countenance sublime and insolent

     1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 30

   • His fair large Front and Eye ſublime declar'd / Abſolute rule;

     1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

10. (informal) Complete, downright, utter.  examples

(obsolete)

1. (figurative)

   1. Elevated by joy; elated.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • While thir hearts were jocund and ſublime, / Drunk with Idolatry, drunk with Wine,

        1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], page 96

   2. Of a substance: purified, refined; hence, of the highest quality.  examples

2. (poetic, postpositive) Of arms: lifted up, raised.  examples

3. (anatomy) Of a muscle (especially the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle of the forearm which lies above the flexor digitorum profundus muscle): positioned above another muscle; superficial.  examples

4. (pathology) Of breathing: very laboured.

(countable, archaic)

1. Something which is sublime; a sublimity.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Car[los]. VVhat is your opinion of the Play? / Yo[ung] Mag[got]. […] There are a great many ſublimes that are very Poetical.

     1678 March 31 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Tho[mas] Shadwell, A True Widow. A Comedy, […], London: […] Benjamin Tooke, […], published 1679, Act I, page 6

   • [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.

     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., page 8

   • 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, […]

     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, […], pages 78–79

2. In the form the sublime of: the highest degree; the acme, the height.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, […]

     1817 (date written), [Lord Byron], “Stanza LXX”, in Beppo, a Venetian Story, London: John Murray, […], published 1818, page 36

(uncountable) Chiefly preceded by the.

1. An aspect of art or nature which causes awe or deep respect due to its beauty or magnificence; hence, the great beauty or magnificence of a place, a thing, etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [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.

     1756 (date written), [Edmund Burke], “Sect. XI. Why Visual Objects of Great Dimensions are Sublime.”, in A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], published 1757, part IV, page 132

   • [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.

     1840 August, H[arriet] Beecher Stowe, “Sketches from the Note Book of an Old Gentleman. No. I.—The Old Meeting House.”, in Sarah J[osepha] Hale, Lydia H[untley] Sigourney, Louis A[ntoine] Godey, editors, Godey’s Lady’s Book, and Ladies’ American Magazine, volume XX, Philadelphia, Pa.: Louis A[ntoine] Godey, […], page 61, column 1

2. A style of language or writing which expresses opinions in a grand way.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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: […]

     1850, Alfred Tennyson, “Part IV”, in The Princess: A Medley, 3rd edition, London: Edward Moxon, […], page 100

3. That which is intellectually, morally, or spiritually superior in human life or human nature.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1795, Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason. Part the Second. Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, London: […] H. D. Symonds, […], page 22

   • 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?

     1839 September, Edgar A[llan] Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, in William E[vans] Burton and Edgar A. Poe, editors, Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine, and American Monthly Review, volume V, number III, Philadelphia, Pa.: William E. Burton, […], page 145

   • 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.

     1900 April, Willa Sibert Cather, “Eric Hermannson’s Soul”, in The Cosmopolitan: A Monthly Illustrated Magazine, volume XXVIII, number 6, Irvington-on-the-Hudson, N.Y.: J[ohn] B[risben] Walker; from the Cosmopolitan Press, page 633, column 2

(uncountable, archaic) The quality or state of being sublime; sublimeness, sublimity.  quotations