Word of the Day

Friday, March 02, 2001

succor

\SUH-kuhr\ , noun;

Aid; help; assistance; especially, assistance that relieves and delivers from difficulty, want, or distress.

The person or thing that brings relief.

transitive verb:

To help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve.

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Quotes:

In Asakusa, a crowd sought succor around an old and lovely Buddhist temple, dedicated to Kannon, goddess of mercy.

-- Richard B. Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire

Ever since I was five, I have inserted myself into every movie I've seen and gratefully, humbly found succor there.

-- Laurie Fox, My Sister from the Black Lagoon

There was some talk about the perils of the sea, and a landsman delivered himself of the customary nonsense about the poor mariner wandering in far oceans, tempest-tossed, pursued by dangers, every storm blast and thunderbolt in the home skies moving the friends by snug firesides to compassion for that poor mariner, and prayers for his succor.

-- Mark Twain, "Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion", The Atlantic, November 1877

He honors the old, succors the infirm, raises the downtrodden, destroys fanaticism.

-- Alan Jolis, Love and Terror

Origin:

Succor derives from Latin succurrere, "to run under, to run or hasten to the aid or assistance of someone," from sub-, "under" + currere, "to run."