I.to be dirty, filthy, foul (rare; not in Cic.; syn. squaleo).
I. Lit.: Di. Jam lavisti? Ph. Num tibi sordere videor? Plaut. Truc. 2, 4, 28: cui manus materno sordet sparsa sanguine, Att. ap. Non. 170, 6: “non splendeat toga: ne sordeat quidem,” Sen. Ep. 5, 2: “nullā teneri lanugine vultus,” Mart. 1, 32, 5: “Albanoque cadum sordentem promere fumo,” Stat. S. 4, 8, 39: “incola sordentium ganearum,” Gell. 9, 2, 6.—
II. Trop., to be mean, base, low, or sordid: haud sordere visus est Festus dies, i. e. had nothing mean or sordid in its appearance, Plaut. Poen. 5, 4, 6: convivium inopiā, Favor. ap. Gell. 15, 8, 20: “ignobilia et sordentia (verba),” low, vulgar, Gell. 19, 13, 3 (shortly before, sordidum verbum).—
B. Transf., to seem base or paltry; to be despised, slighted, or held of no account: “suis sordere (with contemni),” Liv. 4, 25, 11; Quint. 8, prooem. § 26: “sordent tibi munera nostra,” Verg. E. 2, 44; Stat. S. 1, 3, 98: “cunctane prae campo sordent?” Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 4: “pretium aetas altera sordet,” a renewal of youth seems too small a price, id. ib. 1, 18, 18: “quippe sordent prima quaeque, cum majora sperantur,” Curt. 10, 10, 8: “si conferas et componas Graeca ipsa, oppido quam jacere atque sordere incipiunt, quae Latina sunt,” to seem paltry, of small account, Gell. 2, 23, 3.