¹sojourn

noun so·journ \ˈsō-ˌjərn, sō-ˈ\

: a period of time when you stay in a place as a traveler or guest

Full Definition of SOJOURN

: a temporary stay <a sojourn in the country>

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Examples of SOJOURN

The visit with my father was preceded by a sojourn with my sister, Joy—an artistic type and sometime vegan who plays the part of patient vegetarian whenever her unrepentantly carnivorous brother drops in—and her husband, who were kind enough to pick me up at Heathrow. —John Haney, Gourmet, January 2003
On a recent sojourn in Sicily, I frequently found myself remembering that page in the children's encyclopedia, because it seemed to me that what I was seeing was as close as I will ever come to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. —Francine Prose, Atlantic, December 2002
My mother is Venezuelan, and every year during my childhood we spent a two-month sojourn with her family there. —Alexandra Starr, New Republic, 20 May 2002
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Origin of SOJOURN

Middle English sojorn, from Anglo-French sujur, sujurn, from sujurner (see ²sojourn)

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to SOJOURN

Synonyms: visit, stay, tarry

Rhymes with SOJOURN

adjourn, astern, attorn, casern, concern, discern, downturn, epergne, eterne, extern, heartburn, Hepburn, intern, in turn, inurn, kick turn, lucerne, Lucerne, nocturn, nocturne, outturn, return, sauternes, secern, star turn, stem turn, step turn, sunburn, unlearn, upturn, U-turn, windburn

²sojourn

intransitive verb so·journ \ˈsō-ˌjərn, sō-ˈ\

Definition of SOJOURN

: to stay as a temporary resident : stop <sojourned for a month at a resort>

— so·journ·er noun

Examples of SOJOURN

‘Am I hideous, Jane?’ ‘Very, sir: you always were, you know.’ ‘Humph! The wickedness has not been taken out of you, wherever you have sojourned.’ —Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847
… there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, “tarried,” in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. —Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleep Hollow, 1820
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Origin of SOJOURN

Middle English, from Anglo-French sujurner, sejurner, from Vulgar Latin *subdiurnare, from Latin sub under, during + Late Latin diurnum day — more at up, journey

First Known Use: 14th century