soon

Etymology

From Middle English sone, from Old English sōna (“immediately, at once”), from Proto-West Germanic *sān(ō), from Proto-Germanic *sēna, *sēnô (“immediately, soon, then”), from *sa (demonstrative pronoun), from Proto-Indo-European *só (demonstrative pronoun). Cognate with Scots sone, sune, schone (“soon, quickly, at once”), North Frisian san (“immediately, at once”), dialectal Dutch zaan (“soon, before long”), Middle Low German sân (“right afterwards, soon”), Middle High German sān, son (“soon, then”), Old High German sār (“immediately, soon”). Compare also Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐍃 (suns, “immediately, soon”), from Proto-Germanic *suniz (“soon”).

adj

1. Short in length of time from the present.
   I need the soonest date you have available.
2. (US, dialect) Early.
   Late in the evening we arrived at Quincy where we bivouacked for the night and taken a soon start the next morning to march to the arsenal. 1992, W. H. Andrews, A Paul Green Reader, page 129
   Got up pretty early, ate a soon breakfast, had the sulky and was about to start to Newtown when it commenced raining.. 1997, Dorothy Stanaland Samuel, Taliaferro Leslie Samuel, The Samuell/Samuel Families of Tidewater Virginia, page 148
   They were different from colored folks who had to be out to get a soon start. 2000, Laurence G. Avery, A Paul Green Reader, page 220
3. Used as an alternative to express 'to be going to' in the form 'to be soon to'.
   Hurry up, the wedding is soon to start!
   A new shop is soon to be opened in this street.

adv

1. (obsolete) Immediately, instantly.
2. Within a short time; quickly.
   I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese[…]began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death. 2014-04-21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884
3. (now dialectal) Early.
   “Been huntin’ fuh mah mule. Anybody seen ’im?” he asked. “Seen ’im soon dis mornin’ over behind de school-house,” Lum said. “’’Bout ten o’clock or so. He musta been out all night tuh be way over dere dat early.” 1937, Zora Neale Hurston, chapter 6, in Their Eyes Were Watching God, University of Illinois Press, published 1978, page 87
4. Readily; willingly; used with would, or some other word expressing will.
   I would as soon see a river winding through woods or in meadows, as when it is tossed up in so many whimsical figures at Versailles. 1713, Joseph Addison, The Guardian, number 101