Seraphina - Serolin

Seraphina (?), n. [NL.] A seraphine.
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Seraphine (?), n. [From .] (Mus.) A wind instrument whose sounding parts are reeds, consisting of a thin tongue of brass playing freely through a slot in a plate. It has a case, like a piano, and is played by means of a similar keybord, the bellows being worked by the foot. The melodeon is a portable variety of this instrument.
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Serapis (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. ��, ��.] (Myth.) An Egyptian deity, at first a symbol of the Nile, and so of fertility; later, one of the divinities of the lower world. His worship was introduced into Greece and Rome.
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Seraskier (?), n. [Turk., fr. Per. ser head, chief + Ar. 'asker an army.] A general or commander of land forces in the Turkish empire; especially, the commander-in-chief of minister of war.
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Seraskierate (?), n. The office or authority of a seraskier.
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Serbonian (?), a. Relating to the lake of Serbonis in Egypt, which by reason of the sand blowing into it had a deceptive appearance of being solid land, but was a bog.
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A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog . . .
Where armies whole have sunk. Milton.
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Sere (?), a. Dry; withered. Same as .
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But with its sound it shook the sails
That were so thin and sere. Coleridge.
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Sere, n. [F. serre.] Claw; talon. [Obs.] Chapman.
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Serein (?), n. [F. Cf. , n.] (Meteorol.) A mist, or very fine rain, which sometimes falls from a clear sky a few moments after sunset. Tyndall.
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Serenade (?), n. [F. sérénade, It. serenata, probably fr. L. serenus serene (cf. ), misunderstood as a derivative fr. L. serus late. Cf. .] (Mus.) (a) Music sung or performed in the open air at nights; -- usually applied to musical entertainments given in the open air at night, especially by gentlemen, in a spirit of gallantry, under the windows of ladies. (b) A piece of music suitable to be performed at such times.
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Serenade, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Serenaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Serenading.] To entertain with a serenade.
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Serenade, v. i. To perform a serenade.
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Serenader (?), n. One who serenades.
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{ Serenata (?), Serenate (?), } n. [It. serenata. See .] (Mus.) A piece of vocal music, especially one on an amoreus subject; a serenade.
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Or serenate, which the starved lover sings
To his pround fair. Milton.
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☞ The name serenata was given by Italian composers in the time of Handel, and by Handel himself, to a cantata of a pastoreal of dramatic character, to a secular ode, etc.; also by Mozart and others to an orchectral composition, in several movements, midway between the suite of an earlier period and the modern symphony. Grove.
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Serene (?), a. [L. serenus to grow dry, Gr. �� hot, scorching.] 1. Bright; clear; unabscured; as, a serene sky.
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The moon serene in glory mounts the sky. Pope.
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Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear. Gray.
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2. Calm; placid; undisturbed; unruffled; as, a serene aspect; a serene soul. Milton.
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☞ In several countries of Europe, Serene is given as a tittle to princes and the members of their families; as, His Serene Highness.
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Coloq. Drop serene . (Med.) See . Milton.
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Serene, n. 1. Serenity; clearness; calmness. [Poetic.] “The serene of heaven.” Southey.
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To their master is denied
To share their sweet serene. Young.
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2. [F. serein evening dew or damp. See .] Evening air; night chill. [Obs.] “Some serene blast me.” B. Jonson.
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Serene, v. t. [L. serenare.] To make serene.
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Heaven and earth, as if contending, vie
To raise his being, and serene his soul. Thomson.
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Serenely, adv. 1. In a serene manner; clearly.
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Now setting Phœbus shone serenely bright. Pope.
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2. With unruffled temper; coolly; calmly. Prior.
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Sereneness, n. Serenity. Feltham.
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Serenitude (?), n. Serenity. [Obs.]
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Serenity (?), n. [L. serenuas: cf. F. sérénité.] 1. The quality or state of being serene; clearness and calmness; quietness; stillness; peace.
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A general peace and serenity newly succeeded a general trouble. Sir W. Temple.
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2. Calmness of mind; eveness of temper; undisturbed state; coolness; composure.
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I can not see how any men should ever transgress those moral rules with confidence and serenity. Locke.
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☞ Serenity is given as a title to the members of certain princely families in Europe; as, Your Serenity.
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Serf (?), n. [F., fr. L. serus servant, slave; akin to servare to protect, preserve, observe, and perhaps originally, a client, a man under one's protection. Cf. , v. t.] A servant or slave employed in husbandry, and in some countries attached to the soil and transferred with it, as formerly in Russia.
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In England, at least from the reign of Henry II, one only, and that the inferior species [of villeins], existed . . . But by the customs of France and Germany, persons in this abject state seem to have been called serfs, and distinguished from villeins, who were only bound to fixed payments and duties in respect of their lord, though, as it seems, without any legal redress if injured by him. Hallam.
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Syn. -- , . A slave is the absolute property of his master, and may be sold in any way. A serf, according to the strict sense of the term, is one bound to work on a certain estate, and thus attached to the soil, and sold with it into the service of whoever purchases the land.
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{ Serfage (?), Serfdom (?), } n. The state or condition of a serf.
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Serfhood (?), Serfism (�), n. Serfage.
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Serge (?), n. [F. serge, sarge, originally, a silken stuff, fr. L. serica, f. or neut. pl. of sericus silken. See , .] A woolen twilled stuff, much used as material for clothing for both sexes.
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Coloq. Silk serge , a twilled silk fabric used mostly by tailors for lining parts of gentlemen's coats.
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Serge, n. [F. cierge.] A large wax candle used in the ceremonies of various churches.
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Sergeancy (?), n.; pl. Sergeancies (#). [Cf. .] The office of a sergeant; sergeantship. [Written also serjeancy.]
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Sergeant (?), n. [F. sergent, fr. L. serviens, -entis, p. pr. of servire to serve. See , and cf. .] [Written also serjeant. Both spellings are authorized. In England serjeant is usually preferred, except for military officers. In the United States sergeant is common for civil officers also.] 1. Formerly, in England, an officer nearly answering to the more modern bailiff of the hundred; also, an officer whose duty was to attend on the king, and on the lord high steward in court, to arrest traitors and other offenders. He is now called sergeant-at-arms, and two of these officers, by allowance of the sovereign, attend on the houses of Parliament (one for each house) to execute their commands, and another attends the Court Chancery.
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The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought. Chaucer.
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The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those men go. Acts xvi. 35.
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This fell sergeant, Death,
Is strict in his arrest. Shak.
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2. (Mil.) In a company, battery, or troop, a noncommissioned officer next in rank above a corporal, whose duty is to instruct recruits in discipline, to form the ranks, etc.
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☞ In the United States service, besides the sergeants belonging to the companies there are, in each regiment, a sergeant major, who is the chief noncommissioned officer, and has important duties as the assistant to the adjutant; a quartermaster sergeant, who assists the quartermaster; a color sergeant, who carries the colors; and a commissary sergeant, who assists in the care and distribution of the stores. Ordnance sergeants have charge of the ammunition at military posts.
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3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the doctor of the civil law; -- called also serjeant at law. [Eng.] Blackstone.
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4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign; as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant, surgeon. [Eng.]
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5. (Zoöl.) The cobia.
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Coloq. Drill sergeant . (Mil.) See under . -- Coloq. Sergeant-at-arms , an officer of a legislative body, or of a deliberative or judicial assembly, who executes commands in preserving order and arresting offenders. See , 1. -- Coloq. Sergeant major . (a) (Mil.) See the Note under def. 2, above. (b) (Zoöl.) The cow pilot.
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Sergeantcy (?), n. Same as .
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Sergeantry (?), n. [CF. OF. sergenteric.] See . [R.] [Written also serjeantry.]
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Sergeantship, n. The office of sergeant.
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Sergeanty (?), n. [Cf. OF. sergentie, LL. sergentia. See .] (Eng. Law) Tenure of lands of the crown by an honorary kind of service not due to any lord, but to the king only. [Written also serjeanty.]
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Coloq. Grand sergeanty , a particular kind of tenure by which the tenant was bound to do some special honorary service to the king in person, as to carry his banner, his sword, or the like. Tomlins. Cowell. Blackstone. -- Coloq. Petit sergeanty . See under .
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Serial (?), a. 1. Of or pertaining to a series; consisting of a series; appearing in successive parts or numbers; as, a serial work or publication. “Classification . . . may be more or less serial.” H. Spencer.
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2. (Bot.) Of or pertaining to rows. Gray.
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Coloq. Serial homology . (Biol.) See under . -- Coloq. Serial symmetry . (Biol.) See under .
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Serial, n. A publication appearing in a series or succession of part; a tale, or other writing, published in successive numbers of a periodical.
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Seriality (?), n. The quality or state of succession in a series; sequence. H. Spenser.
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Serially, adv. In a series, or regular order; in a serial manner; as, arranged serially; published serially.
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Seriate (?), a. Arranged in a series or succession; pertaining to a series. -- Seriately, adv.
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Seriatim (?), adv. [NL.] In regular order; one after the other; severally.
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Seriation (?), n. (Chem.) Arrangement or position in a series.
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Sericeous (?), a. [L. sericus silken, sericum Seric stuff, silk, fr. Sericus belonging to the Seres, Gr. ��, a people of Eastern Asia, the modern Chinese, celebrated for their silken fabrics. Cf. , a woolen stuff.] 1. Of or pertaining to silk; consisting of silk; silky.
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2. (Bot.) Covered with very soft hairs pressed close to the surface; as, a sericeous leaf.
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3. (Zoöl.) Having a silklike luster, usually due to fine, close hairs.
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Sericin (?), n. [L. sericus silken.] (Chem.) A gelatinous nitrogenous material extracted from crude silk and other similar fiber by boiling water; -- called also silk gelatin.
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Sericite (?), n. [L. sericus silken.] (Min.) A kind of muscovite occuring in silky scales having a fibrous structure. It is characteristic of sericite schist.
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Sericterium (?), n. [See .] (Zoöl.) A silk gland, as in the silkworms.
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Sericulture (?), n. [See , and .] The raising of silkworms.
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Serie (?), n. [Cf. F. série.] Series. [Obs.]
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Seriema (?), n. [Native name.] (Zoöl.) either of two large South American birds related to the cranes, the cariama of Southern Brazil (Cariama cristata, formerly Dicholophus cristata) or the Chunga burmeisteri of Argentina. They have an erectile crest and a short, broad bill. They are often domesticated.
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Series (?), n. [L. series, fr. serere, sertum, to join or bind together; cf. Gr. �� to fasten, Skr. sarit thread. Cf. , a solitude, , , .] 1. A number of things or events standing or succeeding in order, and connected by a like relation; sequence; order; course; a succession of things; as, a continuous series of calamitous events.
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During some years his life a series of triumphs. Macaulay.
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2. (Biol.) Any comprehensive group of animals or plants including several subordinate related groups.
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☞ Sometimes a series includes several classes; sometimes only orders or families; in other cases only species.
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3. (Bot.) In Engler's system of plant classification, a group of families showing certain structural or morphological relationships. It corresponds to the cohort of some writers, and to the order of many modern systematists.
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4. (Math.) An indefinite number of terms succeeding one another, each of which is derived from one or more of the preceding by a fixed law, called the law of the series; as, an arithmetical series; a geometrical series.
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5. (Elec.) A mode of arranging the separate parts of a circuit by connecting them successively end to end to form a single path for the current; -- opposed to parallel. The parts so arranged are said to be Coloq. in series .
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6. (Com.) A parcel of rough diamonds of assorted qualities.
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Series dynamo. (Elec.) (a) A series-wound dynamo. (b) A dynamo running in series with another or others.
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Series motor. (Elec.) (a) A series-wound motor. (b) A motor capable of being used in a series circuit.
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Series turns. (Elec.) The turns in a series circuit.
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Series winding. (Elec.) A winding in which the armature coil and the field-magnet coil are in series with the external circuits; -- opposed to shunt winding. -- Series-wound, a.
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Serigraph (?), n. [L. sericum silk + E. -graph.] An autographic device to test the strength of raw silk.
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Serin (?), n. [F. serin.] (Zoöl.) A European finch (Serinus hortulanus) closely related to the canary.
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Serine (sĕrēn; sĕrĭn; also, less correctly, sērēn), n. [L. sericus silken.] (Chem.) one of the natural L-amino acids, obtainable as a white crystalline nitrogenous substance by the action of dilute sulphuric acid on silk gelatin. It is found in many proteins, and, having a free primary hydroxyl group on the side chain, is involved in the catalytic action at the active site of some enzymes, such as proteases. The IUPAC abbreviation for serine in protein sequences is Ser. Chemically it is 2-amino-3-hydroxy-propanoic acid (C3H7NO3), HO.CH2.CH(NH2).COOH.
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{ Serio-comic (?), Serio-comical (?), } a. Having a mixture of seriousness and sport; serious and comical.
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Serious (?), a. [L. serius: cf. F. sérieux, LL. seriosus.] 1. Grave in manner or disposition; earnest; thoughtful; solemn; not light, gay, or volatile.
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He is always serious, yet there is about his manner a graceful ease. Macaulay.
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2. Really intending what is said; being in earnest; not jesting or deceiving. Beaconsfield.
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3. Important; weighty; not trifling; grave.
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The holy Scriptures bring to our ears the most serious things in the world. Young.
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4. Hence, giving rise to apprehension; attended with danger; as, a serious injury.
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Syn. -- Grave; solemn; earnest; sedate; important; weighty. See .
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-- Seriously, adv. -- Seriousness, n.
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Seriph (?), n. (Type Founding) See .
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{ Serjeant (?), Serjeantcy, etc. } See , , etc.
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Coloq. Serjeant-at-arms . See Sergeant-at-arms, under .
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Sermocination (?), n. [L. sermocinatio. See .] The making of speeches or sermons; sermonizing. [Obs.] Peacham.
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Sermocinator (?), n. [L.] One who makes sermons or speeches. [Obs.] Howell.
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Sermon (?), n. [OE. sermoun, sermun, F. sermon, fr. L. sermo, -onis, a speaking, discourse, probably fr. serer, sertum, to join, connect; hence, a connected speech. See .] 1. A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermons of Chaucer. [Obs.] Chaucer.
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2. Specifically, a discourse delivered in public, usually by a clergyman, for the purpose of religious instruction and grounded on some text or passage of Scripture.
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This our life exempt from public haunts
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in everything. Shak.
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His preaching much, but more his practice, wrought,
A living sermon of the truths he taught. Dryden.
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3. Hence, a serious address; a lecture on one's conduct or duty; an exhortation or reproof; a homily; -- often in a depreciatory sense.
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Sermon, v. i. [Cf. OF. sermoner, F. sermonner to lecture one.] To speak; to discourse; to compose or deliver a sermon. [Obs.] Holinshed.
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What needeth it to sermon of it more? Chaucer.
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Sermon, v. t. 1. To discourse to or of, as in a sermon. [Obs.] Spenser.
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2. To tutor; to lecture. [Poetic] Shak.
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Sermoneer (?), n. A sermonizer. B. Jonson.
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Sermoner (?), n. A preacher; a sermonizer. [Derogative or Jocose.] Thackeray.
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Sermonet (?), n. A short sermon. [Written also sermonette.]
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{ Sermonic (?), Sermonical (?), } a. Like, or appropriate to, a sermon; grave and didactic. [R.] “Conversation . . . satirical or sermonic.” Prof. Wilson. “Sermonical style.” V. Knox.
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Sermoning (?), n. The act of discoursing; discourse; instruction; preaching. [Obs.] Chaucer.
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Sermonish, a. Resembling a sermon. [R.]
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Sermonist, n. See .
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Sermonize (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sermonized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Sermonizing (?).] 1. To compose or write a sermon or sermons; to preach.
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2. To inculcate rigid rules. [R.] Chesterfield.
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Sermonize, v. t. To preach or discourse to; to affect or influence by means of a sermon or of sermons. [R.]
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Which of us shall sing or sermonize the other fast asleep? Landor.
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Sermonizer (?), n. One who sermonizes.
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Serolin (?), n. [Serum + L. oleum oil.] (Physiol. Chem.) (a) A peculiar fatty substance found in the blood, probably a mixture of fats, cholesterin, etc. (b) A body found in fecal matter and thought to be formed in the intestines from the cholesterin of the bile; -- called also stercorin, and stercolin.
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