Sequacious – Sesterce

Sequacious

SEQUA'CIOUS, adjective [Latin sequax, from sequor, to follow. See Seek.]

1. Following; attendant.

Trees uprooted left their place,

Sequacious of the lyre. Dryden.

The fond sequacious herd. Thomson.

2. Ductile; pliant.

The forge was easy, and the matter ductile and sequacious. [Little used.] Ray.

Sequaciousness

SEQUA'CIOUSNESS, noun State of being sepuacious; disposition to follow.

Sequacity

SEQUAC'ITY, noun [supra.]

1.A following, or disposition to follow.

2. Ductility; pliableness. [Little used.]

Sequel

SE'QUEL, noun [L. sequor, to follow.]

1. That which follows; a succeeding part; as the sequel of a man's adventures or history.

2. Consequence; event. Lit the sun or moon cease, fail or swerve, and the sequel would be ruin.

3. Consequence inferred; consequentialness. [Little used.]

Sequence

SE'QUENCE, noun [L. sequens, sequor.]

1. A following, or that which follows; aconsequent.

2. Order of succession.

How art thou king But by fair sequence and succession? Shak.

3. Series; arrangement; method.

4. In music, a regular alternate succession of similar chords.

Sequent

SE'QUENT, adjective [supra.]

1. Following; succeeding.

2. Consequential. [Little used.]

SE'QUENT, noun A follower. [Not in use.]

Sequester

SEQUES'TER, verb transitive [L. sequestro, to sever or separate, to put int the hands of and indifferent person, as a deposit; sequester, belonging to mediation or umpirage, and as a noun an umpire, referee, midiator. This word is probably a compound of se and the root of quaestus, quaesitus, sought. See Question.]

1. To separate from the owner for a time; to seize or take possession of some property which belongs to another, and hold it tillthe profits hve paid the demand for which it is taken.

Formerly the goods of a defendant in chancery, were, in the last resort, sequestered and detained to enforce the degrees of the court. and now the profits of a benefice are sequestered to pay the debts of the ecclesiastecs. Blackstone.

2. To take from parties in controversy and put into the possession of an indiffernt person.

3. To put aside; to remove; to separate; frome other things.

I had wholly sequestered my civil affairs. Bacon.

4. To sequester one's self, to separate one's self from seciety; to withdraw or retire; to seclude one's self for the sake of privacy or solitude; as, to sequester one's self from action.

5. To cause to retire or withdraw into obscurity.

It was his taylor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts which sequestered him. South.

SEQUES'TER, verb intransitive To decline, as a window, any concern with the estate of a husband.

Sequestered

SEQUES'TERED, participle passive Seized asnd detained for a time, to satisfy a demand; separated; also, being in retirement; secluded; private; as a sequestered situation.

Sequestrable

SEQUES'TRABLE, adjective That may be seqestered or separated; subject or liable to sequestration.

Sequestrate

SEQUES'TRATE, verb transitive To seqester. [It is less used than seqester, but exactly synonymous.]

Sequestration

SEQUESTRA'TION, noun

1. The act of taking a thing from parties contending for it, and entrusting it to an indifferent person.

2. In the civil law, the act of the ordinary, disposing of the goods and chattels of one deceased, whose estate no will meddle with.

3. The act of taking property from the owner for a time, till the rents, issues and profits satisfy a demand.

4. The act of seizing the estate of a delinquent for the use of the state.

5. Separation; retirement; seclusion from society.

6. State of being separated or set aside.

7. Disunion; disjunction. [Not in use.]

Sequestrator

SEQUESTRA'TOR, noun

1. One that sequesters property, or takes the possession of it for a time, to satilfy a demand out of its rents or profits.

2. One to whom the keeping of sequestered property is committed.

Sequin

SE'QUIN, noun A gold coin of Venice and Turkey, of different value in different places. At Venice, its value is about 9s. 2d. sterling, or $2.04. In other parts of Italy, it is stated to be of the 9s. value, or $2. It is sometimes written chequin and zechin. [See Zechin.]

Seraglio

SERAGLIO, noun seral'yo. The palace of the Grand Seignior or Turkish sultan, or the palace of a prince. The seraglio of the sultan is a long range of buildings inhabited by the Grand Seignior and all the officers and dependents of his court; and in it is transacted all the business of government. In this also are confined the females of the harem.

Seraph

SER'APH, noun plural seraphs; but sometimes the Hebrew plural, seraphim, is used. [from Heb. to burn.] An angel of the highest order.

As full, as perfect in vile man that mourns,

As the rapt seraph that adores and burns. Pope.

Seraphic

SERAPH'IC, adjective

Seraphical

SERAPH'ICAL,

1. Pertaining to a seraph; angelic; sublime; as seraphic purity; seraphic fervor.

2. Pure; refined from sensuality.

3. Burning or inflamed with love or zeal. Thus St. Bonaventure was called the seraphic doctor.

Seraphim

SER'APHIM, noun [the Hebrew plural of seraph.] Angels of the highest order in the celestial hierarchy. [It is sometimes improperly written seraphims.]

Seraskier

SERAS'KIER, noun A Turkish commander or general of land forces.

Serass

SERASS' noun A fowl of the East Indies, of the crane kind.

Sere

SERE, adjective Dry; withered; usually written sear, which see.

SERE, noun A claw or talon. [Not in use.]

Serenade

SERENA'DE, noun [from Latin serenus, clear, serene.]

1. Properly, music performed in a clear night; hence, an entertainment of music given in the night by a lover to his mistress under her window. It cosists of generally instrumental music, but that of the voice is sometimes added. The songs composed for these occasions are also called serenades.

2. Music performed in the streets during the stillness of the night; as a midnight serenade.

SERENA'DE, verb transitive To entertain with nocturnal music.

SERENA'DE, verb intransitive To perform nocturnal music.

SERENA GUTTA. [See Gutta Serena.]

Serenata

SERENA'TA, noun A vocal piece of music on an armorous subject.

Serene

SERE'NE, adjective [Latin serenus; Heb. Ch. Syr. Ar. to shine. Class Sr. No. 2. 23.47.]

1. Clear or fair, and calm; as a serene sky; serene air; Serene imports great purity.

2. Bright.

The moon, serene in glory, mounts the sky. Pope.

3. Caln; unruffled; undisturbed; as a serene aspect; a serene soul.

4. A title given to several princes and magistrates in Europe; as serene highness; most serene.

SERE'NE, noun A cold damp evening. [Not in use.]

SERE'NE, verb transitive

1. To make clear and calm; to quiet.

2. To clear; to brighten.

Serenely

SERE'NELY, adverb

1. Calmly; quietly.

The setting sun now shown serenely bright. Pope.

2. With unruffled temper; colly.

Sereneness

SERE'NENESS, noun The state of being serene; serenity.

Serenitude

SEREN'ITUDE, noun Calmness. [Not in use.]

Serenity

SEREN'ITY, noun [Latin serenitas.]

1. Clearness and calmness; as the serenity of the air or sky.

2. Calmness; quietness; stillness; peace.

A general peace and serenity newly succeeded general trouble. Temple.

3. Calmness of mind; evenness of temper; undisturbed state; collness.

I cannot see how any men should transgress those moral rules with confidence and serenity. Locke.

4. A title of respect.

Serf

SERF, noun [Latin servus.] A servant or slave employed in husbandry, and in some countries, attached to the soil and transferred with it. The serfs in Poland are slaves.

Serge

SERGE, noun A wollen quilted stuff manufactured in a loom with four treddles, after the manner of ratteens.

Serge-Maker

SERGE-MAKER, noun A manufacturer of serges.

Sergeant

SERGEANT, noun s'arjent. [Latin serviens, serving, for so was this word written in Latin.]

1. Formerly, an officer in England, nearly answering to to the more modern bailif 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 effenders. This officer is now called serjeant at arms, or mace. There are at present other officers of an inferior kind, to attend mayors and magistrates to execute their orders.

2. In military affairs, a non-commissioned officer in a company of infantry or troop of dragoons, armed with halbert, whose duty is to see discipline is observed, to order and form the ranks, etc.

3. In England, a lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the doctor of the civil law.

4. A title sometimes given to the king's servants; as sergeant surgeon, servant surgeon.

Sergeantry

SERGEANTRY, noun s'arjentry. In england, sergeantry is of two kinds; grand sergeantry and petit sergeantry. Grand sergeantry, is a particular kind of knight service, a 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, or to be his butler, his champion or other officer at his coronation, to lead his host, to be his marshal, to blow a horn when an enemy approaches, etc.

Petit sergeantry, was a tenure by which the tenant was bound to render to the king annually some small implement of war, as a bow, a pair of spurs, a sword, a lance, or the like.

Sergeantship

SERGEANTSHIP, noun s'argentship. The office of a sergeant.

Sericeous

SERI''CEOUS, adjective [Latin sericus, from sericum, silk.] Pertaining to silk; consisting of silk; silky. In botany, covered with very soft hairs pressed close to the surface; as a sericeous leaf.

Series

SE'RIES, noun [Latin this word probably belongs to the Shemetic, the primary sense of which is to stretch or strain.]

1. A continued succession in the things of the same order, and bearing the same relation to each other; as a series of kings; a series of successors.

2. Sequence; order; course; succession of things; as a series of calamitous events.

3. In natural history, an order or subdivision of some class of natural bodies.

4. In arithmetic and algebra, a number of terms in succession, increasing or diminishing in a certain ratio; as arithmetical series and geometrical series. [See Progression.]

Serin

SER'IN, noun A songbird of Italy and Germany.

Serious

SE'RIOUS, adjective [Latin serius.]

1. Grave in manner or disposition; solemn; not light, gay or volatile; as a serious man; a serious habit or disposition.

2. Really intending what is said; being in earnest; not jesting or making false pretense. Are you serious, or in jest?

3. Important; weighty; not trijling.

The holy Sciptures bring to your ears the most serious things in the world. Young.

4. Particularlyattentive to religioul concerns or one's own religious state.

Seriously

SE'RIOUSLY, adverb Gravely; solemnly; in earnest; without levity. One of the first duties of a rational being is to inquire seriously why he was created, and what he is to do to answer the purpose of his cretion.

Seriousness

SE'RIOUSNESS, noun

1. Gravity of manner or of mind; solemnity. He spoke with great serioulness, or with an air of seriousness.

2. Earnest attention, particularly to religious concerns

That spirit of religion and seriousness vanished all at once. Atterbury.

Sermocination

SERMOCINA'TION, noun Speech-making. [Not used.]

Sermocinator

SERMOCINA'TOR, noun One that makes sermons or speeches. [Not in use.]

Sermon

SER'MON, noun

1. A discourse delivered in public by a licensed clergymen for the purpose of religious instruction, and usually grounded on some text or passage of Scripture. Sermons are extemporary addresses or written discourses.

His preaching much, but more his practice wrought,

A living sermon of the truths he taught. Dryden.

2. A printed discourse.

SER'MON, verb transitive

1. To discourse as in a sermon [Little used.]

2. To tutor; to lesson; to teach. [Little used.]

SER'MON, verb intransitive To compose or deliver a sermon [Little used.]

Sermoning

SER'MONING, noun Discourse; instruction; advice. [Not in use.]

Sermonize

SER'MONIZE, verb intransitive

1. To preach.

2. To inculate rigid rules.

3. To make sermons; to compose or write a sermons or sermons. [This is the sense in which the verb is generally used in the U. States.]

Sermonizer

SER'MONIZER, noun One that composes sermons.

Sermonizing

SER'MONIZING, participle present tense Preaching; inculating rigid precepts; composing sermons.

Sermountain

SER'MOUNTAIN, noun A plant of the genus Laserpitium; laserwort; seseli.

Seroon

SEROON, noun

1. A seroon of almonds is the quantity of two hudred pounds; of anise seed, three to four hundred weight; of Caltile soap, from two hundred and a half to three hundred and three quarters.

2. A bale or package.

Serosity

SEROS'ITY, In medicine, the watery part of the blood.

Serotine

SER'OTINE, noun A species of bat.

Serous

SE'ROUS, adjective

1. Thin; watery; like whey; used of that part of the blood which separates in coagulation from the grumous or red part.

2. Pertaining to serum.

Serpent

SER'PENT, noun [Latin serpens, creeping; serpo, to creep.]

1. An animal of the order of Serpentes, [creepers, crawlers, ] Of the class of Amphibia. Serpents are amphibious animals, breathing through the mouth bymeans of lungs only; having tapering bodies, without a distinct neck; the jaws not articulated, but dilatable, and withour feet, fins or ears. Serpents move along the earth by a winding motion, and with the head elevated. Some species of them are viviparous, or rather ovi-viviparous; others are oviparous; and several species are venomous.

2. In astronomy, a constellation of the northern hemisphere, containing, according to the British catalogue, sixty-four stars.

3. An instrument of music, serving as a base to the cornet or small shawm, to sustain a chorus of singers in a large edifice. It is so called for its folds or wreaths.

4. Figuratively, a subtil or malicious person.

5. In mythology, a symbol of the sun.

Serpent stones or snake stones, are fossil shells of different sizes, found in strata of stones and clays.

Serpent-Cucumber

SERPENT-CUCUMBER, noun A plant of the genus Trichosanthes.

Serpent-Eater

SER'PENT-EATER, noun A fowl of Africa that devours serpents.

Serpent-Fish

SER'PENT-FISH, noun A fish of the genus Taenia, resembling a snake, but of a red color.

Serpentaria

SERPENTA'RIA, noun A plant, called also snake root; a species of Aristolochia.

Serpentarius

SERPENTA'RIUS, noun A constellation in the northern hemisphere, containing seventy-four stars.

Serpentine

SER'PENTINE, adjective [Latin serpentinus, from serpens.]

1. Resembling a serpent; usually, winding and turing one way and the other, like a moving serpent; anfractuous; as a serpentine road or course.

2. Spiral; twisted; as a serpentine worm of a still.

3. Like a serpent; having the color or properties of a serpent.

Serpentine tongue, in the manege. A horse is said to have a serpentine tongue, when he is constantly moving it, and sometimes passing it over the bit.

Serpentine verse, a verse which begins and ends with the same word.

Serpentine-Stone

SER'PENTINE-STONE, either shades and spots resembling a serpent's skin. Serpentine is often nearly allied to the harder varieties of steatite and potstone. It prisents two varieties, precious serpentine, and common serpentine.

Serpentize

SER'PENTIZE, verb transitive To wind; to turn or bend, first in one direction and then in opposite; to meander

The road serpentized through a tall shrubbery. Barrow, Trav. in Africa.

Serpents-Tongue

SER'PENTS-TONGUE, noun A plant of the genus Ophioglossum.

Serpet

SER'PET, noun A basket. [Not in use.]

Serpiginous

SERPIG'INOUS, adjective [L. from serpo, to creep.] A kind of herpes or tetter; called in popular language, a ringworm.

Serprntine

SER'PRNTINE, noun A species of talck or magnesian stone, usually of an obscure green color.

Serpulite

SER'PULITE, noun Petrified shells or fossil remains of the genus Serpula.

Serr

SERR, verb transitive To crowd, press or drive together. [ Not in use.]

Serrate

SER'RATE, [L. serratus, from serro, to saw; serra, a saw.] Jagged; notched; indented on the

Serrated

SER'RATED, edge, like a saw. In botany, having sharp notches about the edge, pointing towards the extremity; as a serrate leaf.

When a serrate leaf has small serrature upon the large ones, it is said to by doubly serrate, as in the elm. We say also, a serrate calyx, corol or stipule.

A serrate-ciliate leaf, is one having fine hairs, like the eye lashes, on the serreatures.

A serrature-toothed leaf, has the serratures toothed.

A serrulate leaf, is one finely serrate, with very small notches or teeth.

Serration

SERRA'TION, noun Formation in the shape of a saw.

Serrature

SER'RATURE, noun An indenting or indenture in the edge of any thing, like those of a saw.

Serrous

SER'ROUS, adjective Like the teeth of a saw; irregular. [Little used.]

Serrulate

SER'RULATE, adjective Finely serrate; having very minute teeth or notches.

Serry

SER'RY, verb transitive To crowd; to press together. [Not in use.]

Serum

SE'RUM, noun [L. ]

1. The thin transparent part of the blood.

2. The thin part of milk; whey.

Serval

SER'VAL, noun An animal of the feline genus, resembling the lynx in form and size, and the panther in spots; a native of Malabar.

Servant

SERV'ANT, [L. servans, from servo, to keep or hold; properly one that waits, that is, stops, holds, attends, or one that is bound.]

1. A person, male or female, that attends another for the purpose of performing menial offices for him, or who is employed by another for such offices or for other labor, and is subject to his command. The word is correlative to master. Servant differs from slave, as the servant's subjection to a master is voluntary, the slave's is not. Every slave is a servant but every servant is not a slave.

Servants are of various kinds; as household or domestic servants, menial servants; laborers, who are hired by the day, week or other term, and do not reside with their employers, or if they board in the same house, are employed abroad and not in the domestic services; apprentices, who are bound for a term of years to serve a master, for the purpose of learning his trade or occupation.

In a legal sense, stewards, factors, bailifs and other agents, are servants for the time they are employed in such character, as they act in subordination to others.

2. One in a state of subjection.

3.In Scripture, a slave; a bondman; one purchased for money, and who was compelled to serve till the year of jubilee; also, one purchased for a term of years.

4. The subject of a king; as the servants of David or of Saul.

The Syrians became servants to David. 2 Samuel 8:2.

5. A person who voluntarily serves another or acts as his minister; as joshua was the servant of Moses, and the apostles the apostles the servants of Christ. So Christ himself is called a servant, Isaiah 42:1. Moses is called the servant of the Lord, Duet. 34.

6. A person employed or used as an instrument in accomplishing God's purposes of mercy or wrath. So Nebuchadnezzar is called the servant of God. Jeremiah 25:9.

7. One who yields obedience to another. The saints are called servants of God, or of righteousness; and the wicked are called the servants of sin.

8. That which yields obedience, or acts on subordination as an instrument.

9. One that makes painful sacrifices in compliance with the weakness or wants of others.

10. A person of base condition or ignoble spirit.

11. A word of civility. I am, sir, your humble or obedient servant.

Our betters tell us they are our humble servants, but understand us to be their slaves. Swift.

Servant of servants, one debased to the lowest condition of servitude.

SERV'ANT, verb transitive To subject. [Not in use.]

Serve

SERVE, verb transitive serv. [Latin servio. This verb is supposed to be from the noun servus, a servant or slave, and this from servo, to keep.]

1. To work for; to bestow the labor of boky and mind in the employment of another.

Jacob loved Rachel and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy youngest daughters. Genesis 29:15.

No man can serve two masters. Matthew 6:24.

2. To act as the minister of; to perform official duties to; as, a minister serves his prince.

Had I served God as diligently as I have served the king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs. Cardinal Woolsey.

3. To attend at command; to wait on.

A goddess among gods, ador'd and serv'd

By anbels numberless, thy daily train. Milton.

4. To obey servilely or meanly. be not to wealth a servant.

5. To supply with food; as, to be served in plate.

6. To be subservient or subordinate to.

Bodies bright and greater should not serve

The less not bright. Milton.

7. To perform the duties required in; as, the curate served two churches.

8. To obey; to perform duties in the employment of; as, to serve the king or the country in the army or navy.

9. To be sufficient, or to promote; as, to serve one's turn, end or purpose.

10. To help by good offices; as, to serve one's country.

11. To comply with; to submit to.

They think herein we serve the time, because thereby we either hold or seek preferment. Hooker.

12. To be sufficient for; to satisfy; to content.

One half pint bottle serves them both to dine,

And is at once their vinegar and wine. Pope.

13. To be in the place of any thing to one. A sofa serves the Turks for a seat and a couch.

14. To treat; to requite; as, he served me ungratefully; he served me very ill; We say also, he served me a trick, that is he deceived me, or practiced an artifice on me.

15. In Scripture and theology, to obey and worship; to act in conformity to the law of a superior, and treat him with due reverence.

Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth. As for me and my house, we will serve the lord. Joshua 24:14.

16. In a bad sense, to obey; to yeild compliance or act according to.

Serving divers lusts and treasures. Titus 3:1.

17. To worship; to render homage to; as, to serve idols or false gods.

18. To be a slave to; to be in bondage to.

19. To serve one's self of, to use; to make use of; a Gallicism, [se sevir de.]

I will serve myself of this concession. Chillingworh.

20. To use; to manage; to apply. The guns are well served.

21. In seamen's language, to wind something round a rope to prevent friction.

To serve up, to prepare and present in a dish; as, to serve up a sirloin of beef in plate; figuratively, to prepare.

To serve in, as used by Shakespeare, for to bring in, as meat by an attendant, I have never to be used in America.

To serve out, to distribute in portions; as, to serve out provisions to soldiers.

To serve a writ, to read it to the defendant; or to leave an attested copy at his usual place of abode.

To serve an attachment, or writ of attachment, to levy it on the or goods by seizure; or to seize.

To serve an execution, to levy it on lands, goods or person by seizure or taking possession.

To serve a warrant, to read it, and to seize the person against whom it is issued.

In general, to serve a process, is to read it so as to give due notice to the party concerned, or to leave an attested copy with him or his attorney, or at his usual place of abode.

To serve an office, to discharge a public duty. [This phrase, I believe, is not used in America. We say, a man serves in an office, that is, serves the public in an office.]

SERVE, verb intransitive serv.

1. To be a servant or slave.

The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve Isaiah 14:3.

2. To be employed in labor or or other business for another.

3. To be in subjection.

4. To wait; to attend; to perform domestic offices to another.

5. To perform duties, as in the army, navy or in any office. An officer serves five years in India, or under a particular commander. The late scretary of the colony, and afterwards state, of Connecticut, was annually appointed, and served in the office sixty years.

6. To answer; to accomplish the end.

She feared that all would not serve. Sidney.

7. To be sufficient for a purpose.

This little brand will serve to light your fire. Dryden.

8. To suit; to be convenient. Take this, and use it as occasion serves.

9. To conduce; to be of use.

Our victory only served to lead us on to other visionary prospects. Swift.

10. To officiate or minister; to do the honors of; as, to serve at a public dinner.

Served

SERV'ED, participle passive Attended; waited on; worshiped; levied.

Service

SERV'ICE, noun [From Latin servitium.]

1. In a general sense, labor of body or of body and mind, performed at the command of a superior, or the pursuance of duty, or for the benefit of another. service is voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary service is that of hired servants, or of contract, or of persons who spontaneously perform something for another's benefit. Involuntary service is that of slaves, who work by compulsion.

2. The business of a servant; menial office.

3. Attendance of a servant.

4. Place of a servant; actual employment of a servant; as, to be out of service.

5. Any thing done by way of duty to a superior.

This poem was the last piece of service I did for my master king Charles.

Dryden.

6. Attendance on a superior.

Madam, I entreat true peace of you,

Which I will purchase with my duteous service. Shak.

7. Profession of respect uttered or sent.

Pray do my service to his majesty. Shak.

8. Actual duty; that which is required to be done in an office; as, to perform the services of a clerk, a sherif or judge.

9. That which God requires of man; worship; obedience.

God requires no man's service upon hard and unreasonable terms. Tillotson.

10. Employment; business; office; as, to qualify a man for public service.

11. Use; purpose. The guns are not fit for public service.

12. Military duty by land or sea; as a military or naval service.

13. A military achievment.

14. Useful office; advantage conferred; that which promotes interest or happiness. Medicine often does no service to the sick; calumny is sometimes of service to an author.

15. Favor.

To thee a woman's services are due. Shak.

16. The duty which a tenant owes to his lord for his fee. Personal service consists in homage and fealty, etc.

17. Public worship or office of devotion. Divine service was interrupted.

18. A musical church composition consisting of choruses, trios, duets, solos, etc.

19. The official duties of a minister of the gospel, as in church, at a funeral, marriage, etc.

20. Courses; order of dishes at table.

There was no extraordinary service seen on the board. Hakewill.

21. In seamen's language, the material used for serving a rope, as spun yarn, small lines, etc.

22. A tree and its fruit, of the genus Sorbus. The wild service is of the genus Crataegus.

Service of a writ, process, etc.; the reading of it to the person to whom notice is intended to be given, or the leaving of an attested copy with the person or his attorney, or at his usual place of abode.

Service of an attachment, the seizing of the person or goods according to the direction.

The service of an execution, the sevying of it upon the goods, estate or person of the defendant.

Serviceable

SERV'ICEABLE, adjective

1. That does service; that promotes happiness, interest, advantage or any good; useful; beneficial; advantageous. Rulers may be very serviceable to religion by their example. The attentions of my friends were very serviceable to me when abroad. Rain and manure are serviceable to land.

2. Active; diligent; officious.

I know thee well, a serviceable villain. Shak. [Unusual.]

Serviceableness

SERV'ICEABLENESS, noun

1. Usefulness of promoting good of any kind; beneficialness.

All action being for some end, its aptness to be commanded or forbidden must be founded upon its serviceableness or disserviceableness to some end. Norris.

2. Officiousness; readiness to do service.

Servient

SERV'IENT, adjective [Latin serviens.] Subordinate. [Not in use.]

Servile

SERV'ILE, adjective [Latin servilis, from servio, to serve.]

1. Such as pertains to a servant or slave; slavish; mean; such as proceeds from dependence; as servile fear; servile obedience.

2. Held in subjection; dependent.

Ev'n fortune rules no more a servile land. Pope.

3. Cringing; fawning; meanly submissive; as servile flattery.

She must bend the servile knee. Thomson.

Servilely

SERV'ILELY, adverb

1. Meanly; slavishly; with base submission or obsequiousness.

2.With base deference to another; as, to copy servilely; to adopt opinions servilely.

Servileness

SERV'ILENESS, noun

Servility

SERVIL'ITY,

1. Slavery; the condition of a slave or bondman.

To be a queen in bondage is more vile

Than is a slave in base servility. Shak.

2. Mean submission; baseness; slavishness.

3. Mean obsequiousness; slavish deference; as the common servility to custom; to copy manners or opinions with servility.

Serving

SERV'ING, participle present tense Working for; acting in subordination to; yielding obedience to; worshiping; also, performing duties; as serving in the army.

Serving-Maid

SERV'ING-MAID, noun A female servant; a menial.

Serving-Man

SERV'ING-MAN, noun A male servant; a menial.

Servitor

SERV'ITOR, noun [From Latin servio, to serve.]

1. A servant; an attendant.

2. One that acts under another; a follower or adherent.

3. One that professes duty and obedience.

4. In the university of Oxford, a student who attends on another for his maintenance and learning; such as is called in Cambridge, a sizer.

Servitorship

SERV'ITORSHIP, noun The office of a servitor.

Servitude

SERV'ITUDE, noun [Latin servitudo or servitus. See Serve.]

1. The condition of a slave; the state of involuntary subjection to a master; slavery; bondage. Such is the state of slaves in America. A large portion of the human race is in servitude.

2. The state of a servant. [Less common and less proper.]

3. The condition of a conquered country.

4. A state of slavish dependence. Some persons may be in love with splendid servitude.

5. Servants, collectively. [Not in use.]

Sesame

SES'AME, noun [Latin sesama.] Oily grain; a genus of annual herbaceous plants, from the

Sesamum

SES'AMUM, seeds of which an oil is expressed. One species of it is cultivated in Carolina, and the blacks use the seed for food. It is called there bene.

Sesban

SES'BAN, noun A plant; a species of AEschynomene or Bastard sensitive plant.

Seseli

SES'ELI, noun [L. Gr. seselis.] A genus of plants; meadow saxifrage; hartwort.

Sesqipedal

SESQIP'EDAL, adjective [Latin sesqui, one and a half, and pedalis, from pes, a foot.]

Sesquiduplicate

SESQUIDU'PLICATE, adjective [Latin sesqui, supra, and duplicatis, double.] Designating the ratio of two and a half to one, or where the greater term contains the lesser twice and a half, as that of 50 to 20.

Sesquilter

SESQUIL'TER, adjective [Latin from sesqui, half as much more, and alter, other.]

Sesquilteral

SESQUIL'TERAL,

1. In geometry, designating a ratio where one quantity or number contains another once, and half as much more; as 9 contains 6 and its half.

2. A sesquialteral floret, is when large fertile floret is accompanied with a small abortive one.

Sesquipedalian

SESQUIPEDA'LIAN, Containing a foot and a half; as a sesquipedalian pigmy.

Addison uses sesquipedal as a noun.

Sesquiplicate

SESQUIP'LICATE, adjective [Latin sesqui, one and a half, and plicatus, plico, to fold.] Designating the ratio of one and a half to one; as the sesquiplicate proportion of the periodical times of the planets.

Sesquitertian

SESQUITER'TIAN, adjective [Latin sesqui, one and a half, and tertius, third.] Designating the

Sesquitertional

SESQUITER'TIONAL, ratio of one and one third.

Sesquitone

SES'QUITONE, noun In music, a minor third, or interval of three semitones.

Sess

SESS, noun [Latin sessio.] A tax. [Little used or not at all. See Assessment.]

Sessile

SES'SILE, adjective [Latin sessilis. See Set.] In botany, sitting on the stem. A sessile leaf issues directly from the stem or branch, without petiole or footstalk. A sessile flower has no peduncle. Sessile pappus or down has no stipe, but is placed immediately on the seed.

Session

SES'SION, noun [Latin sessio, from sedeo. See Set.]

1. A sitting or being placed; as the ascension of Christ and his session at the right hand of God.

2. The actual sitting of a court, council, legislature, etc.; or the actual assembly of the members of these o rany similar body for the transaction of business. Thus we say, the court is now in session, meaning that the members are assembled for business.

3. The time, space or term during which a court, council, legislature and the like, meet for daily business; or the space of time between the first meeting and the prorogation of adjournment. Thus a session of parliament is opened with a speech from the throne, and closed by prorogation. The session of a judicial court is called a term. Thus a court may have two sessions or four sessions annually. The supreme court of the United States has one anual session. The legislatures of most of the states have one anualsession only; some have more. The congress of the United States has one only.

4. Sessions, in some of the states, is particularly used for a court of justices, held for granting licenses to innkeepers or taverners, for laying out new highways or altering old ones and the like.

Quarter sessions, in England, is a court held once in every quarter, by two justices of the peace, one of whom is of the quorum, for the trial of small felonies and misdemeanors.

Sessions of the peace, a court consisting of justices of the peace, held in each county for inquiring into trespasses, larcenies, forestalling, etc. and in general, for the conversation of the peace.

SESS'-POOL, noun [sess and pool] A cavity sunk into the earth to receive and retain the sediment of water conveyed in drains. Sess-pools should be placed at proper distances in all drains, and particularly should one be placed at the entrance.

Sesterce

SES'TERCE, noun [Latin sestertius.] A Roman coin or denomination of money, in value the fourth part of a denarius, and originally containing two asses and a half, about two pence sterling or four cents.The sestertium, that is, sestertium pondus, was two pounds and a half, or two hundred and fifty denarii; about seven pounds sterling, or thirty one dollars. One qualification of a Roman knight was the possession of estate of the value of four hundred thousand sesterces; that of a senator was double this sum.

Authors mention a copper sesterce, of the value of one third of a penny sterling.

Sesterce was also used by the ancients for a thing two holes and a half; the as being taken for the integer.