SELL. To give an unexpected answer; to deceive; to cheat.
For the love you bear me, never tell how badly I was sold.—Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XX. p. 94.
The use of this verb is much more common in the United States than that of the noun of the same spelling, which is derived from it; for instance, we frequently read in the newspapers that the Whigs or Democrats have been sold, i.e. defeated in an election, or cheated in some political affair. The phrase to sell a bargain, which Bailey defines "to put a sham upon one," is now scarcely ever heard. It was once a favorite expression with certain English writers.
Where sold he bargains, Whipstitch?—Dryden.
No maid at court is less ashamed,
Howe'er for selling bargains famed.—Swift.
Dr. Sheridan, famous for punning, intending to sell a bargain, said, he had made a very good pun.—Swift, Bons Mots de Stella.
SEMESTER. Latin, semestris, sex, six, and mensis, month. In the German universities, a period or term of six months. The course of instruction occupies six semesters. Class distinctions depend upon the number of semesters, not of years. During the first semester, the student is called Fox, in the second Burnt Fox, and then, successively, Young Bursch, Old Bursch, Old House, and Moss-covered Head.
SENATE. In the University of Cambridge, England, the legislative body of the University. It is divided into two houses, called REGENT and NON-REGENT. The former consists of the vice-chancellor, proctors, taxors, moderators, and esquire-beadles, all masters of arts of less than five years' standing, and all doctors of divinity, civil law, and physic, of less than two, and is called the UPPER HOUSE, or WHITE-HOOD HOUSE, from its members wearing hoods lined with white silk. The latter is composed of masters of arts of five years' standing, bachelors of divinity, and doctors in the three faculties of two years' standing, and is known as the LOWER HOUSE, or BLACK-HOOD HOUSE, its members wearing black silk hoods. To have a vote in the Senate, the graduate must keep his name on the books of some college (which involves a small annual payment), or in the list of the commorantes in villâ.—Webster. Cam. Cal. Lit. World, Vol. XII. p. 283.
2. At Union College, the members of the Senior Class form what is called the Senate, a body organized after the manner of the Senate of the United States, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the forms and practice of legislation. The members of the Junior Class compose the House of Representatives. The following account, showing in what manner the Senate is conducted, has been furnished by a member of Union College.
"On the last Friday of the third term, the House of Representatives meet in their hall, and await their initiation to the Upper House. There soon appears a committee of three, who inform them by their chairman of the readiness of the Senate to receive them, and perhaps enlarge upon the importance of the coming trust, and the ability of the House to fill it.