Seeley’s pigs, blocks of iron in Government dockyards. Mr. Seeley, M.P., was the first to call attention in the House of Commons to the scandalous waste of pig-iron in the dockyards. Some of the yards were found to be half paved with blocks of metal, which were thence called “Seeley’s pigs.”
Sell, a deception, or disappointment; also a lying joke.
Sell, to deceive, swindle, or play a practical joke upon a person. A sham is a SELL in street parlance. “Sold again, and got the money,” a patterer cries after having successfully deceived somebody. Shakspeare uses SELLING in a similar sense, viz., blinding or deceiving.
Sensation, a quartern of gin.
Serene, all right; “it’s all SERENE,” a street phrase of very modern adoption, the burden of a song. Serene, all serene! from the Spanish SERENO, equivalent to the English “all’s well;” a countersign of sentinels, supposed to have been acquired by some filibusters who were imprisoned in Cuba, and liberated by the intercession of the British ambassador. The Sereno, the Spanish night watchman, cries out, with the hour, the state of the atmosphere. He was called the Sereno (clear), from his announcing the usual fine (sereno) night—quite different from the work of our old “Charlies,” whose usual call was one of foul weather.
Serve out, to punish, or be revenged on any one.
Setter, sevenpence. Italian, SETTE. See [SALTEE].—Lingua Franca.
Setter, a person employed by the vendor at an auction to run the bidding up; to bid against bona-fide bidders. Also the man who takes the box at hazard, and “sets a go.”
Setting jewels, taking the best portions of a clever book not much known to the general public, and incorporating them quietly with a new work by a thoroughly original author. The credit of this term belongs to Mr. Charles Reade, who explained that the process is accountable for the presence of some writing by one Jonathan Swift, in a story published at Christmas, 1872, and called The Wandering Heir.