Seisactheia, an ordinance of Solon by which all debts were lowered. Massinger, Old Law, i. 1 (2 Lawyer). Gk. σεισάχθεια, a shaking off of burdens.
selago, a plant. Middleton, The Witch, iii. 3 (Hecate). L. selago, a plant resembling the savin-tree.
selar, a canopy of a bed; ‘The selar of the bedde’, Morte Arthur, leaf 349, back, 24; bk. xvii, c. 6. ‘Cellar for a bed, ciel de lit’, Palsgrave. See NED. (s.v. Celure).
selcouth, strange, uncommon. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 8. 14. A Scottish poetical word (EDD.). ME. selcouth, strange, wonderful (P. Plowman, C. i. 5); OE. seldcūð, strange, lit. seldom known.
seld, seldom. Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 150; hence seld-shown, seldom shown, Coriolanus, ii. 1. 229; seld-seen, Humour out of Breath, i. 1 (Octavio); as adj. rare, scarce, Tourneur, Revenger’s Tragedy, iv. 4. ME. seld (selde), seldom (Chaucer, C. T. B. 2343). See [seeld].
sellary, a male prostitute. B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 5 (Arruntius). L. sellarius (Tacitus).
sely, harmless; ‘A selye innocente hare murdered of a dogge’, More’s Utopia (ed. Lumby, p. 111). Also, poor, helpless, Tusser, Husbandry, § 51. 18. ME. sely, simple, innocent, also, poor, pitiable (Chaucer); but Chaucer uses the word also in other senses: good, holy, happy. See Trench, Select Glossary (s.v. Silly). See [silly].
semblably, similarly. 1 Hen. IV, v. 3. 21. F. semblable, like. F. sembler, to seem, resemble.
semblant, demeanour. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 31; Morte Arthur, bk. ii, c. 17; to make semblant (= F. faire semblant), to make a show, appearance, or pretence (of doing something), id., bk. vii, c. 8.
seminary, an Englishman educated as a Popish priest in a foreign seminary. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, ii. 1 (Overdo).