Chapter 35

12. Act of serving or covering. See Serve, v. t., 13.

Service book, a prayer book or missal. - - Service line (Tennis), a line parallel to the net, and at a distance of 21 feet from it. -- Service of a writ, process, etc. (Law), personal delivery or communication of the writ or process, etc., to the party to be affected by it, so as to subject him to its operation; 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 (Law), the seizing of the person or goods according to the direction. -- Service of an execution (Law), the levying of it upon the goods, estate, or person of the defendant. -- Service pipe, a pipe connecting mains with a dwelling, as in gas pipes, and the like. Tomlinson. -- To accept service. (Law) See under Accept. -- To see service (Mil.), to do duty in the presence of the enemy, or in actual war.

Serv"ice*a*ble (?), a. 1. Doing service; promoting happiness, interest, advantage, or any good; useful to any end; adapted to any good end use; beneficial; advantageous. "Serviceable to religion and learning". Atterbury. "Serviceable tools." Macaulay.

I know thee well, a serviceable villain.

Shak.

2. Prepared for rendering service; capable of, or fit for, the performance of duty; hence, active; diligent.

Courteous he was, lowly, and servysable.

Chaucer.

Bright-hearnessed angels sit in order serviceable.

Milton.

Seeing her so sweet and serviceable.

Tennnyson.

-- Serv"ice*a*ble*ness, n. -- Serv"ice*a*bly, adv.

Serv"ice*age (?), n. Servitude. [Obs.] Fairfax.

Serv"i*ent (?), a. [L. serviens, -entis, p. pr. See Serve.] Subordinate. [Obs. except in law.] Dyer.

Servient tenement or estate (Law), that on which the burden of a servitude or an easement is imposed. Cf. Dominant estate, under Dominant. Gale & Whately.

||Ser`viette" (?), n. [F.] A table napkin.

Serv"ile (?), a. [L. servile, fr. servus a servant or slave: cf. F. servile. See Serve.] 1. Of or pertaining to a servant or slave; befitting a servant or a slave; proceeding from dependence; hence, meanly submissive; slavish; mean; cringing; fawning; as, servile flattery; servile fear; servile obedience.

She must bend the servile knee.

Thomson.

Fearing dying pays death servile breath.

Shak.

2. Held in subjection; dependent; enslaved.

Even fortune rules no more, O servile land!

Pope.

3. (Gram.) (a) Not belonging to the original root; as, a servile letter. (b) Not itself sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceeding vowel, as e in tune.

Serv"ile, n. (Gram.) An element which forms no part of the original root; -- opposed to radical.

Serv"ile*ly, adv. In a servile manner; slavishly.

Serv"ile*ness, n. Quality of being servile; servility.

Ser*vil"i*ty (?), n. [Cf. F. servilité.] The quality or state of being servile; servileness.

To be a queen in bondage is more vile Than is a slave in base servility.

Shak.

Serv"ing, a. & n. from Serve.

Serving board (Naut.), a flat piece of wood used in serving ropes. -- Serving maid, a female servant; a maidservant. -- Serving mallet (Naut.), a wooden instrument shaped like a mallet, used in serving ropes. -- Serving man, a male servant, or attendant; a manservant. -- Serving stuff (Naut.), small lines for serving ropes.

Serv"ite (?), n. [It. servita.] (R.C.Ch.) One of the order of the Religious Servants of the Holy Virgin, founded in Florence in 1223.

Serv"i*tor (?), n. [L., fr. servire to serve: cf. F. serviteur.] 1. One who serves; a servant; an attendant; one who acts under another; a follower or adherent.

Your trusty and most valiant servitor.

Shak.

2. (Univ. of Oxford, Eng.) An undergraduate, partly supported by the college funds, whose duty it formerly was to wait at table. A servitor corresponded to a sizar in Cambridge and Dublin universities.

Serv"i*tor*ship, n. The office, rank, or condition of a servitor. Boswell.

Serv"i*tude (?), n. [L. servitudo: cf. F. servitude.] 1. The state of voluntary or compulsory subjection to a master; the condition of being bound to service; the condition of a slave; slavery; bondage; hence, a state of slavish dependence.

You would have sold your king to slaughter, His princes and his peers to servitude.

Shak.

A splendid servitude; . . . for he that rises up early, and goe&?; to bed late, only to receive addresses, is really as much abridged in his freedom as he that waits to present one.

South.

2. Servants, collectively. [Obs.]

After him a cumbrous train Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude.

Milton.

3. (Law) A right whereby one thing is subject to another thing or person for use or convenience, contrary to the common right.

The object of a servitude is either to suffer something to be done by another, or to omit to do something, with respect to a thing. The easements of the English correspond in some respects with the servitudes of the Roman law. Both terms are used by common law writers, and often indiscriminately. The former, however, rather indicates the right enjoyed, and the latter the burden imposed. Ayliffe. Erskine. E. Washburn.

Penal servitude. See under Penal. -- Personal servitude (Law), that which arises when the use of a thing is granted as a real right to a particular individual other than the proprietor. -- Predial servitude (Law), that which one estate owes to another estate. When it related to lands, vineyards, gardens, or the like, it is called rural; when it related to houses and buildings, it is called urban.

Serv"i*ture (?), n. Servants, collectively. [Obs.]

Serv"i*tute (?), n. [L. servitus.] Servitude. [Obs.]

Se"rye (?), n. A series. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Ses"a*me (?), n. [L. sesamum, sesama, Gr. &?;&?;&?;&?;, &?;&?;&?;: cf. F. sésame.] (Bot.) Either of two annual herbaceous plants of the genus Sesamum (S. Indicum, and S. orientale), from the seeds of which an oil is expressed; also, the small obovate, flattish seeds of these plants, sometimes used as food. See Benne.

Open Sesame, the magical command which opened the door of the robber's den in the Arabian Nights' tale of "The Forty Thieves;" hence, a magical password. -- Sesame grass. (Bot.) Same as Gama grass.

Ses"a*moid (?), a. [Gr. &?;&?;&?;&?; like sesame; &?;&?;&?;&?;&?; sesame + &?;&?;&?; form: cf. F. sésamoïde.] 1. Resembling in shape the seeds of sesame.

2. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the sesamoid bones or cartilages; sesamoidal.

Sesamoid bones, Sesamoid cartilages (Anat.), small bones or cartilages formed in tendons, like the patella and pisiform in man.

Ses"a*moid, n. (Anat.) A sesamoid bone or cartilage.

Ses`a*moid"al (?), a. (Anat.) Sesamoid.

Ses"ban (?), n. [F., fr. Ar. saisabn, seisebn, a kind of tree, fr. Per. ssabn seed of cinquefoil.] (Bot.) A leguminous shrub (Sesbania aculeata) which furnishes a fiber used for making ropes.

The name is applied also to the similar plant, Sesbania Ægyptiaca, and other species of the same genus.

||Ses`qui- (?). [L., one half more, one and a half.] (Chem.) A ||combining form (also used adjectively) denoting that three atoms or ||equivalents of the substance to the name of which it is prefixed are ||combined with two of some other element or radical; as, ||sesquibromide, sesquicarbonate, sesquichloride, sesquioxide.

Sesquidupli- is sometimes, but rarely, used in the same manner to denote the proportions of two and a half to one, or rather of five to two.

Ses`qui*al"ter (?), a. Sesquialteral.

{ Ses`qui*al"ter (?), Ses`qui*al"ter*a (?), } n. [NL. sesquialtera.] (Mus.) A stop on the organ, containing several ranks of pipes which reënforce some of the high harmonics of the ground tone, and make the sound more brilliant.

{ Ses`qui*al"ter*al (?), Ses`qui*al"ter*ate (?), } a. [L. sesquialter once and a half; sesqui- + alter other: cf. F. sesquialtére.] Once and a half times as great as another; having the ratio of one and a half to one.

Sesquialteral ratio (Math.), the ratio of one and a half to one; thus, 9 and 6 are in a sesquialteral ratio.

Ses`qui*al"ter*ous (?), a. Sesquialteral.

Ses`qui*ba"sic (?), a. [Sesqui- + basic.] (Chem.) Containing, or acting as, a base in the proportions of a sesqui compound.

Ses`qui*du"pli*cate (?), a. [Sesqui- + duplicate.] Twice and a half as great (as another thing); having the ratio of two and a half to one.

Sesquiduplicate ratio (Math.), the ratio of two and a half to one, or one in which the greater term contains the lesser twice and a half, as that of 50 to 20.

Ses`qui*ox"ide (?), n. [Sesqui- + oxide.] (Chem.) An oxide containing three atoms of oxygen with two atoms (or radicals) of some other substance; thus, alumina, Al2O3 is a sesquioxide.

{ Ses*quip"e*dal (?), Ses`qui*pe*da"li*an (?), } a. [Sesqui- + pedal: cf. F. sesquipédal, L. sesquipedalis.] Measuring or containing a foot and a half; as, a sesquipedalian pygmy; -- sometimes humorously applied to long words.

{ Ses`qui*pe*da"li*an*ism (?), Ses*quip"e*dal*ism (?), } n. Sesquipedality.

Ses`qui*pe*dal"i*ty (?), n. 1. The quality or condition of being sesquipedal. Sterne.

2. The use of sesquipedalian words; style characterized by the use of long words; sesquipedalism.

Ses*quip"li*cate (?), a. [Sesqui- + plicate.] (Math.) Subduplicate of the triplicate; -- a term applied to ratios; thus, a and a′ are in the sesquiplicate ratio of b and b′, when a is to a′ as the square root of the cube of b is to the square root of the cube of b′, or a:a′::√b3:√b′3.

The periodic times of the planets are in the sesquiplicate ratio of their mean distances.

Sir I. Newton.

Ses"qui*salt (?), n. [Sesqui- + salt.] (Chem.) A salt derived from a sesquioxide base, or made up on the proportions of a sesqui compound.

<! p. 1317 !>

Ses`qui*sul"phide (?), n. [Sesqui- + sulphide.] (Chem.) A sulphide, analogous to a sesquioxide, containing three atoms of sulphur to two of the other ingredient; -- formerly called also sesquisulphuret; as, orpiment, As2S3 is arsenic sesquisulphide.

Ses`qui*ter"tial (?), a. Sesquitertian.

{ Ses`qui*ter"tian (?), Ses`qui*ter"tian*al (?), } a. [Sesqui- + L. tertianus belonging to the third. Cf. Tertian.] (Math.) Having the ratio of one and one third to one (as 4 : 3).

Ses"qui*tone (?), n. [Sesqui- + tone.] (Mus.) A minor third, or interval of three semitones.

Sess (?), v. t. [Aphetic form of assess. See Assess, Cess.] To lay a tax upon; to assess. [Obs.]

Sess, n. A tax; an assessment. See Cess. [Obs.]

Ses"sa (?), interj. Hurry; run. [Obs.] Shak.

Ses"sile (?), a. [L. sessilis low, dwarf, from sedere, sessum, to sit: cf. F. sessile.] 1. Attached without any sensible projecting support.

2. (Bot.) Resting directly upon the main stem or branch, without a petiole or footstalk; as, a sessile leaf or blossom.

3. (Zoöl.) Permanently attached; - - said of the gonophores of certain hydroids which never became detached.

Ses"sile-eyed` (?), a. (Zoöl.) Having eyes which are not elevated on a stalk; -- opposed to stalk-eyed.

Sessile-eyed Crustacea, the Arthrostraca.

Ses"sion (?), n. [L. sessio, fr. sedere, sessum, to sit: cf. F. session. See Sit.] 1. The act of sitting, or the state of being seated. [Archaic]

So much his ascension into heaven and his session at the right hand of God do import.

Hooker.

But Viven, gathering somewhat of his mood, . . . Leaped from her session on his lap, and stood.

Tennyson.

2. The actual sitting of a court, council, legislature, etc., or the actual assembly of the members of such a body, for the transaction of business.

It's fit this royal session do proceed.

Shak.

3. Hence, also, the time, period, or term during which a court, council, legislature, etc., meets daily for business; or, the space of time between the first meeting and the prorogation or adjournment; thus, a session of Parliaments is opened with a speech from the throne, and closed by prorogation. The session of a judicial court is called a term.

It was resolved that the convocation should meet at the beginning of the next session of Parliament.

Macaulay.

Sessions, in some of the States, is particularly used as a title for a court of justices, held for granting licenses to innkeepers, etc., and for laying out highways, and the like; it is also the title of several courts of criminal jurisdiction in England and the United States.

Church session, the lowest court in the Presbyterian Church, composed of the pastor and a body of elders elected by the members of a particular church, and having the care of matters pertaining to the religious interests of that church, as the admission and dismission of members, discipline, etc. -- Court of Session, the supreme civil court of Scotland. -- Quarter sessions. (Eng.Law) See under Quarter. -- Sessions of the peace, sittings held by justices of the peace. [Eng.]

Ses"sion*al (?), a. Of or pertaining to a session or sessions.

Sess"pool` (?), n. [Prov. E. suss hogwash, soss a dirty mess, a puddle + E. pool a puddle; cf. Gael. ses a coarse mess.] Same as Cesspool.

Ses"terce (?), n. [L. sestertius (sc. nummus), fr. sestertius two and a half; semis half + tertius third: cf. F. sesterce.] (Rom. Antiq.) A Roman coin or denomination of money, in value the fourth part of a denarius, and originally containing two asses and a half, afterward four asses, -- equal to about two pence sterling, or four cents.

The sestertium was equivalent to one thousand sesterces, equal to £8 17s 1d. sterling, or about $43, before the reign of Augustus. After his reign its value was about £7 16s. 3d. sterling. The sesterce was originally coined only in silver, but later both in silver and brass.

Ses*tet" (?), n. [It. sestetto, fr. sesto sixth, L. sextus, fr. sex six.] 1. (Mus.) A piece of music composed for six voices or six instruments; a sextet; -- called also sestuor. [Written also sestett, sestette.]

2. (Poet.) The last six lines of a sonnet.

||Ses*tet"to (?), n.[It.] (Mus.) A sestet.

Ses"tine (?), n. See Sextain.

Ses"tu*or (?), n. [F.] A sestet.

Set (st), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Set; p. pr. & vb. n. Setting.] [OE. setten, AS. setton; akin to OS. settian, OFries. setta, D. zetten, OHG. sezzen, G. setzen, Icel. setja, Sw. sätta, Dan. s&?;tte, Goth. satjan; causative from the root of E. sit. &radic;154. See Sit, and cf. Seize.] 1. To cause to sit; to make to assume a specified position or attitude; to give site or place to; to place; to put; to fix; as, to set a house on a stone foundation; to set a book on a shelf; to set a dish on a table; to set a chest or trunk on its bottom or on end.

I do set my bow in the cloud.

Gen. ix. 13.

2. Hence, to attach or affix (something) to something else, or in or upon a certain place.

Set your affection on things above.

Col. iii. 2.

The Lord set a mark upon Cain.

Gen. iv. 15.

3. To make to assume specified place, condition, or occupation; to put in a certain condition or state (described by the accompanying words); to cause to be.

The Lord thy God will set thee on high.

Deut. xxviii. 1.

I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother.

Matt. x. 35.

Every incident sets him thinking.

Coleridge.

4. To fix firmly; to make fast, permanent, or stable; to render motionless; to give an unchanging place, form, or condition to. Specifically: --

(a) To cause to stop or stick; to obstruct; to fasten to a spot; hence, to occasion difficulty to; to embarrass; as, to set a coach in the mud.

They show how hard they are set in this particular.

Addison.

(b) To fix beforehand; to determine; hence, to make unyielding or obstinate; to render stiff, unpliant, or rigid; as, to set one's countenance.

His eyes were set by reason of his age.

1 Kings xiv. 4.

On these three objects his heart was set.

Macaulay.

Make my heart as a millstone, set my face as a flint.

Tennyson.

(c) To fix in the ground, as a post or a tree; to plant; as, to set pear trees in an orchard.

(d) To fix, as a precious stone, in a border of metal; to place in a setting; hence, to place in or amid something which serves as a setting; as, to set glass in a sash.

And him too rich a jewel to be set In vulgar metal for a vulgar use.

Dryden.

(e) To render stiff or solid; especially, to convert into curd; to curdle; as, to set milk for cheese.

5. To put into a desired position or condition; to adjust; to regulate; to adapt. Specifically: --

(a) To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare; as, to set (that is, to hone) a razor; to set a saw.

Tables for to sette, and beddes make.

Chaucer.

(b) To extend and bring into position; to spread; as, to set the sails of a ship.

(c) To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the keynote; as, to set a psalm. Fielding.

(d) To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state; to replace; as, to set a broken bone.

(e) To make to agree with some standard; as, to set a watch or a clock.

(f) (Masonry) To lower into place and fix solidly, as the blocks of cut stone in a structure.

6. To stake at play; to wager; to risk.

I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die.

Shak.

7. To fit with music; to adapt, as words to notes; to prepare for singing.

Set thy own songs, and sing them to thy lute.

Dryden.

8. To determine; to appoint; to assign; to fix; as, to set a time for a meeting; to set a price on a horse.

9. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to variegate with objects placed here and there.

High on their heads, with jewels richly set, Each lady wore a radiant coronet.

Dryden.

Pastoral dales thin set with modern farms.

Wordsworth.

10. To value; to rate; -- with at.

Be you contented, wearing now the garland, To have a son set your decrees at naught.

Shak.

I do not set my life at a pin's fee.

Shak.

11. To point out the seat or position of, as birds, or other game; -- said of hunting dogs.

12. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to assign; as, to set an example; to set lessons to be learned.

13. To suit; to become; as, it sets him ill. [Scot.]

14. (Print.) To compose; to arrange in words, lines, etc.; as, to set type; to set a page.

To set abroach. See Abroach. [Obs.] Shak. -- To set against, to oppose; to set in comparison with, or to oppose to, as an equivalent in exchange; as, to set one thing against another. -- To set agoing, to cause to move. -- To set apart, to separate to a particular use; to separate from the rest; to reserve. -- To set a saw, to bend each tooth a little, every alternate one being bent to one side, and the intermediate ones to the other side, so that the opening made by the saw may be a little wider than the thickness of the back, to prevent the saw from sticking. -- To set aside. (a) To leave out of account; to pass by; to omit; to neglect; to reject; to annul.

Setting aside all other considerations, I will endeavor to know the truth, and yield to that.

Tillotson.

(b) To set apart; to reserve; as, to set aside part of one's income. (c) (Law) See under Aside. -- To set at defiance, to defy. -- To set at ease, to quiet; to tranquilize; as, to set the heart at ease. -- To set at naught, to undervalue; to contemn; to despise. "Ye have set at naught all my counsel." Prov. i. 25. -- To set a trap, snare, or gin, to put it in a proper condition or position to catch prey; hence, to lay a plan to deceive and draw another into one's power. -- To set at work, or To set to work. (a) To cause to enter on work or action, or to direct how tu enter on work. (b) To apply one's self; -- used reflexively. -- To set before. (a) To bring out to view before; to exhibit. (b) To propose for choice to; to offer to. -- To set by. (a) To set apart or on one side; to reject. (b) To attach the value of (anything) to. "I set not a straw by thy dreamings." Chaucer. -- To set by the compass, to observe and note the bearing or situation of by the compass. -- To set case, to suppose; to assume. Cf. Put case, under Put, v. t. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- To set down. (a) To enter in writing; to register.

Some rules were to be set down for the government of the army.

Clarendon.

(b) To fix; to establish; to ordain.

This law we may name eternal, being that order which God . . . hath set down with himself, for himself to do all things by.

Hooker.

(c) To humiliate. -- To set eyes on, to see; to behold; to fasten the eyes on. -- To set fire to, or To set on fire, to communicate fire to; fig., to inflame; to enkindle the passions of; to irritate. -- To set flying (Naut.), to hook to halyards, sheets, etc., instead of extending with rings or the like on a stay; -- said of a sail. -- To set forth. (a) To manifest; to offer or present to view; to exhibt; to display. (b) To publish; to promulgate; to make appear. Waller. (c) To send out; to prepare and send. [Obs.]

The Venetian admiral had a fleet of sixty galleys, set forth by the Venetians.

Knolles.

-- To set forward. (a) To cause to advance. (b) To promote. -- To set free, to release from confinement, imprisonment, or bondage; to liberate; to emancipate. -- To set in, to put in the way; to begin; to give a start to. [Obs.]

If you please to assist and set me in, I will recollect myself.

Collier.

-- To set in order, to adjust or arrange; to reduce to method. "The rest will I set in order when I come." 1 Cor. xi. 34. -- To set milk. (a) To expose it in open dishes in order that the cream may rise to the surface. (b) To cause it to become curdled as by the action of rennet. See 4 (e). -- To set much, or little, by, to care much, or little, for. -- To set of, to value; to set by. [Obs.] "I set not an haw of his proverbs." Chaucer. -- To set off. (a) To separate from a whole; to assign to a particular purpose; to portion off; as, to set off a portion of an estate. (b) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish.

They . . . set off the worst faces with the best airs.

Addison.

(c) To give a flattering description of. - - To set off against, to place against as an equivalent; as, to set off one man's services against another's. -- To set on or upon. (a) To incite; to instigate. "Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this." Shak. (b) To employ, as in a task. " Set on thy wife to observe." Shak. (c) To fix upon; to attach strongly to; as, to set one's heart or affections on some object. See definition 2, above. -- To set one's cap for. See under Cap, n. -- To set one's self against, to place one's self in a state of enmity or opposition to. -- To set one's teeth, to press them together tightly. -- To set on foot, to set going; to put in motion; to start. -- To set out. (a) To assign; to allot; to mark off; to limit; as, to set out the share of each proprietor or heir of an estate; to set out the widow's thirds. (b) To publish, as a proclamation. [Obs.] (c) To adorn; to embellish.

An ugly woman, in rich habit set out with jewels, nothing can become.

Dryden.

(d) To raise, equip, and send forth; to furnish. [R.]

The Venetians pretend they could set out, in case of great necessity, thirty men-of-war.

Addison.

(e) To show; to display; to recommend; to set off.

I could set out that best side of Luther.

Atterbury.