▪ I. ˈsemble, a. Obs. (exc. arch. poet.)
[a. OF. semble:—L. similis: see similar a.]
Like, similar.
| 1449 Verulam MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm. 1906) 4 The seide place without delaye to be abated in semble wyse. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour 87 Thanne the quene after kneled tofore her lorde, and besought hym that men shulde do semble iustice to Amon the seneschall. 1546 Langley tr. Pol. Verg. de Invent vi. iv. 118 b, Also he did in semble wise consecrate the Table. 1584 Hudson Du Bartas' Judith i. (1608) 16 A tyrant vile, Of name and deed that bare the semble stile, That did this king. 1965 Auden About House (1966) 40 Six lenient semble sieges, None of them perilous, Is now a Perfect Social Number. |
▪ II. † ˈsemble, v.1 Obs.
Forms: 3–4 semele, 4 sembul, 4–7 semble, sembyll. pa. tense and pa. pple. 4 semblet, -blyt, semlit, 5 sembelet, sembild, semblyde, semled, semlyd, semyld.
[Aphetic var. of assemble v. (Godefr. has a few instances of OF. sembler in the same sense.)]
1. trans. a. To bring together (persons) into one place or company; = assemble v.1 1.
| c 1250 [see assemble v.1 1]. a 1300 Cursor M. 7410 His scepe þam-self war [read wald] sembel samen. a 1352 Minot Poems (ed. Hall) iii. 87 He sembled all his men full still. a 1500 Beket Prophecy in Bernard. de cura rei fam. (E.E.T.S.) 25 And þen thomas semblise sone seyue skore masons. 1603 Dekker & Chettle Grissil v. ii. 2984 Heare you now, awl that bee sembled heere. |
b. spec. (See quot.) Cf. sembling vbl. n.2 2.
| 1870 Hardwicke's Sci. Gossip 153 A group [of moths], the females of many of which are noted for the peculiar property they possess of collecting, or, as the old entomologists named it, ‘sembling’, the males from long distances. |
2. To bring together (things) into one place or mass, to collect; = assemble v.1 2.
| a 1400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. 55 Scho sall gedyre and sembyll gude whete and oþer gud cornnes to-gedir. c 1470 Harding Chron. lxv. i, That made a wall well wrought of lyme and stone, Where Seuer made of turues & soddes sembled. |
3. intr. To come together; = assemble v.1 5.
| 13.. Guy Warw. (1891) 452 Þer sembled a fair ferred. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvi. (Baptista) 800 Þe sarazenis semlit ilkane. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 47 Eueriche broþer & sister..shuln semelyn in a certayne place. c 1420 Avow. Arth. lxx, Hor lordis sembelet to a syȝte. 1497 Bp. Alcock Mons Perfect. C iij, Ye people semblid togydre to ouercome vyce. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 67 Ten thousand men..Syne semlit hes togither on ane da. |
4. To meet in conflict; = assemble v.1 6. Also, to make an attack on.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 3811 Þan aswiþe þei sembled to-gader. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 967 Siche sex ware to symple to semble with hyme one. Ibid. 3746 Now they..Sembles one the sowdeours, and settys theire dyntys. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 164 Men may..geve thame the werr felde, outhir lawar or in a myre, quhare thai may nocht wele semble, na to help thame selff. 1513 Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 60 To semble wyth thair schaftis. |
5. trans. To assail, attack; = assemble v.1 7.
| a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 1333 Þan bowes he to þe baistall & brymly it semblis. |
▪ III. † ˈsemble, v.2 Obs.
Also 4 sembel, 5 cemble, cem(e)lyn, 5–6 sembil.
[a. F. semble-r:—L. similāre, simulāre (cf. simulate v.), f. simil-is like. Cf. Pr., Sp. semblar, It. sembiare, sembrare.]
1. a. trans. To be like, resemble.
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 8853 (Kölbing) He no sembled no more him oȝan, Þan doþ a child oȝain a man. 1340 Ayenb. 176 Þo þet makeþ zuo greate hornes of hare here..þet hi sembleþ wel fole wyfmen. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 117/1 And to that other she said thou were lyke and semblest wel thy fader. 1630 I. Craven God's Tribunall (1631) 33 Let no man dissemble himselfe out of policy, or semble another in hypocrisie. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. iii. 61 A broad forehead which in a manner sembles a quadrangle may be somewhat suitable. 1713 Yarhell's Kitchen 2 With..Eyes that darted Fire, And a Proboscis, sembling Sarum's Spire. |
b. intr. To be like, to have a resemblance to.
| c 1400 Rule of St. Benet (prose) 3 Til þe wyis man sembils he þat fundes his hus opon þe stan. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour 125 She sembled not vnto the doughter of a senatour of Rome that had so cruell hert that [etc.]. |
2. intr. To seem, appear.
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. 136 And forthi that Crist tholes this, Ite sembeles that he slepand is. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 5547 (Kölbing) Ac ȝe semble so wiȝt & fre, Þat ȝe beþ welcome to me. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 263 Then he wyll semble to go with vs to counseyle, & directe vs in our purpose. |
b. To be likely to do something.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9781 If angel had tan mans kind Þan war he wayker mad þan ar, Þat he suld haue na pouer þar; And sembel lightli for to fall. |
3. To assume an appearance, make oneself seem, to pretend. (Very common in Udall's writings.)
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 128 Diogenes sembleyng to have no greate witte ne knowlage. Ibid. 214 b, He sembleed & made as though he tooke not indignacion. Ibid. 319 Sembleyng that he graunted his saiyng. c 1550 L. Wager Marie Magd. 1502, I pray you do your diligence, And semble rather to loue hym than to hate. |
4. trans. To simulate, feign; absol. to practise simulation.
| 1530 Tindale Pract. Prelates G iv b, Vtterlye appoynted to semble and dissemble, to haue one thinge in the harte and a nother in the mouth. 1537 tr. Latimer's Serm. Convoc. ii. C j b, Al be it they swere..that they knowe not theyr father, nor mother,..as in dede they can semble & dissemble all thynges. 1570 Levins Manip. 60/5 To semble, simulare. c 1570 W. Wager The longer thou livest 1074 (Brandl), Stage direct., Semble a goyng out. 1584 R. W. Three Ladies Lond. ii. A iij b, Ile tell thee what, thou wilt euen semble and cog with thine own father, A couple of false knaues togither. 1590 Humble Motion with Submission 57 By these couloured offices a man may haue a popish schoole⁓maister, especially if he can semble a little. |
¶ Used for dissemble v.
| 1603 Dekker & Chettle Grissil v. ii. 2769 Sir Ow. [a Welshman]. Ian Niclas is honest man: hee does not flatter, and sembles, but tell his intentions. |
5. To liken, compare.
| a 1440 Promp. Parv. 66/1 Cemelyn' or lykyn' [v.rr. cemlyn, cemblen], assimulo. 1563 Shute Archit. E iv b, Whiche piller for his strength is likned or to be sembled vnto Tuscana. |
6. To represent, picture.
| 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. Earth xlii, The azure fields of heav'n wear sembled right In a large round. 1627 W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 94 The terrible sound of the last trumpe which Hierome so continually sembled to himselfe, how it made him feare where he was most secure. Ibid. 163 Semble to your selues a Papist prostrate before his breaden God. 1706 [see sembling ppl. a. 2]. 1755 Johnson, Semble, to represent, to make a likeness. |
Hence † ˈsembling vbl. n.1
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 452/2 Semlynge, or lykenesse, assimilacio. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. 235 To thair sembling tak gude sicht, How that thay pas away sa bair. |
▪ IV. ‖ semble, v.3 impers. Law.
(ˈsɛmbl(ə)l)
[Fr., 3rd pers. sing. pres. ind. of sembler to seem.]
= ‘It seems’; used in judicial utterances to introduce the incidental statement of an opinion on a point of law which it is not necessary to decide authoritatively. In reports abbreviated sem., semb.
| 1817 Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1294 And semble, under these circumstances, an eviction might be pleaded to the whole demand. a 1859 Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. 850 It is essential to the character of a real servitude that there should be a ‘prædium serviens’, and a ‘prædium dominans’. Semble that a personal servitude..can hardly exist over a movable. |
▪ V. semble
variant of sembly Obs.