▪ I. † sene, n.1 Obs.
[OE. s{iacu}en, s{iacu}n, séon, s{yacu}n, str. fem. = OS. siun, ON. sión, s{yacu}n, Goth. siun-s:—OTeut. *sewni-z, f. *sew-: *sehw- to see.]
Vision, power of sight. Cf. eyesene, onsene.
| a 1000 Juliana 468 (Gr.) Oft ic syne ofteah, ablende bealoþoncum beorna unrim. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 26 Wiþ eaᵹna miste moniᵹe men..lociað on ceald wæter..ne wyrt þæt þa seon. c 1200 Ormin 9394 Ȝiff þatt tin eȝhe iss all unnhal Wiþþinnenn o þe sene. a 1250 Owl & Night. 240 Þu hauest a-niȝt wel briȝte sene. |
▪ II. † sene, n.2 Obs.
Also 5 cene.
[a. OF. sené:—L. senātus senate.
The word should etymologically be disyllabic; the metre appears (doubtfully) to indicate a monosyllable, and probably the OF. word was merely adopted in its written form. Even in Fr. some confusion arose between sené ‘senatus’ and sene ‘synodus’ (see next): Cotgr. explains sené as synod, and quotes a proverb in which it has clearly that sense.]
= senate.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3311 Þe Sene seide þey were affrayed. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. xxix. 168 Therefor hit was cried in the Sene of the Senatowres of Rome. a 1470 Tiptoft Tulle on Friendship (Caxton 1481) 4 b, By the lawe that Cassius made, me semeth that I see the people dissevered from the Cene. |
▪ III. † sene, n.3 Obs.
Forms: 4–5 seyne, 4–6 sene, 5 senne, seeine, seeyne, sean, ceene, 5–6 cene, seyn, seene, seane, 6 seeane, 7 seing.
[a. F. sene, senne, etc.:—eccl. L. synodus, a. Gr. σύνοδος synod. Cf. senyie.]
A synod, a meeting of clergy for deliberation. Often applied to the bishop's or the archdeacon's visitation; the form seing in this use is prob. due to the identification of the word with seeing vbl. n.
| 1380 Antecrist in Todd Three Treat. Wyclif (1851) 147 Bi peter pens gederynge bi sute and servyse þat þei owen to seynes and to chapitres. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. 120/15 Theder he made come to-for hym al the bysshoppes & the clergye of Irland & held hys senne. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) VI. 171 The Vthe vniversalle seeine or cownesayle was kepede..at Aquileia. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 66 Ceene of clerkys, sinodus. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 2435 The Seyn was kepte at a place called Alue. 1526 R. Whitford Martiloge 100 He kept a generall counseyle or sene at constantynople. 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII, c. 10 §4 Al..arche⁓bishops bishops and archedeacons..in euery their visitacion and seanes shall make diligent insearche. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 678 Anselme then Archbishop of Canterbury in a Seane that he helde at London, did make a Decree, that Priests should forsake their wiues. |
| attrib. 1596 Churchw. Acc. Pittington, etc. (Surtees) 270 For our apperance upon the seane daye. 1609 Ibid. 61 Item payed when we where before M{supr} Hutton at the Seing day, xvj d. |
▪ IV. † sene, n.4 Obs.
Also 6 seene, seny, 7 senie.
[a. OF. sené, cené, senet: see senna.]
= senna.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 192 Take xx. damascenes & xij. figis, & vj. datis, sene ℥j. 1436 Libel Eng. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 173 Wee shulde have no nede to skamonye,..Rubarde, sené, and yet they bene to nedefulle. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 149 Colutea..the trifolie tree, or (as some thinke) the sene tree. 1597 Gerarde Herbal Table Eng. Names, Bastard Sene or Sene tree. 1625 Hart Anat. Ur. ii. v. 79, I had..drunke of an infusion wherein was some quantitie of Sene leaues. 1651 Biggs New Disp. ¶104 Allayed with aloes, rubart, sene,..and the like. 1658 Phillips, Senie, the leaf of a medicinable herb which purgeth cholerick and melancholick humours [1671 adds:—see Sena]. |
▪ V. † sene, i-sene, a. Obs.
Forms: α. 1 ᵹes{iacu}ene, -séne, -s{yacu}ne, 3 i-sene, 4 a-sene, ysene; β. 3 sen, 4 seine, 4–5 seene.
[OE. ᵹes{iacu}ene, ᵹeséne:—prehistoric *gisewnjo-, f. *gisewen, pa. pple. of *sehan, séon to see. The dropping of the prefix was prob. hastened by the influence of the corresponding ON. s{yacu}nn.]
Easy to see, visible, evident, manifest. (In later use blended with seen pa. pple. of see v.)
| α Beowulf 1403 Lastas wæron æfter waldswaþum wide ᵹesyne. c 1205 Lay. 9548 Ȝet hit is isene þat heo wes her quene. 13.. K. Alis. 847 Who me loveth now worth a-sene [Bodl. MS. ysene]! c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 592 Ful longe were his legges and ful lene,..ther was no calf ysene. |
| β c 1200 Ormin 2547 Þær wass full sene þatt ȝho wass All full off soþ clænnesse. c 1310 Song agst. Retinues in Pol. Songs (Camden) 239 Sene is on is browe Ant on is eȝebrewe, That he louseth a losynger, And shoyeth a shrewe. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 413 And that was sene, For all the woode was waxen grene. c 1402 Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 437 As it is sene by myn oppressed chere. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 66/2 Cene, or besene, apparens, manifestus. c 1480 Henryson Test. Cresseid 353 ‘Lo! quhat it is’, quod she, ‘With fraward langage for to mufe and steir Our crabbit goddis, and sa is sene on me! 1513 Douglas æneis ii. x. 27 Hir self scho hid thairfor, and held hir quoye, Beside the altar sittand vnethis sene. |
b. Used pleonastically in verse.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7684 And þat ilka myle fully contene A thowsand pases or cubites sene. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 341, I be-seche now with saȝez sene, Þis melly mot be myne. |
c. well sene, easy to see; evil sene, hard to see.
The former continued as well seen(e down to the 16th c.; it is still familiar from the example in the Prayer Book, but is now apprehended as a use of the pa. pple.
| α c 1205 Lay. 24277 Summe bokes suggeð to iwisse Þat þa burh wes biwucched. And þat is wel isene. |
| β a 1300 Havelok 656 Þre dayes þer-biforn, i wene, Et he no mete, þat was wel sene. a 1352 Minot Poems (ed. Hall) vii. 104 Sir Philip wanted all his will, Þat was wele on his sembland sene. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 66 Now be we caytyues, as it is wel seene. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. viii. 85 It is euyl sene..that thou art a true man that thou wolt not telle thy name. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxvii[i]. 24 It is well sene (o God) how thou goest. [So in Prayer-bk.] |
▪ VI. † sene, adv. and conj. Sc. and north. Obs.
[Var. of sen, sin, syne advs., etc.]
= since.
| adj. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints viii. (Philip) 62 Quhene he had a ȝer dwelte þare, In asya sene canne he fare. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 286 Thair gat he nane homage,..Of lord of yone lynage, Nor neuer none sene. |
| conj. 13.. Gosp. Nicod. (Galba) 439 Slike sotell talkinges..was neuer ȝit sene þe world bigan sene in prophecy. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 511 Mony hundreth,..Sene he begane, ar lost with out ramede. |
▪ VII. sene
variant of cene Obs., supper.
| c 1450 Lovelich Grail xlviii. 31 Whanne that Iesus his Sene Made. |
▪ VIII. sene
obs. Sc. form of sain v.
| 1691 R. Kirk Secret Commw. i. (1815) 3 Who..have made it a Custome..to keep Church duely evry first Sunday of the Quarter to sene or hallow themselves,..from the Shots and Stealth of these wandring Tribes. |
▪ IX. sene
see senye, sheen a., see v.