▪ I. sea, n.
(siː)
Forms: 1 sǽ, (2 seo), 2–3 sæ, 2–6 se, see, 4 (Ayenb.) ze, (seo, sse), 4–5 cee, 4–6 Sc. sey, 6 Sc. seye, sie, 2– sea. pl. 1 sǽs, sǽas, sǽ, 4 sen, 4–5 sees, 4–6 (chiefly Sc.) seis, 6 seaes, sease, (saezes), seeis, Sc. seyis, seyes, 6– seas.
[Common Teut.: OE. sǽ str. masc. and fem. corresponds to OFris. sê masc., OS. sêo, sêu, dat. sêwa masc. (MLG. sê, MDu. see masc. and fem., Du. zee fem.), OHG. sêo, sê, dat. sêwe masc., sea, lake, pond (MHG. sê masc. and fem., sea, lake, mod.G. see masc., lake, see fem., sea), ON. sǽ-r, sjá-r, sjó-r masc. (Sw. sjö, Da. s{obar}), Goth. saiw-s masc., sea, also marsh:—OTeut. *saiwi-z.
The word has no certain affinities, and it is doubtful whether the w represents a pre-Teut. w or (by Verner's Law) a pre-Teut q{supu} (or kw). On the assumption of a guttural root, and of the priority of the sense ‘marsh’ (occurring in Gothic) it has been suggested that the word may be cogn. w. OHG. gisig (gisic, gezik), found in glosses as a collective for ponds or marshes (stagna, paludes), and with the OHG. sîgan to flow down, sink, OE. s{iacu}ᵹan to descend: see sye v.]
I. The simple word.
1. a. The continuous body of salt water that covers the greater part of the earth's surface. Often poet. with epithet as broad, deep (see deep a. 1), † large, salt (see salt a.1 1), † side, wide, wild, etc.
Since Early Middle English always with prefixed article, exc. in phrases with preps. (see esp. 1 c and 10–17).
| Beowulf 2394 Ofer sæ side. c 1205 Lay. 30496 On þare sæ brade. c 1275 Moral Ode 82 in O.E. Misc. 61 He makede fysses in þe sea. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2163 In an yle, amid the wilde see. c 1386 ― Knt.'s T. 1098 Fletynge in the large see. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1982 Blouen to þe brode se. c 1430 Syr Gener. 6553 Toward the cee he rode a pase. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 46 This precious stone, set in the siluer sea. 1647 H. More Philos. Devot. 32 As the thankfull Rivers pay What they borrowed of the Sea. 1779 Cowper Olney Hymns iii. xv. 3 God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. 1807 Wordsw. Sonn. to Liberty i. xii, Two Voices are there; one is of the sea, One of the mountains; each a mighty Voice. 1842 Tennyson Farewell 1 Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea. |
b. For
ocean sea,
sea ocean,
sea of ocean, see
ocean n. 1. Also
the great sea (of ocean).
| c 1290 St. Michael 632 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 317 The gret se of occean. Ibid. 654 Þe eorþe amidde þe grete se ase a luyte bal is round. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxvi. 67 Our all the grit se occeane. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. ix. 14 Neir by the end of the gret occiane see, Thar as the son..gois doun. |
c. Often coupled with
land, to express the idea of the whole surface of the earth; similarly
† sea and earth,
sea and sand. Also with preps., as
by land and sea,
on sea or land, etc.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxiii. 15 Ᵹe befarað sæ & eorþan þæt ᵹe don anne elþeodine. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 281 At his wille to be, bi se & bi land. 1340 Ayenb. 37 Of zuichen þer byeþ uele maneres ine londe and ine ze. a 1352 Minot Poems (ed. Hall) iii. 1 God þat schope both se and sand. c 1366 Chaucer A.B.C. 50 Neither in erthe nor in see. c 1386 ― Man of Law's Prol. 127 Ye seken lond and see for yowre wynnynges. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 254 Was neuer more sorweful segge bi see nor bi sand. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 8 Batailes bothe by lond and see. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 756 Quhat thow hes hard, be landis, or be seis, Off ws Kirkmen. 1805 Wordsw. Eleg. Stanzas, Peele Castle 15 The light that never was, on sea or land. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 300 Cimon and Lysander, Pompey and Agrippa, had fought battles by sea as well as by land. |
d. pl. Different parts or tracts of the ocean. (Often merely
poet. or
rhetorical, like
waters.)
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxiii. 2 He ofer sæas [Vulg. super maria] ᵹesteaðelade hie. c 1000 ælfric Gen. i. 10 And God ᵹeciᵹde þa driᵹnisse eorðan and þæra wætera ᵹegaderunga he het sæs [Vulg. maria]. c 1430 Lydg. Lyke the Audience 44 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 49 Shipmen..that haue experience In troubly seis. 1550 Bp. Day in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. III. 303 No lesse vnpleasaunt..than it is to the merchaunte to sayle againe in those seeis wherin he hathe suffered shipwrack before. 1600 Will in Yorks. Archæol. Jrnl. (1902) XVII. 121 In the name of Gode, the maker of heven and yerth, the saezes and all that therin ys. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. ii. 62 This my Hand will rather The multitudinous Seas incarnadine. 1820 Keats Ode to Nightingale vii, Magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus iv. 18 To carry thence a master o'er the surly seas. |
e. In a more or less pregnant use, with reference to naval operations, the shipping trade, the profession or employment of a sailor, life on shipboard, etc.
to keep the sea: to prevent the enemy from occupying it, to keep it clear for one's own ships and traffic.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 161 Bernard of Bayoun, þat was kepand þe se [orig. ke la mer gardait]. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 276 He wolde the see were kept for any thing Bitwixe Middelburgh and Orewelle. 1414 26 Pol. Poems xiii. 108 Whanne ȝe han made pes wiþynne,..Strengþe ȝoure marche, and kepe þe see. 15.. ‘Doun by ane Rever’ 41 in Dunbar's Poems (1893) II. 306 Gif thow beis ane marchand man, And wynnis thy living be the see. 1556 Chron. Grey Friars (Camden) 18 Thys yere the lorde Talbot..was made..amyralle of the see. 1625 Bacon Ess., Greatness Kingd. (Arb.) 489 To be Master of the Sea, is an Abridgement of a Monarchy. Ibid. 491 The Command of the Seas. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. §64 Who did not think that the fleet could have been so soon ready for sea. 1707 Freind Peterborow's Cond. Sp. 178 Without the assistance of the sea, the best dispositions in Italy are useless. 1745 Life Bampfylde-Moore Carew 9 His Friends..put him on board a Man of War, but neither the Sea, nor any settled Employ agreeing with his wandering Inclinations, he soon forsook the King's Service. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. ii. v. I. 447 The antient Egyptians had a superstitious antipathy to the sea. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 302 As soon as he came back from sea he was made Colonel of a regiment of foot. 1889 Sat. Rev. 16 Mar. 304/1 We are afraid that few Englishmen at present claim the sovereignty of the seas for their country. |
f. Proverbs, proverbial phrases, and similitudes.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iii. 33 A heart As full of sorrowes, as the Sea of sands. 1601 ― Twel. N. ii. iv. 103 As hungry as the Sea. 1637–1894 [see devil n. 22 b]. 1614 T. Gentleman England's Way to win Wealth 45 marg., The Sailors Prouerbe: The Sea and the Gallowes refuse none. |
g. high sea. (Now usually
pl.) The deep or open sea; the main sea or main.
spec. in
Law (
sing. and pl.): (
a) The main sea; the sea as far as it is regarded as being within the jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty; (
b) The area of the sea not within the territorial jurisdiction of any nation, but the free highway of all nations.
Cf. F.
haute mer, L.
altum (
mare), and the
OE. compound
héahsǽ quoted below.
| [a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xi. 3 Se is eac wealdend woruld⁓ᵹesceafta heofones & eorðan & heahsæ.] c 1300 Havelok 719 And sone did he leyn in [a ship] an ore, And drou him to þe heye se. a 1400–50 Alexander 61 He saȝe þam in þe hiȝe see sailand to-gedire. 1490 Caxton Eneydos vi. 27 Whan they were well on the waye oute of the lande, in the hye see. c 1532 Ld. Berners Huon xlvi. 155 They..came in to the hye see and had wynde at wyll. 1765 Blackstone Comm. i. Introd. iv. 107 The main or high seas are part of the realm of England. 1836 W. Irving Astoria III. xvii. 226 They had heard of the frigate Phœbe and the Isaac Todd being on the high seas. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. I. 580 Piracies and felonies committed on the high seas. |
2. a. A part of the general body of salt water, having certain land-limits or washing a particular coast, and having a proper name, as
the Red,
Black,
Irish,
Adriatic Sea.
† the great sea: the Mediterranean.
the Severn Sea (
arch.): the Bristol Channel.
† Formerly sometimes in
pl., as
the Red,
Irish,
Indian Seas;
cf. narrow seas.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter cxxxv. 13 Se todaelde ðone readan sae. c 1290 St. Michael 636 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 317 Ech oþur se among us here, ne beo heo so gret non, Nis bote a lime of þulke se. 1382 Wyclif Numb. xxxiv. 6 The west plage forsothe shal begynne fro the greet see. [So 1611 and 1884 (Revised)] 1390 Gower Conf. I. 362 To passe over the grete See To werre and sle the Sarazin. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems viii. 13 To the Turk sey all land did his name dreid. 1533 Bellenden Cron. Scot. i. (1541) A i, Pharo..quhais son..wes drownit..w{supt} all his army in y⊇ reid seis. 1563 Sackville Induct. Mirr. Mag. v, The Beare, that in the Iryshe seas had dipt His griesly feete. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 167/1 The Danes..comming into the Seuerne sea. 1614 T. Gentleman England's Way to win Wealth 20 When as they [sc. herrings] come into Yermouth Seas yearely about S. Luke, and sometimes before. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 43 The River Indus, which their ingulfes herselfe into the Indian Seas. 1635 Swan Spec. Mundi vi. §2 (1643) 187 The sea, is a part of the ocean, to which we Cannot come but through some strait. 1641 Evelyn Diary 28 Sept., We sailed over a sea call'd the Plaet, which is an exceeding dangerous water. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 578/2 Any part of the ocean marked off from the general mass of water may be called a sea. In geography the name is loosely applied: for instance, the Arabian Sea is an open bay, Hudson's Bay is an enclosed sea. |
b. the four seas: the seas bounding Great Britain on the four sides. Phr.
within the four seas = in Great Britain.
| a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 30 Þe chef lordes..þat beȝ of plener age ant bi þinne þe four sen ant out of prisone. a 1400–50 Alexander 4406 Þe soile ne þe foure sees suffice ȝowe nouthire. 1642, 1886 [see four a. 1]. |
c. Astr. [
tr. L.
mare (see
mare4).] The name of ‘seas’ is still given to those darker portions of the moon's surface which were formerly supposed to be covered with water.
| 1667 R. Hooke Micrographia I. lx. 245 Those mountains, which are by Hevelius call'd the Apennine Mountains, and some other, which seem to border on the Seas of the Moon. 1698 C. Huygens Celestial Worlds Discover'd ii. 130 Those vast countries which appear darker than the other, commonly taken for and call'd by the name seas, are discover'd with a good long telescope, to be full of little round cavities. 1833 J. F. W. Herschel Treat. Astron. vi. 229 What is, moreover, extremely singular in the geology of the moon is, that although nothing having the character of seas can be traced, (for the dusky spots which are commonly called seas, when closely examined, present appearances incompatible with the supposition of deep water,) yet there are large regions perfectly level, and apparently of a decided alluvial character. 1873 Proctor Moon 383 Index to the Map of the Moon. Table I. Grey Plains, usually called Seas. 1907 G. P. Serviss Moon iii. 146 This..does not invalidate what I have said about the lunar ‘seas’, or plains, darkening near sunset more rapidly than we should expect them to do, as a simple result of the low angle at which the sunlight strikes them. 1949 Jrnl. Brit. Interplanetary Soc. VIII. 185 The origin of the characteristic features of the lunar surface, craters, mountain ranges and ‘seas’, is far from being understood. 1974 Times 17 Apr. 16/3 It seems that the maria and the basins of the lunar ‘seas’ are of volcanic origin. |
3. A large lake or landlocked sheet of water, whether salt or fresh.
Obs. exc. in
inland sea and in proper names, as the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Aral.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. i. §9 Þeah sume men secgen þæt [the Nile] þær wyrcð micelne sæ [vastissimo lacu exundare]. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John vi. 1 æfter þyson for se hælend ofer þa galileiscan sæ, seo is tiberiadis. a 1225 Ancr. R. 230 And te swin anonriht urnen & adreinten ham suluen iðer see. c 1250 ― [see Dead Sea]. 1375 Barbour Bruce xv. 275 A myle wes betuix the seis. 1590 [see inland B. 1]. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 186 This [the Caspian], as other Seas, is a gathering together of perpetual Waters nourished with Springs. 1876 Encycl. Brit. V. 176/1 The Caspian Sea..is the largest of those salt lakes or closed inland seas which may be considered as ‘survivals’ of former oceanic areas. |
4. The volume of water in the sea considered in regard to the ebb and flow of the tide.
† full sea, high tide (also
fig.)
† the sea was in, it was high water.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 176 Þonne þu wyte þæt sæ si ful. c 1205 Lay. 22019 Whænne þa sævledeð. Ibid. 22025 Þenne þa sæ falleð in. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 35 The See now ebbeth, now it floweth. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §46 In which place of the firmament the mone being, maketh fulle see. 1470 Henry Wallace x. 419 The sey was in, at thai stoppyt and stud; On loud he cryt and bad thaim tak the flud. a 1500 Brut (Lamb. MS.) 583 Remembres how ye drowned at full see. 1536 in Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1894) I. 58 Goyng from the porte of London at a full see with a full wynde. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. 27 A Satyrrical Roman in his time thought all vice, folly, and madness were at a full sea. 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) I. 181 But it was now full Sea with Philip his Affairs. 1805 Forsyth Beauties Scot. III. 512 During spring tides these sluices are opened, and at full sea they are shut. |
5. a. With an epithet indicating the roughness or smoothness of the waves, the presence or absence of swell, etc. Hence without qualification
= a heavy swell, rough water.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xiv. §1 Ful oft we faᵹeniað smyltre sæ. c 1205 Lay. 12005 Þe sæ wes wunder ane wod and ladliche iwraððed. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 282, I wode as doth the wylde Se. 1555 Towrson in Hakluyt's Voy. (1589) 103 We..found the entrance very ill, by reason that the sea goeth so high. 1641 Evelyn Diary 27 Sept., We..sailed again with a contrary and impetuous wind, and a terrible sea. c 1743 Woodroofe in Hanway's Trav. (1762) I. iv. lix. 275 When there is any sea, the breakers are visible. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 114 We found a large under-rolling Sea. 1769–80 Falconer Dict. Marine s.v., A long sea implies an uniform and steady motion of long and extensive waves; on the contrary, a short sea is when they run irregularly, broken, and interrupted, so as frequently to burst over a vessel's side or quarter. 1834 Marryat P. Simple xxviii, We were now past Devil's Point, and the sea was very heavy. 1837 T. Hook Jack Brag xx, It was pitch-dark, a good deal of sea on. 1840 Longfellow Wreck of Hesperus xi, Some ship in distress, that cannot live In such an angry sea! 1865 Daily Tel. 8 Dec. 5/6 During the passage..they had continued fine weather, and no sea. |
b. The direction of the waves or swell.
| 1769–80 Falconer Dict. Marine, Sea..is..applied by sailors..to their [waves'] particular progress or direction. Thus they say,..the sea sets to the southward. Hence a ship is said to head the sea, when her course is opposed to the setting or direction of the surges. Ibid. ii, Franchir la lame, to head the sea; to sail against the setting of the sea. |
c. A large heavy wave.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 21 Theire ships too larboord doo nod, seas monsterus haunt theym. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 93 Two huge broken Seas, which twice couered the..boat. 1769–80 Falconer Dict. Marine, Sea..is..applied by sailors, to a single wave... Thus they say, a heavy sea broke over our quarter, or we shipped a heavy sea. 1861 Lady Duff-Gordon in F. Galton Vac. Tourists (1864) 121 A sea struck us on the weather side. 1892 W. Pike Barren Ground N. Canada 26 The heavy fresh-water seas broke with great violence on the weather shore. |
d. Roughness of the sea brought about by wind blowing at the time.
| 1927 G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 152/1 The waves prevailing at any time are spoken of collectively as the sea, but they must be due to the wind then blowing. 1970 J. Verhoogen et al. Earth vii. 341/1 In the presence of the generating wind, waves have steep, sharp, asymmetric crests, and broad troughs, and the whole water surface is irregularly choppy. This condition is known as sea. 1977 Offshore Engineer July 35/1 In August 1975, the LWC began by using graphical methods to produce sea-swell forecast charts, combining ‘sea’, or wind-driven waves and ‘swell’, which is persistent wave movement continuing after the wind has dropped. |
6. salt sea or
bitter sea: sea-water.
poet.| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. ii. G 3 b, They'l..eat like salt sea in his siddowe ribs. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 622 His finny Flocks about their Shepherd play, And rowling round him, spirt the bitter Sea. 1840 Longfellow Wreck of Hesperus xxi, The salt sea was frozen on her breast. |
7. fig. With reference to metaphorical sailing, drowning, waves, etc.; also, a copious or overwhelming quantity or mass (
of something). See also 4.
| a 1200 Vices & Virtues 45 On ðessere michele sea of ðare bitere woreld. 1574 Higins Mirr. Mag. i. Induct. v, Sithe those on whom, for Fortunes giftes we stare, Ofte sooniste sinke in greatest seas of care. a 1586 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 59 A whole Sea of examples woulde present themselues. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 59 To take Armes against a Sea of troubles. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 360, I haue ventur'd..This many Summers in a Sea of Glory, But farre beyond my depth. 1632 Massinger Emp. East iii. ii, The peoples ioy In seas of acclamations flow in, To wait on yours. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 718 In a troubl'd Sea of passion tost. 1692 T. Watson Body Divin. 365 Men will for a drop of Pleasure drink a Sea of Wrath. 1816 Scott Antiq. i, The elder traveller..plunged, nothing loath, into a sea of discussion concerning urns, vases [etc.]. 1822 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Conf. Drunkard, To waste whole seas of time upon those who pay it back in little inconsiderable drops of grudging applause. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 220 A complex sea of forces and passions trouble men in life and in action. |
8. transf. a. A large level tract (
of some material substance or aggregate of objects).
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. x, In al this sandy sea, is found no water. 1644 Evelyn Diary 2 Nov., We could perceive nothing but a sea of thick cloudes. 1654 Ibid. 22 July, After dinner,..we passed over the goodly plaine, or rather sea of carpet. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 440 So on this windie Sea of Land, the Fiend Walk'd up and down alone. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1851) II. 598/2 The billows of an immense sea of sand surrounding the whole army. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 655 All the space as far as Charing Cross was one sea of heads. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley xxxvii, His uncle's wife, in a criminal dock, hemmed in on every side by a sea of eager faces. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 340 The open country extends in a sea of green vegetation. |
b. Hyperbolically, a great quantity of liquid,
esp. (in figurative context) of blood. So, allusively,
Red Sea (see 2), with reference to blood or wine.
| 1598 Chapman Hero & Leander iii. 323 And all this while the red sea of her blood Ebd with Leander. 1646 Quarles Sheph. Oracles vii. 83 Oyl-steep'd Anchovis, landed from his brine, Came freely swimming in red seas of wine. 1756 Burke Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 77 These wars, which have spilled such seas of blood. 1821 Scott Kenilw. i, We will have one of Friar Bacon's pupils..to conjure them [such troublesome thoughts] away..—Or, what say you to laying them in a glorious red sea of claret, my noble guest? 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 239 The ghost of a creed..may be laid, after all, only in a Red Sea of blood. |
c. Physics. A (physical or mathematical) space filled with particles of a certain kind,
esp. one in which only the particles near the boundary or surface are significant.
| 1955 [see Fermi 1]. 1965 Phillips & Williams Inorg. Chem. I. vi. 207 Because there are electron energy levels lying only very little above the surface of the calm Fermi sea, electrons can take up energy at normal temperatures in a metal and so make a contribution to the specific heat. 1972 Sci. Amer. Apr. 26/3 Once an atom has lost an electron it becomes a positive ion that finds itself in a deep electrostatic potential well created by the surrounding sea of negative electrons. 1979 Ibid. Sept. 76/3 These events are explained by interactions involving a ‘sea’ of quarks and anti-quarks that have a virtual existence in the vicinity of a proton. |
9. Antiq. The great brazen laver in the Jewish Temple. [Literally from
Heb.]
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Kings vii. 23 He made forsothe the ȝoten see. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.) 47 Thilk see of brasse Whilk in the entree of the Temple of Jerusalem sette was. 1899 Sayce Early Israel vi. 251 In the court of the temple was a ‘sea’ or ‘deep’, like that which was made by Solomon. |
II. Phrases.
10. at sea.
a. Out on the sea, on ship-board; (sailing, trafficking, fighting, etc.) on the sea; in employment as a sailor. Also
† at the seas.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 13284, At see sant Iohn and Iam he fand. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. v. 4 Wee discouered at the Seas [Fr. en plaine mer] two Foystes. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 177 Thou knowst that all my fortunes are at sea. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxiv. v. II. 491 The beake-heads..which were taken from them in a conflict at sea. 1672 C. Manners in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 24 The Duke is at sea allready, to draw by his example others to the fleete. a 1687 Sir W. Petty Polit. Arith. iii. (1690) 55 To persuade the World how considerable the King of France was..at Sea. 1793 [see at prep. 5]. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xix, I have not been long at sea, and, of course, cannot know much about these things. |
b. fig. In a state of mind resembling the condition of a ship which is out of sight of land and has lost her bearings; in a state of uncertainty or perplexity, at a loss. Also
all at sea.
| 1768 Blackstone Comm. iii. xxvii. 440 If a court of equity were still at sea, and floated upon the occasional opinion which the judge who happened to preside might entertain of conscience in every particular case. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 486 If there were not the same rules of property in all courts, all things would be as it were at sea; and under the greatest uncertainty. 1855 Dickens Dorrit ii. ix, Mrs. Tickit..was so plainly at sea on this part of the case..that Clennam was much disposed to regard the appearance as a dream. 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 219, I was rather surprised to find that he seemed all at sea, and had no one ready to go with me. |
c. worse things happen at sea and
varr.: a consolatory catch-phrase.
| 1829 P. Egan Boxiana 2nd Ser. II. 346 The Fancy were too game to complain.., contenting themselves with the old saying, ‘that worse accidents occur at sea!’ 1869 C. H. Spurgeon John Ploughman's Talk v. 41 To be poor is not always pleasant, but worse things than that happen at sea. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway xii. 297 Oh well, worse things happen at sea. I expect we shall get over it. 1978 M. Kenyon Deep Pocket viii. 97 Worse things 'ave 'appened at sea, he told himself, if 'e shoots..you'll 'ardly feel a thing. |
11. beyond (the) sea or seas. Out of the country, in foreign parts, abroad.
Cf. beyond B. 1. For
beyond-sea as
adj. see
beyond D.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. v. xix. (1890) 458 Mid þy he þa ᵹena wæs beᵹeondan sæ wuniende. a 1122 O.E. Chron. an. 1041 (MS. C.) Fram beᵹeondan sæ. c 1205 Lay. 29149 Sum fleh bi-ȝeonden sæ in to Bruttaine. 1340 Ayenb. 165 Ine þe londe be-yende þe ze. 1485 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 28 A standyng bed, corven with estrich borde of beyond see makyng. 1536 in Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1894) I. 56 All my goods whersoever they may be found as well on this syde the see as beyende the see. 1555 Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) II. 227 Sindry schippis cumin furth of Burdeaux, Scherand, and vtheris places beyond sey. 1590 J. Smyth in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 58 When her Majestie called me from beeyond the seas. 1640 May Hist. Parl. i. ii. 23 The Reformed Churches beyond the Seas. 1710 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 26 Oct., He is a very ingenious man, and a great scholar, and has been beyond sea. 1879 M. E. Braddon Clov. Foot xxxii, The husband, or lover, may have been out of the way—beyond seas, perhaps. |
12. by sea.
† a. Close to the sea, at the sea-side. (Now
by the sea).
b. By way of the sea, on or over the sea (as a mode of transit or conveyance).
c. In the region of the sea, at sea. (See also sense 1 c.)
| c 1205 Lay. 1485 Heo forð fusden toward sele Brutun þer he bi sæ wonede. 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 615 Send the Kyng by se Till Balmeburch in his awne cuntre. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 1131 Few fled with him, and gat away be see. 1625 Bacon Ess., Greatness Kingd. (Arb.) 489 We see the great Effects of Battailes by Sea. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 6 One of my Companions being going by Sea to London. Ibid. 293, I had been very unfortunate by Sea. [1836 Longfellow (title) The Castle by the Sea.] 1891 Ld. Hobhouse in Law Times Rep. LXV. 562/2 From the Melbourne factory they carried butterine by sea to Sydney. |
† 13. by long sea. Short for
by long sea passage: see
long a.
1 18. Also
by the long seas.
| 1645 Evelyn Diary Aug., I made a collection of divers curiosities..which I sent for England by long sea. 1694 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 290 Two dispatches are sent to our fleet at Cadiz, one by way of the Groyn, the other by long sea. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. ii. iii. II. 265 To pass into Ireland, either by the long Seas, or by Bristow. |
14. on or
upon the sea. (In early use
on sea or
upon sea.)
a. On the sea's surface, afloat, at sea, on shipboard. In
OE. also
= in the sea.
b. Of a dwelling, etc.: At the sea's edge, on the sea-coast.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. xiii. (1890) 48 We..oððe sticode beoð oððe on sæ adruncene. a 1000 Colloq. ælfric in Wr-Wülcker 94 For hwi ne fixast þu on sæ. O.E. Chron. an. 877, Þa mette hie micel yst on sæ. c 1200 Ormin 13296 Þatt iss to farenn uppo sæ, To fisskenn affterr fisskess. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 9795 Colgrim had a broþer on þe se. 1389 Eng. Gilds (1870) 48 Þorow losse on þ⊇ se. a 1400–50 Alexander 83 For he him-self is on þe se with siche a somme armed. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xiv. 327, I fled in to Spayn to Alaffre vpon the see. 1560 in Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1897) II. 25 The marrynors..in eny ship or vessel laboring and travayling upon the seaes. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 711 The Bastard..made sayle with all haste, and roued on the Sea, as before he was accustomed. 1832 Tennyson Pal. of Art 97 In a clear-wall'd city on the sea. 1860 W. Whiting Hymn, ‘Eternal Father, strong to save’ 6 O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea. |
15. over (the) sea.
a. Of motion: Across the sea, to the other side of the sea.
b. Of position: On the other side of the sea; abroad.
Cf. over-sea a.
and adv., over-seas
adv.| O.E. Chron. an. 894 (end) Ond þæt wæs ymb twelf monað Þæs þe hie ær hider ofer sæ comon. c 1205 Lay. 3502 Ouer sea icomen, hauene sone anomen. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 25 He..ferde ouer the see, & conquerd Normundie. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 392 If I sent ouer see my seruantz to Bruges. 1458 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 300 Ther marchandys, the wyche they takyth ovre the se. 1583–1886 [see over-seas adv.]. 1616–1895 [see oversea adv.]. 1845 Browning Time's Revenges 1 I've a Friend, over the sea. |
16. a. to sea (also
† to the sea). Out on the water, on a voyage, or on ship-board.
to go to sea, to go aboard ship, go on a voyage; to enter upon, or follow, the profession of a sailor;
† also with ellipsis of the verb.
to put,
put off,
put out,
to sea: see
put v.
1 7, 8, 46 n, 48 j.
to stand out to sea: see
stand v.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. xiii. (1890) 48 Us drifað þa ellreordan to sæ. c 1205 Lay. 19368 To þere sa heo wenden. c 1275 Ibid. 11968 Hii seileden [down the Thames] forte hii to see come. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xviii. (Egipciane) 474 Til I percase a-pone a day saw men of luby & egipe hast þame to sey, for to schype. 1488 Paston Lett. III. 344 All suche capeteyns as wente to the see in Lente..makythe them redy to goo to the see ageyn as schortely as they can. 1584 Cogan Haven Health ccxvii. 216 Wherefore if any be desirous to vomit, let them rather go to the Sea. 1591–5 Spenser Colin Clout 209 Let him to sea. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 41, I waited upon the Lord Clarendon and some other Gentlemen to Sea. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 53 The Ottoman Fleet..putting to sea from Constantinople, Landed in Candy. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 61 He knew I was not allowed an ounce of fresh provisions to sea with me. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 550 On the afternoon of the second of May he stood out to sea before a favourable breeze. |
b. In the
Naut. proverbial
phr. he that would go to sea for pleasure, would go to hell for a pastime and
varr.| 1899 A. J. Boyd Shellback viii. 110 Shentlemens vot goes to sea for pleasure vould go to hell for pastime. 1910 D. W. Bone Brassbounder xxvi. 289 He gave a half-laugh, and muttered the old formula about ‘the man who would go to sea for pleasure, going to hell for a pastime!’ 1924 R. Clements Gipsy of Horn iii. 50 ‘He who would go to sea for pleasure would go to hell for a pastime’ is an attempt at heavy satire. 1933 M. Lowry Ultramarine i. 50 Well, a man who'd go to sea for fun'd go to hell for a pastime. |
17. to take the sea (also
† to take sea, the seas,
ME. to nim the sea). To go on board ship, embark; to start on a sea-voyage, launch forth, put out to sea (said also of the ship).
Cf. F.
prendre la mer.
| c 1205 Lay. 1281 Bi Ruscikadan heo nomen þa sæ. Ibid. 4966 Þer he þa sæ nom. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 4099 And Achilles toke the see With his vitayles and his naue. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxiv. 530 Reynawde dyde doo hale vp saylle, & toke the see. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 287 The maryners,..beeyng lothe to take y⊇ seaes, Pompeius hymself first of al entreed into the shippe. a 1604 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1809) 366 For want of skill they could not take the seas, but were tossed with winde and weather, along the Coast. 1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres iv. 68 The 27. of April he tooke sea at Dover. 1867 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 119 The first hymn of Orpheus as Argo takes the sea. 1890 S. Lane-Poole Barbary Corsairs vii. 83 He..was able to take the sea with a fleet of eighty-four vessels. 1903 Daily Chron. 30 July 3/1 All the ships..are able to touch 24 knots, but their lines and the way they take the sea is cause of common complaint. |
III. Attributive uses and combinations.
18. Simple attributive:
a. Of or belonging to the sea or a sea, as
sea-arm,
sea-basin,
sea-bed,
† sea-bore,
sea brim,
sea-brink,
† sea-flash,
sea harbour,
sea-haven,
sea-marge,
sea-pull,
sea-romp,
sea-spray,
sea-surge,
sea-swell,
sea-swill,
sea-tide,
sea-wave.
| 1637 Heywood Descr. Royall Ship (1638) 28 The Great Colosse..who bestrid The spacious Rhodian *Sea-arme. 1865 W. G. Palgrave Arabia II. 203 Between the islands runs a narrow sea-arm. |
| 1884 Geikie Phys. Geog. xiv. (1886) 123 Most of the great *sea-basins. |
| 1937 Discovery Sept. 279/2 The *sea-bed gave out a bluish light. 1975 Offshore Sept. 49-04/1 Other firms in this business include Heerema, with three special ships designed to drill seabed holes up to 1,200 ft in 700 ft of water. |
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. (Small) 135 That betes thaim wit dede and word Als *se bare betes on schip bord. |
| 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ix. (1626) 225 With blood the *sea-brimme blusht. 1879 F. W. Robinson Coward Consc. i. iii, A country full of life and animation even to its sea-brim. |
| a 1300 Horn 151 (Camb. MS.), Bi þe *se brinke No water þe na drinke. c 1820 S. Rogers Italy (1839) 84 On the sea-brink, another train they met. |
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 7 Sometimes the surges or *Sea-flashes doe rebound top-gallant height. |
| 1648 Hexham ii, Een Zee⁓haven, A *Sea-haven, or a *Sea-harbor. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. v. 89 No monstrous pitchy City, and Seahaven of the world! |
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 69 Thy *Sea-marge stirrile. 1923 H. Belloc Sonnets & Verse 159 The rank sea-marge. 1976 New Yorker 8 Mar. 122/3 The bird has been watched on the sea-marge of Jamaica Bay. |
| 1896 Kipling Seven Seas 68 The *sea-pull drew them side by side, gunnel to gunnel laid. |
| 1876 G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland xvii, in Poems (1967) 57 They..rolled With the *sea-romp over the wreck. |
| 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 47 Withering mentions a thorny shrub..which stands the *sea-spray. |
| 1912 E. Pound Ripostes 25 Known on my keel many a care's hold, And dire *sea-surge. 1930 ― XXX Cantos vii. 25 Ear, ear for the sea-surge. |
| 1880 W. Whitman Daybks. & Notebks. (1978) III. 628 A little *sea-swell on the water. 1927 H. Crane Let. 12 Sept. (1965) 306 The movement of the verse..of the ‘Ave Maria’, with its sea-swell crescendo. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny v. i. I. 90 It..is not only overflowed by the *sea tides. |
| 1727–46 Thomson Summer 1600 The loud *sea-wave. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxv. 185 The sea-waves..sometimes reach the shore before the wind which produces them. |
| 1878 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 74 Till a lifebelt and God's will Lend him a lift from the *sea-swill. |
b. That is an attribute or quality of the sea, as
sea-beat,
sea-blink,
sea-calm,
sea-murmur,
sea-music,
sea-roughness,
sea-shine,
sea-smell,
sea-sound,
sea-voice,
sea-wash.
| a 1953 Dylan Thomas Quite Early One Morning (1954) 16 Sea captains..going down into a..cabin of sleep, rocked to the *sea-beat of their ears. |
| 1850 B. Taylor Eldorado xxxiii, Far away to the right I saw the *sea-blink along the edges of the sky. |
| 1821 *Sea-calm [see sea-roughness below]. |
| 1818 Shelley Eugan. Hills 347 A dell..Which the wild *sea-murmur fills. |
| 1819 ― Prometh. iii. iii. 27 And thou, Ione, shalt chant fragments of *sea-music. |
| 1821 Lamb Elia, Witches (end), The billows gradually subsiding, fell from a *sea-roughness to a sea-calm, and thence to a river motion. |
| 1867 A. J. Wilson Vashti xiv, The greenish *sea-shine breaking through the dense foliage. 1880 Swinburne Studies in Song 179 Streak on streak of glimmering seashine crosses All the land. |
| 1833 Tennyson Rosalind ii, Fresh as the early *seasmell blown Through vineyards from an inland bay. |
| 1961 *Sea-sound [see highveld]. 1974 BP Shield Internat. Oct. 18/2 All sea⁓sounds were eclipsed by the noise of the drilling operation. |
| 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 245 And strong man-breasted things stood from the sea, And sent a deep *sea-voice thro' all the land. 1930 T. S. Eliot Ash Wednesday 20 The lost lilac and the lost sea voices. 1955 C. Tomlinson Necklace 9 The sea-voice Tearing the silence from the silence. |
| 1930 W. de la Mare On Edge 297 With the *sea-wash in her ears. 1965 E. Richardson Living Island 123 There is no sigh of wind and scarcely a whisper of seawash. |
c. Consisting of sea, as
sea-approach,
sea-frontier,
† sea-limit,
sea-path,
sea pool,
† sea-tract,
sea-valley.
| 1913 J. Masefield Mainsail Haul (ed. 2) 139 The defences to the *sea-approach were powerful. 1940 E. Colston Shepherd Britain's Air Power 9 The more usual work of these [coastal reconnaissance] aircraft is that of continuous patrol over all the sea approaches to Germany. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 15 Aug. 3/1 The *sea-frontier of England. |
| 1577 Dee Memor. Navig. 59 All, within the *Sea-limits of our Brytish Royallty. |
| 1653 Milton Ps. viii. 22 Fowl of the Heavens, and Fish that through the wet *Sea-paths in shoals do slide. |
| 1596 Spenser State Irel. 2, I heard it often wished also..that all that land were a *Sea poole. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. p. lxxxvii, A Seapool arranged as a grotto. |
| 1600 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. 169 So huge a *sea-tract full of hauens. |
| 1857 Emerson Poems 81 *Sea-valleys and the deep of skies Furnished several supplies. |
d. (Phenomena) occurring at sea, as
sea-cloud,
sea dew,
sea-dusk,
sea-gust,
sea-meteor,
sea-storm,
sea-sunset,
† sea-tempest; also designating actions or events which take place at sea, as
sea-burial,
sea-death,
sea-rescue.
| 1838 Poe Narr. A. G. Pym of Nantucket vii. 74 The mate..ordered the men to..allow it [sc. the body] the usual rites of *sea-burial. |
| 1811 Scott Don Roderick xxxvi, That *sea-cloud, in size like human hand. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 51 *Seadeath, mildest of all deaths known to man. |
| 1888 F. Cowper Captain of Wight (1889) 306 The *sea-dew glittered on spar and mast and straining sail. |
| 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist as Young Man (1969) v. 226 Swallows flying through the *seadusk over the flowing waters. 1970 T. Hughes Crow 31 The curlew trawled in seadusk through a chime of wineglasses. |
| c 1866 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1930) 138 She listened how the *sea-gust shook. 1874 Trans. Highland Soc. 245 Great loss and much misery is often caused by these destructive ‘sea-gusts’. |
| a 1818 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834) 39 The above⁓mentioned floating lights are a kind of *sea-meteors. |
| 1959 Listener 6 Aug. 217/3 A British *sea-rescue plane. 1976 Morecambe Guardian 7 Dec. 25/6 A dramatic sea rescue during the early hours of July 5. |
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 177 And now I pray you Sir,..your reason For raysing this *Sea-Storme? |
| 1839–52 Bailey Festus 428 Nor that it now sinks Like a *sea-sunset. 1871 Tennyson Last Tourn. 505 A low sea-sunset glorying round her hair. |
| c 1400 Sc. Trojan War ii. 1011 And sene þat so þe *see-tempestes Lownyt not, nor yhet toke restes. |
e. (
a) Deposited by or in the sea, as
sea-clay,
† sea-gravel,
sea-mud,
sea-ooze,
sea-slob,
† sea-slub,
sea-slutch,
sea-stone,
† sea-turf,
sea-warp; (
b) formed by the sea, as
† sea-concretion; (
c) proceeding from the sea, as
sea-blast,
sea fog,
sea fret,
sea-gale,
sea haze,
sea-mist, etc.
| 1798 Southey Henry the Hermit 25 And underneath a rock that shelter'd him From the *sea-blast, he built his hermitage. |
| 1531 Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII, V. 183 Longe cartes caryng of see turff and *see clay from the floo marke. |
| 1695 J. Edwards Author. O. & N. Test. III. 282 Others would persuade us that it [Stone-henge] is a *sea-concretion. |
| 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 171 Long belts of land and *sea-fogs, which accompany the melting of all ices. 1834 J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. II. 201 The sea-fog began to approach the land so swiftly, that..we judged it prudent to return to our vessel. 1893 Kipling in Pall Mall Budget 14 Dec. 1950/2 West you'll turn and south again beyond the sea-fog's rim. 1972 Gloss. Aeronaut. & Astronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) xv. 6 Sea fog, fog formed at sea, usually by condensation of moisture in the lower layers of a warm air current passing over a relatively cold sea surface. |
| 1842 C. Ridley Let. Feb. in Cecilia (1958) vii. 86 This evening everything was thawing but I imagine it was only what they call a *sea fret. 1846 Brockett N.C. Words (ed. 3), Sea⁓fret, a wet mist, or haze proceeding from the sea inland. 1882 W. B. Scott Poet's Harvest Home 33 But still she stared across the bar Through blinding locks and blind seafret. 1963 Times 13 June 4/6 Those who came yesterday out of the heat in the surrounding country were surprised to find Brighton enveloped in a sea fret, which..reduced visibility to a furlong or two. |
| 1821 Scott Pirate i, A garden..produced such vegetables as..the *sea-gale would permit to grow. |
| c 1440 Jacob's Well 304 Þin herte is lyche þe *see-grauel & sande, þat sokyth in, & drynketh in, all waterys, and ȝit þe see is neuere full. |
| 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 673 Till anon drawn thro' either chasm,..Roll'd a *sea-haze and whelm'd the world in gray. |
| 1893 Kipling in Pall Mall Budget 14 Dec. 1947/2 The Northern Light drove into the bay and the *sea-mist drove with her. 1974 L. Deighton Spy Story i. 11 A flurry of sea mist that rolled in upon us. |
| 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 125/2 If their holes were stopt up with *Sea-mud, or ashes, it wou'd destroy them. |
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 68 All manner of *Sea-Owse, Owsie-mud, or Sea-weeds,.. are very good for the bettering of Land. |
| 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words, *Sea-roke, a fog or mist suddenly approaching from the direction of the sea. 1869 Zoologist Ser. ii. IV. 1943 A gray sea-roke drifting in across the sand-dunes. |
| 1883 Chamb. Jrnl. 20 It was no easy matter to distinguish between salt *seascud and driving rain. |
| 1776 M. Murray in A. Young's Tour Irel. (1780) I. 279 Part [manured] with *sea-slob and lime mixed. |
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. x. 30 They vse both Orewood, Sea-sand, and *Sea-slubbe for soylings. |
| 1795 J. Holt Agric. Lanc. 126 *Sea slutch, from the Ribble and Wyre, is in some places adjacent, made use of as a substitute for marle. |
| 1860 Tennyson Sea Dreams 52 A full tide Rose with ground-swell, which, on the foremost rocks Touching, upjetted in spirts of wild *sea-smoke. |
| 1918 D. H. Lawrence New Poems 27 Sad he sits on the white *sea-stone. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 291 From his girdle hung a row of sea-stones. 1936 Geogr. Jrnl. LXXXVIII. 105 Bib Nambas..are very Melanesian,..with a frequent pigmoid strain, often with white seastones through their noses. |
| 1531 *Sea turf [see sea-clay above]. |
| 1705 Addison Italy, Pesaro etc. 142 Expos'd to the Winds and Salt *Sea-Vapours. |
| 1839 Civ. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 450/1 By introducing fascine jetty work, which greatly accelerated the deposit of the *sea warp. |
f. Situated in or by the sea, as
sea-cape,
sea-cave,
† sea-city,
sea crag,
sea-down,
sea-dune,
sea-flat,
sea garden,
sea-grove,
sea-hall,
sea-home,
sea-marsh,
sea pen,
sea-point,
sea-quag,
sea-scar,
sea-terrace,
sea-track,
sea-wold,
sea-wood.
| a 1876 M. Collins Th. in Garden (1880) II. 251 *Seacapes divine which the merry winds whiten. |
| 1805 Scott Last Minstr. vi. xxiii, But the *sea-caves rung, and the wild winds sung, The dirge of the lovely Rosabelle. 1849 M. Arnold Forsaken Merman 61 Come back to the kind sea-caves! 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 26 They dwelt in a huge, hoarse sea-cave. 1979 Amer. Poetry Rev. Mar.–Apr. 45/2 Three craft..negotiate intricate sharp turns and arcs through..narrow canals into sea-caves. |
| 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa i. 29 All the *sea-cities and inland-cities of Barbarie. |
| 1595 Duncan App. Etym. (E.D.S.), Scopulus,..a *sea-craig. |
| 1865 Swinburne Chastelard i. ii. 30 Between the *sea-downs and the sea. |
| 1885 Tennyson Flight xxiii, We shall light upon..Some lodge within the waste *sea-dunes, and hear the waters roar. |
| 1823 Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 275 The wheat on..the *sea-flats at Havant. |
| 1881 W. D. Hay Three Hundred Years Hence vii. 135 With..*sea-garden food, life in these deep-down Harbours is by no means unenjoyable. 1947 I. L. Idriess Isles of Despair xxxvii. 246 The sea gardens of the lagoons. 1977 Times 14 May 12/7 Snorkelling among the magnificent sea gardens which eddy among the rocks. |
| 1830 Tennyson Merman ii, Then we would wander away..To the pale-green *sea-groves. |
| Ibid., I would fill the *sea-halls with a voice of power. |
| a 1746 Holdsworth On Virg. (1768) 400 There could be no fleet lying there, no *sea-marshes, no lines drawn across them to intercept communication. 1835 J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. III. 241 The Long-billed Curlew spends the day in the sea-marshes. 1982 ‘J. Gash’ Firefly Gadroon vi. 65 The sea marshes show between the long runs of banks and dykes. |
| 1976 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 3 Oct. 32/3 They [sc. salmon fry] were transferred to *sea pens on barges..and continued rapid growth in salt water. |
| 1736 Gentl. Mag. VII. 357/2 To be built on the *sea-point of the same Island. |
| 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts. II. ii. 15 The Graden Floe and the other *sea quags that fortified the shore against invaders. |
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 415 Ane fair castell standand on the *se skar. |
| 1868 Ld. Lytton Chron. & Char., Siege Constant., The solemn obelisks And sombre cypress stripe with blackest shade *Sea terraces. 1884 Geikie Phys. Geog. xxiii. (1886) 217 Fig. 40 View of an old sea-terrace or raised beach, with sea-worn caves on its inner margin. |
| 1890 Kipling Gipsy Trail in Poems 1886–1929 (1929) III. 284 Out on a clean sea-track. 1949 E. Muir Coll. Poems (1960) 164 The smooth sea-tracks that open and close again. |
| 1830 Tennyson Mermaid iii, We would run to and fro, and hide and seek, On the broad *sea-wolds in the crimson shells. |
| 1902 Buchan Watcher by Threshold 113 A *sea-wood of alders slipping from the hill's skirts to the water's edge. |
g. Occasionally
= ‘at the sea-side’, as
sea-place,
sea-quarters,
sea-sojourn,
† sea-watering-place.
| 1824 Coleridge Let. to H. F. Cary (1895) 733 Both Mrs. G. and myself have returned much benefited by our sea-sojourn. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. xiv, ‘Where's St. Leonard's?’ ‘Oh, the sea watering-place, close to Hastings’. Ibid. iii. iii, The proposition of her removal to some sea-watering place. 1861 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 81 East Cliff..would be perfect as sea-quarters if it weren't for the noise. 1877 Princess Alice Mem. 25 July (1884) 356 The nicest sea-place I have been as yet. |
h. Pertaining to the sea as a sphere of warlike operations, as
sea army,
sea battle,
sea campaign,
sea conquest,
sea dominion,
sea empire, etc.
| 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 181 The arriuall of his *sea-armie. 1835 Partington's Brit. Cycl. Arts s.v. Signals, The movements of a sea-army having a necessary dependence on the wind, they cannot [etc.]. |
| 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 12 In the yeere 1156..there was a *Sea-battell fought. 1940 N. Last Diary 9 Apr. in Nella Last's War (1981) 47, I kept..wondering if our sailors were winning in the reported sea battle. |
| 1678 Marvell Growth Popery Wks. 1875 IV. 264 This fatal conclusion of all our *Sea-champaynes. |
| 1627 May Lucan iii. Argt., Brutus maintaines The siege, and Cæsars first *Sea⁓conquest gaines. |
| 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 58 The *Sea-Dominion of the Lydians. |
| 1696 B. Kennett Rom. Antiq. ii. i. iv. (1717) 46 The Naumachiæ, or Places for the Shows of *Sea-Engagements. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 299 ¶2 Such an one commanded in such a Sea Engagement. |
| 1910 Nation 22 Jan. 671/2 They controlled a *Sea-empire over the Aegean. |
| 1577 Dee Memor. Navig. 59 Our *Sea-forces preuayling. |
| 1669 R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 444 Four *sea regiments of three thousand men a-piece. |
| 1682 C. Irvine Hist. Sc. Nomencl. Ded. *iv, By your careful Conduct, you made Britain triumph over her most powerful *Sea-Rival. |
| 1577 Dee Memor. Navig. 21 Appropriat to her peculiar Iurisdiction and *Sea Royallty. |
| Ibid. 5 That expert and hardy Crue of some Thousands of *Sea soldiers wold be to this Realme a Treasor incomparable. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. ii. ii. (1710) 53 He can soon Man the same with the best Sea-Soldiers in the whole World. |
| 1615 Trade's Incr. 33 This goodly engine of our *sea-state. |
| a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Jas. IV, Wks. (1711) 64 A *sea-victory obtained by Sir Andrew Wood. |
| 1727 Arbuthnot Tables Anc. Coins, etc. 241 This *Sea War cost the Carthaginians five hundred Quinquiremes. |
i. Sea-going, as
sea-boat,
sea-coble,
sea-ship. Also in fanciful terms descriptive of various kinds of sea-going vessels, as
sea-car,
sea-castle,
sea-coffin,
† sea-kennel,
sea-terrier,
† sea wasp.
| 1851 C. L. Smith tr. Tasso xvii. liv, Over the self-same paths which the *sea-car Had traced in coming, backward hence it goes. |
| 1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Invent. §16 How to make a *Sea-castle or Fortification Cannon-proof. 1841 Ld. J. Manners England's Trust 18 On furthest ocean's heaving breast meanwhile Ride the sea-castles of our merchant-isle. 1878 Tennyson Revenge iv, Till the Spaniard came in sight, With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the weather bow. |
| 1505 Berwick Reg. in Var. Collect. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 9 That all the *see cowbells commynge frome the se shall lande upon this syde of the water of Twede. 1565 [see coble1 2]. |
| 1899 Pall Mall Mag. Feb. 230 Many coasters were called *Sea-coffins after Mr. Plimsoll..denounced the ship-owner as the rapacious destroyer of his species. |
| 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer iii. i, You shou'd be ty'd up again, in your *Sea-kennel, call'd a Ship. |
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings x. 22 The kynges *Seeshippe y{supt} sayled vpon the See with y⊇ shippe of Hiram. 1838 Longfellow Beowulf 20 He bade him a sea-ship..prepare. |
| 1865 E. Burritt Walk to Land's End 275 The Fowey seamen made a remarkable reputation in their day with their little *sea-terriers. |
| 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. cliii, She seems a *sea-wasp flying on the waves. |
j. Pertaining to life at sea; used or worn at sea; as
sea-biscuit,
sea-boot (also in
Naut. slang
phr. a face like a sea-boot, a dejected or wry expression; hence
sea-booted adj.),
sea-bread,
sea cap,
† sea-cates,
sea-clothes,
sea coat,
† sea compass,
sea-rig,
sea-stock, etc. Also, characteristic of life at sea or of seamen, nautical, as
sea-bow,
sea-gibberish,
sea-hornpipe,
sea-language,
sea manners, etc.
| 1680–90 Temple Ess. Health & Long Life Wks. 1731 I. 283 A Spoonful of Powder of *Sea-bisquet. |
| 1851 H. Melville Whale ix, A low rumbling of heavy *sea-boots among the benches. 1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin viii. 150 Wot's up wi' yer? You've got a face on yer like a sea-boot. 1946 Nature 14 Sept. 386/2 Land Army hose, sea-boot stockings,..and jungle-green pullovers also came under the scheme. 1971 G. M. Brown Fishermen with Ploughs 47 His sea boots filled, and Willag said no more. |
| 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. v. 107 With his *sea-booted feet cocked up on the table. 1933 L. Luard All Hands 44 The decks..were alive with jovial sea-booted men. |
| 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1812) I. 11 My uncle after two or three *sea-bows expressed himself in this manner. |
| 1834 A. Underwood Jrnl. Dec. in Southwestern Hist. Q. (1928) Oct. 131, I in company with two of my fellow passengers started taking with us some *sea bread water &c. determined to camp out that night. 1876 Davis Polaris Exp. xi. 261 A hash made of dried salmon and *sea-bread. |
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 364 Now you haue no *sea-cap on your head. |
| 1688 J. Barker Poet. Recreat. I. 92 The best of *Sea-Cates we wish for thy Diet. |
| c 1578 Frobisher in Proc. Rec. Comm. (1833) 562 At Bristo, wher his carde and his *se-clothes dyd ly to pawne. 1933 W. de la Mare Fleeting 45 His stiffening sea-clothes grey with salt. |
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2290/4 A black Negro..having a *Sea-Coat lin'd with white Bays. |
| 1570 J. Dee Math. Pref. a iv b, Certaine Landmarkes..well hable to be skried, in what point of the *Seacumpase they appeare. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 81 This Instrument is generally furnished with the Sea Compass. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sea-pie,..a favourite *sea-dish in rough weather. |
| 1889 Century Dict., Furling⁓line, a line wound spirally about a sail and its yard in furling. Also called *sea-gasket. |
| 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iii. Schisme 929 Strike, strike our saile (the Master cryes) amain,..but hee cryes in vain; For, in his face the blasts so bluster ay, That his *Sea-gibb'rish is straight born away. |
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 13 Vp from my Cabin My *sea-gowne scarft about me in the darke. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. i. 91 My Guide carried my Sea-gown, which was my covering in the night. |
| 1745 Life Bamfylde-Moore Carew 58 He..furnishes himself with a tattered *Sea-Habit. |
| 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2256/4 With a *Sea Hankerchief about his Neck. |
| 1855 Dickens Dorrit i. vi, The doctor was amazingly shabby, in a torn and darned rough-weather *sea-jacket [etc.]. |
| 1798 O'Keeffe Wild Oats i. i, John. You know, on our quitting harbour—. Sir Geo. Damn your *sea-jaw, you marvellous dolphin, give the contents of your log-book in plain English. |
| 1884 Sir F. S. Roberts in 19th Cent. June 1069 *Sea-kits should be issued gratis [to the army] as required. |
| 1728 Chambers Cycl., Offing, in the *Sea-language, that part of the Sea a good distance from Shore. 1928 L. P. Smith Words & Idioms 20 The sea-languages of the world. |
| 1838 Civ. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 358/1 A *sea lead is charged at its heavy end with a small iron tube. |
| 1740 Johnson Life Drake Wks. 1816 XII. 99 Bred from his earliest years to the labour and hardships of a *sea life. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. v. (1856) 35 The recurring noonday, the meridian starting-point of sea-life. |
| 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay iv, My *sea manners were not congenial to the drawing-room. |
| 1668 Lond. Gaz. No. 262/4 A *sea Neckcloth about his neck. |
| 1659 Torriano, Avaria, a *sea-phrase, viz. a..distribution of the losse made, when [etc.]. 1778 F. Burney Evelina (1791) II. xxxvii. 248, I suppose it to be some sea-phrase. |
| 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped x, Then there came a single call on the *sea-pipe, and that was the signal. |
| 1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast 4, I made my appearance on board at twelve o'clock, in full *sea-rig. |
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad. ii. 538 King Agamemnon, on these men, did well-built ships bestow To passe the gulfie purple sea, that did no *sea rites know. |
| 1884 ‘H. Collingwood’ Under Meteor Flag 172 He made an elaborate *sea-scrape with his right foot. |
| 1857 Dufferin Lett. High Lat. (ed. 3) 400 [We] were nearly run into ourselves by a clumsy merchantman, whom we had the relief of being able to abuse in..the most racy *sea-slang. |
| 1748 Anson's Voy. i. ix. 91 Some place..where ships might refresh and supply themselves with the necessary *sea-stock for their voyage. 1840 F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. II. 349 This fruit..is very eligible for sea-stock. 1892 C. H. Fretwell Anc. Mariner 38, I..purchased my sea-stock of warm clothing, intending to join on the following day. |
| 1659 Rushw. Hist. Coll. 415 All manner of Tackle, *Sea-stores, and Ammunition. 1834 Marryat P. Simple viii, We were ordered to the dock⁓yard to draw sea-stores. |
| 1603 Dekker 1st Pt. Honest Wh. i. ii. Stage-dir., Enter Fustigo in some fantastic *sea-suit. |
| 1710 Pope Let. to H.C. (1735) I. 105, I agree with you in your Censure of the Use of *Sea-Terms in Mr. Dryden's Virgil. 1898 Ansted (title), A Dictionary of Sea Terms. |
| 1747 H. Glasse Cookery xi. 125 To make *Sea Venison. |
k. Applied to pay received or ‘due for actual service in a duly-commissioned ship’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk. 1867).
in sea-pay,
† at sea-wages: (of a sailor) in actual service on the sea; (of a ship) in commission.
| 1490 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 1 §2 If the Captain be at Sea-wages, he [shall] shew the departing..of the said Soldier..to the Admiral of the Navy. 1667 Pepys Diary 29 Aug., My Lord Crewe and his friends take it very ill of me that my Lord Sandwich's sea-fee should be retrenched. 1758 M.P.'s Let. on R.N. 6 When such Ships shall have been eighteen Months in Sea-pay, the Wages of the first twelve Months shall be paid. 1889 N. & Q. 7th Ser. VII. 81/2 The fleet then left by Pepys in sea-pay comprised 76 vessels, and the men numbered 12,040. |
l. Applied to works of art or literature, narratives, etc., representing the sea or life at sea, as
sea-eclogue,
sea-sonnet,
sea-story,
sea-subject,
sea-tale,
sea-yarn, etc. So also
sea-painter,
sea-poet.
| 1712 (title) Nereids: or *Sea-Eclogues. |
| 1909 Q. Rev. July 140 Joseph Autran the *sea-poet of Marseilles. |
| 1659 Lady Alimony iii. iii. F 4, Let us have a *Sea-sonnet before we launch forth in our Adventure-Frigot. |
| 1855 (title) *Sea Stories: tales of discovery, adventure, and escapes. 1885 Academy 21 Nov. 338/3 Mr. Russell undoubtedly ‘struck oil’ with his earlier sea-stories. |
| 1850 Marg. F. Ossoli Wom. in 19th Cent. (1862) 267 Painters of *sea-subjects. |
| 1888 F. M. Crawford With Immortals II. 129, I used to..listen to the *sea-tales of the sailors. |
| 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 157 Spinning *sea-yarns all night. |
m. Applied to nautical maps and charts, as
† sea-chart,
sea-map,
sea-plat, etc. Also
sea-book, -card 1.
| c 1635 N. Boteler Dial. Sea Services (1685) 266 This *Sea-cart is also called a Plot. 1745 Pococke Descr. East II. i. 210 The modern sea carts make it [Cyprus] only one hundred and thirty-five [miles] in length. |
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. iii. 157 By the true *Sea-chart you are arrived at G. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 520/2 By 1601 Mercator's projection was in use for all sea charts. |
| 1632 Sherwood, A sea-card, or *Sea-map, Carte marine, Hydrographie. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIV. 405/1 There are two kinds of terrestrial maps—geographic or land maps, and hydrographic or sea maps. |
| 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 416 The Drafts or *Sea-plats being first consulted, it was [etc.]. |
n. By sea; also, pertaining to navigation or maritime or naval affairs; as
sea-business,
sea-carriage,
† sea-concernment,
sea-crossing,
sea-passage,
sea-passenger,
sea-route,
sea-trade,
sea-trader,
sea-trading,
sea-traffic,
sea-transport,
† sea-wandering, etc. Also sea-voyaging.
| 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iv. xv. 289 The hurly-burly of such as were unskilfull in *sea-business, was like to bring no lesse danger than the storms violence. 1712 M. Henry Daily Commun. with God (1866) 45 Whatever your employment be, in country-business, city-business, or sea-business,..go about them in the fear of God. |
| 1766 Smollett Trav. I. xx. 315 This wine is of a strong body,..and improves by *sea-carriage. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. iii. (1876) 20 The relative values of food, clothing, metals, and sea-carriage remain the same. |
| a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. i. (1691) 27 Wherefore he whom this latter Party doth affectionately own to be their Head, cannot probably be wronged in his *Sea-concernments by the other. |
| 1615 Trade's Incr. 2 A man may runne a course this way [by fishing] to enrich himselfe..more easily..then any other *sea-course can persuade vs to. 1619 Hieron Wks. I. 643 It is an allusion to a sea-course: When he the admirall hangs out a lanterne, and all that come behind steere to that. |
| 1936 British Birds XXIX. 367 They undertake a 1,200 mile *sea-crossing from Greenland to Ireland. 1962 H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon England i. 24 A sea-crossing is perilous to tribal institutions. |
| 1666 Marvell Corr. lviii. Wks. (Grosart) II. 197 The *sea-news is not good from severall places. |
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 2 The description of our *Sea passage. 1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma (1876) 181 Because a man has frequently to make sea-passages, he is not gifted with an immunity from sea-sickness. |
| 1592 Greene 2nd Pt. Conny-catching Wks. (Grosart) X. 89 Syrens, who sitting with their watching eies vpon the rockes to allure *Sea-passengers to their extreame preiudice. |
| 1858 Timbs Curiosities of Sci. Ser. i. 184 Ocean highways: how *sea-routes have been shortened. 1886 C. E. Pascoe Lond. Today xliii. (ed. 3) 372 In communication with the Continent by the shortest sea route. |
| 1664 J. Exton Maritime Dicæol. i. iii. 14 Other things..done—either on or at the sea, concerning *Sea-trade. |
| 1899 C. J. C. Hyne Further Adv. Capt. Kettle i. 4 Kettle had come across many types of *sea-trader in his time. |
| 1921 Nineteenth Cent. July 150 She failed..to become a great *sea-trading nation. |
| 1885 J. F. Payne in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 166/2 Two insular outbreaks [of plague]..both thought to be cases of importation by *sea-traffic. |
| 1847 Webster, *Sea-traveling, traveling by sea voyages. |
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 50 Like..Vlysses (well knowne vnto them by his prolixious *seawandering). |
o. In designations of persons, as living or exercising their functions at sea, as
sea-boy,
sea-carpenter,
sea-commander,
sea-fellow,
sea-friend,
sea-robber, etc.;
† also
occas. quasi-adj., that is a sailor, nautical, as
sea-lover,
sea-philosopher,
sea-reader.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. i. 27 Canst thou (O partiall Sleepe) giue thy Repose To the wet *Sea-Boy, in an houre so rude. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. cxii. III. 38 A Hull sea-boy went to see his master when his time was out. |
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Scarfed, in the *sea carpenter's language, is the same as pierced, or fastened or joined in. |
| 1718 Blackmore Alfred iii. (1723) 87 Rigid *Sea-Chiefs and turbulent of Mind. |
| 1672 Wiseman Wounds ii. App., To Rdr., My design was to help the *Sea-Chirurgions. |
| 1659 Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 4 One of the last *Sea-Commanders then living bred under Queen Elizabeth. |
| 1909 E. Pound Personae 37 As Glaucus tasting the grass that made him *sea-fellow with the other gods. 1918 D. H. Lawrence New Poems 27, I wish a wild sea-fellow would come down the glittering shingle. |
| 1661 J. D[avies] Civil Warres 326 Coll. Popham one of their *Sea-Generalls. 1666 Evelyn Diary 2 Dec., Van Tromp, the Sea Generall. |
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xiii. 85 Hand-Granadoes [are]..made by *Sea-Gunners upon a Mould made with Twine. |
| 1758 J. Blake Plan Mar. Syst. 42 To *sea-lads under 18 not more than 22s. 6d. per month. |
| c 1688 Pepys Mem. R.N. in Moorhouse Pepys (1909) 253 For ascertaining the duty of a *sea-lieutenant, and for examining persons pretending to that office. 1723 Pres. St. Russia II. 341 The same happened to another Sea-Lieutenant Michucow. |
| 1797 Sporting Mag. X. 322 A *sea⁓looby that did not know how to reckon. |
| 1695 Congreve Love for Love iv. xii, What, has my *sea-lover lost his anchor of hope then? |
| 1600 Abp. Abbot Expos. Jonah viii. 169 These *sea-people in like sort might well thinke of the Lord, and yet not leaue their idolatry. |
| 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xxxii. (1760) I. 248, I was much pleased and edified with the maxims of this *sea-philosopher. |
| 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World Pref. 4, I do not here pretend to give my *Sea-Reader a compleat system of the Navigation on the coasts of Chili, Peru, &c. |
| 1513 Douglas æneis vii. vii. 48 Ȝone fals *see rewir will leif in sturt. 1595 Duncan App. Etym. (E.D.S.), Pyrata, a sea-rewar, a pyrate. |
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 435 When the Erle..had not founde one Pirate or *Sea robber, he [etc.]. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 305 On the mast Hung the sea-robbers' fair shields, lip to lip. |
p. In appellations of mythological or other imaginary beings supposed to inhabit the sea, as
sea-cattle,
sea-deity,
sea-giant,
sea-girl,
sea-goblin,
sea-idol, etc.
| 1710 W. King Heathen Gods & Heroes l. (1722) 179 He [Proteus] is said to ride in a Chariot drawn by *Sea-Cattle, a sort of Horses with two Legs, and Tails like Fishes. |
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 677 Neptune with his ruder *Sea-Deities. |
| 1888 F. M. Crawford With Immortals (1890) 294 The match between gods and *sea-giants for souls of sailors. |
| 1917 T. S. Eliot Prufrock 16 *Sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown. 1923 E. P. Mathers tr. J. C. Mardrus's Bk. of Thousand Nights & One Night VII. 80 Suddenly they saw twelve sea girls..come up out of the water and dance a round upon the sand. 1939 Dylan Thomas Map of Love 5 The sea-girls' lineaments Glint in the staved and siren-printed caverns. |
| 1823 Scott Ess. Romance (1874) 97 Begot betwixt a monster and a *sea-goblin. |
| 1855 Kingsley Heroes, Argon. v. 161 In that cave lives Scylla, the *sea-hag. |
| 1671 Milton Samson 13 This day a solemn Feast the people hold To Dagon thir *Sea-Idol. |
| 1604 Meeting of Gallants at Ordinarie 22 Riding upon a *Sea-mare. |
| 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 52 How oft haue I descending Titan seene His burning lockes couch in the *Sea-queenes lap. |
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 24 The horrible *Sea-satyre, that doth shew His fearefull face in time of greatest storme. |
q. That lives in the sea, or is found in the sea,
esp. as opposed to a similar thing found or living on land, or in fresh water.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxii. xxii. II. 128 Others affirme, that Alimon is a sea-wort, of a salt and brackish tast. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xl. (1614) 79/2 Sea-winkles, cockles and other sea-fish. 1767 tr. Cranz' Greenland I. 60 Of the Land and Sea Vegetables. 1848 Owen in Times 14 Nov. 9/1 The Sea Saurians of the Secondary periods of geology. 1859 Ld. Lytton Wanderer (ed. 2) 329 My coat..Salt as a sea-sponge. 1867 Brande & Cox Dict. Sci. s.v. Sea-serpent, Mesozoic sea-reptiles (Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus). 1888 L. A. Smith Music of Waters 341 The herring fishery in the Isle of Man is the staple industry of the place—the Manx sea-harvest it is called. 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist as Young Man (1969) iv. 171 The sea harvest of shells and tangle. 1922 ― Ulysses 38 Signatures of all things I am here to read, seaspawn and seawrack. 1922 Ibid. 289 Golden ingots, silvery fishes,..purple seagems and playful insects. 1979 Dallas (Texas) Times Herald 30 May 8-e/1 Fans of the delicacy [sc. seaweed] believe that the term ‘sea vegetables’ would..enhance the image of native dishes. |
19. Objective, as
† sea-binding,
sea-convulsing,
† sea drying,
sea-framing,
sea-loving,
† sea-shouldering, etc.,
adjs. Also
sea-rider,
† sea-wright ns.| 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. iv, O ye *sea-binding cleeves! |
| Ibid. ii. i. 10 By thickets which aray'd The high *Sea-bounding hill, so neare she went [etc.]. |
| 1861 S. Brooks Silver Cord xvii, The basin in which stood..the *sea-compelling Poseidon. |
| 1821 Shelley Hellas 474 The *sea-convulsing fight. |
| 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iv. Captaines 294 Let faint Women shake At their Drad God, at their *Sea-drying Lord. |
| 1601 R. Chester Love's Mart. (1878) 78 The flowing Riuer Thamasis is nam'd, Whose *Sea-ensuing Tide can neare be tam'd. |
| 1860 Tennyson Sea Dreams 33 They..Ran in and out the long *sea-framing caves. |
| 1862 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. II. 700 The Dunlin..is the commonest of the *sea-loving Sandpipers. |
| 1939 W. B. Yeats Last Poems 29 That *sea-rider Oisin led by the nose Through three enchanted islands. |
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 23 Spring-headed Hydraes and *sea-shouldring Whales. |
| 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. i. 26 Bearded Goates, that on the clouded head Of any *sea-suruaying Mountaine fed. |
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. xcv. ii, The sea is his, and he the *sea-wright was. |
20. Similative, as
sea-cold (hence
sea-coldly adv.),
sea-colour,
sea-blue,
sea-deep,
sea-grey,
sea-shot,
sea-smiling,
sea-wide adjs. Cf. sea-green.
| 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xc[i], Or underneath the barren bush Flits by the *sea-blue bird of March. 1921 W. de la Mare Veil 78 In *sea-cold Lyonesse. 1931 A. Huxley Cicadas 57, I reach for grapes, but from an inward vine Pluck sea-cold nipples, still bedewed with brine. |
| 1955 E. Bowen World of Love vi. 105 ‘You mean, you were late at the sea?’ ‘Not at all,’ said Antonia *sea-coldly. |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 233 Three springs of hote water, of a blewish or *sea colour. |
| 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad xiv, *Sea-deep, till doomsday morning, Lie lost my heart and soul. |
| 1906 Academy 6 Jan. 14/1 Our ancient *sea-grey town. 1970 T. Hughes Crow 34 Seeing sea-grey mash a mountain of itself. |
| 1874 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 248 The *sea-shot blue-and-green woollen gown our Lady wears. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 277 Charming, *seasmiling and unanswering Lydia on Lidwell smiled. |
| 1756 Dyer Fleece iv. 220 Those [lakes] a *sea-wide surface spread. |
21. Instrumental, as
† sea-partition;
sea-bathed,
sea-blown,
sea-bounded,
† sea-broke,
† sea-circled,
sea-deserted,
sea-divided,
sea-driven,
sea encircled,
sea-fed,
sea-lulled,
sea-scented,
sea-strewn,
sea-sucked,
sea-tossed,
† sea wrecked adjs.| 1640 Sandys Christ's Passion i. 80 *Sea-bath'd Hesperus, who brings Night on. |
| 1857 J. G. Whittier in National Era 22 Oct. 170/5 So to us who walk in summer through the cool and *sea-blown town. 1945 J. Betjeman New Bats in Old Belfries 27 Whose fantastic mausoleum Sings its own seablown Te Deum. |
| 1610 Niccols Winter night's Vision, Mirr. Mag. 573 Our *sea-bounded Britanie. |
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, clx, As a brave Vessell, *Sea-broke, lyes to Hull. |
| 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 20 Their *sea-circled Ilands. |
| 1820 Shelley Witch iv, The *sea-deserted sand. |
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V lxxviii, *Sea-Devided France. |
| 1581 W. S. Compend. or Briefe Exam. 8 b, Towards what Coastes yee be *Sea dryuen. |
| 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 926 Round the *sea-encircled globe. |
| 1597 Drayton Heroic. Ep. 44 b, This *Sea-inuirond Ile. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 238 A sailorman, rustbearded,..eyes her. A long and *seafed silent rut. |
| 1735 Somerville Chase iii. 431 All now is plain, Plain as the strand *sea-lav'd. |
| 1847 J. R. Lowell Poet. Wks. (1912) 121 Fair Beatrice's spirit wandering now In some *sea-lulled Hesperides. 1921 W. de la Mare Veil 85 The mild noon air of Spring again Lapped shimmering in that sea-lulled lane. |
| 1597 J. Payne Royal Exch. 3 Neyther *sea particion nor distans of plase can be anye lawfull excuse to be..silent. |
| 1592 in Sir J. Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 70 *Sea rounded groundes. |
| 1845 Browning Meeting at Night ii, Warm *sea-scented beach. |
| 1648 Herrick Hesper. 85 (Welcome to Sack), Far more welcome then the happy soile, The *Sea-scourg'd Merchant, after all his toile, Salutes with tears of joy. |
| 1744 Young Nt. Th. vii. 32 He whom *Sea-sever'd Realms obey. |
| 1892 W. B. Yeats Countess Kathleen 125 When fades the *sea-strewn rose of day. 1934 T. S. Eliot Rock ii. 56 Many left their bodies to the kites of Syria Or sea-strewn along the routes. |
| 1934 Dylan Thomas 18 Poems 33 Half of the fellow father as he doubles His *sea-sucked Adam in the hollow hulk. 1966 New Statesman 11 Feb. 196/1, I used To think of the soul As round and smooth Like a sea-sucked pebble. |
| 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 827 *Sea-surrounded realms. |
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 251 She that from whom We all were *sea-swallow'd. |
| 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. i. 3 Into as fayre a Baye As euer Merchant wisht might be the rode Wherein to ease his *sea-torne Vessels lode. |
| 1608 Shakes. Per. iii. Gower 60 Vpon whose Decke The *seas tost Pericles appeares to speake. |
| 1594 Lodge & Greene Looking-gl. (1598) F 2, You returne thus *sea-wrackt as I see. |
22. Locative, as
sea-based,
sea-bred,
sea-built,
† sea-lost,
sea-packed,
sea-potent,
sea-setting adjs.; also
sea-setting n.| 1839–48 Bailey Festus 67/1 Like *seabased icebergs. |
| 1695 Congreve Love for L. Dram. Pers., Ben, Sir Sampson's younger Son, half home-bred, and half *sea-bred. |
| 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. lvii, The *sea-built forts in dreadful order move. |
| 1624 Quarles Sion's Elegies ii. xi. D 1 b, As a *Sea-lost Rouer, Shee roames, but can no land of peace discouer. |
| 1891 Century Dict., *Sea-packed, packed at sea or during a voyage, as fish to be sold on arrival in port. |
| 1743 Francis tr. Hor., Odes iii. xxviii. 9 The *Sea-potent King, And Nereids. |
| 1685 Dryden Albion & Alb. iii. i, *Sea-racing Dolphins are train'd for our Motion. |
| 1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Invent. Index 2 A *Sea-sailing Fort. |
| 1839–48 Bailey Festus xix. 211 My soul sank within me like a star *Sea-setting. 1865 A. Smith Summer in Skye I. 200 [The] wan sea-setting of the moon. |
| 1789 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. I. 15 *Sea-wilder'd crews the mountain-stars admire. |
23. a. Special combinations:
sea-affairs, nautical or naval affairs, or things occurring at sea;
† sea-agate, ? an agate with green wave-like markings;
sea-air attrib., pertaining to or involving both the sea and the air;
sea-anchor, (
a) (see
quot. 1769); (
b)
= drift anchor (see
drift n. 19 c);
† sea-artist, a master of the art of navigation;
sea-bag U.S., a seaman's travelling bag or trunk; also
transf., a heavy artillery shell;
sea bed,
† (
a) a bed for use on board ship (
obs.); (
b) the floor of the sea;
sea-beggar Hist. [
= F.
gueux de mer], a seaman of the small fleet organized by William of Orange in 1572 to combat the Spaniards;
sea-blacking jocular, the effect of sea-air in darkening the skin;
sea-blessing Naut. slang = sailor's blessing s.v. sailor 5 c;
sea-bloom,
-blossom, a flower or blossom of marine vegetation;
sea-bow, a phenomenon similar to the rainbow, formed by the action of light on sea-spray;
† sea-brace, a piece of timber used to strengthen a framework against the stress of the waves;
sea-breach, (
a) a breaker; (
b) an irruption of the sea;
sea-break = prec. (b);
sea-brief (see
quot. 1875);
sea-bud, a bud of marine vegetation; also
attrib.;
Sea Cadet, a member of the Sea Cadet Association (see
quot. 1976), a voluntary youth organization which seeks to foster and develop for public benefit a sea cadet corps and to provide sea training and promote education in maritime affairs;
sea-cap (see
quot.);
† sea-carriage, a gun-carriage for a ship's gun;
sea-change, a change wrought by the sea; now
freq. transf. with or without allusion to Shakespeare's use (
quot. 1610), an alteration or metamorphosis, a radical change;
sea chest, (
a) a seaman's chest or box for his own clothing, etc.; (
b) (see
quot. 1909);
sea-clam,
-clamp, ‘a clam, clamp, or forceps closed by a weight, for use with deep-sea sounding-lines’ (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
sea-cloth, (
a) a painted cloth spread over the stage and moved so as to represent waves; (
b) cloth used for making sailors' clothing;
sea clutter = sea return(
s) below;
sea-cobble, a pebble rounded by the action of the sea, used for paving and building;
† sea-common (see
quot.);
sea-cook, a cook on board ship;
esp. in
son of a sea-cook used as a term of abuse;
sea-corpse poet., the corpse of a person drowned at sea;
sea-crust, the incrustation formed on an iron ship during a sea-voyage;
sea-daddy [
cf. Du. zeevader], an old sailor who befriends and instructs a midshipman;
sea-dingle (now only
arch.), an abyss or deep in the sea;
† sea-distemper = sea-sickness;
sea-door, a means of access (to a country) from the sea;
† sea-drags,
-dust (see
quots.);
Sea Dyak: see
Dyak;
sea-edge, the brink of the sea; also
spec. ‘the boundary between the icy regions of the {oqq}north water{cqq} and the unfrozen portions of the Arctic Sea’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk. 1867);
sea-farm, ‘an area of sea-bottom devoted to the cultivation of molluscs; an oyster-farm’ (
Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895); also
sea-farmer;
sea-farming vbl. n., mariculture; also as
ppl. a.;
sea-fencible, an old coastguard;
sea-fever, longing or desire for the sea or sailing on it;
sea-fire, phosphorescence at sea;
sea-flier, one of the longipennine natatorial sea-birds, as gulls, etc.;
sea-fort, a fort on the coast;
sea-gauge, (
a) (see
quot.); (
b) ‘the depth that a vessel sinks in the water’ (Webster 1828–32);
sea-gipsy, one of a roving tribe of fishermen of Malayan type living all their life on the sea, in the Malay Archipelago;
sea-glass,
† (
a) isinglass; (
b) (see
quot. 1895);
† sea-grave = sea-reeve;
sea-grocer, ‘a sobriquet for the purser’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
sea-guard, a guarding or protecting by sea;
† sea-gulf, a whirlpool;
† sea-head, ? a sea-wall or bank;
sea-horizon, the line where sky and sea seem to meet: in
Navigation, ‘the small circle which bounds the portion of the surface visible to a spectator in the open sea’ (Harbord
Gloss. Navig. 1863);
sea-ice (see
quot. 1835); also simply, the ice of the sea, frozen sea-water;
sea ivory, ivory from the tusks and horns of marine mammalia (see also sense 23 f below);
sea-jockey N. Amer., a nimble sailor; the sailor of a small craft;
occas. derog. (
cf. jockey 5 b);
sea-keeping, of a ship, hovercraft, etc.: the endurance of (rough) conditions at sea;
sea-kindly a., (of a ship) easy to handle at sea; hence
sea-kindliness;
sea-lake, a land-locked portion of the sea, a lagoon;
sea-lane, a route at sea for shipping;
sea-league, three nautical miles;
sea-ledger, ledger tackle (see
ledger n. 8) used in sea-fishing;
sea-letter = sea-brief;
sea-lift N. Amer., a large-scale transportation of troops, supplies, etc., by sea (
cf. airlift 2); hence as
v. trans., to transport by sea;
sea-loch Sc., an inlet of the sea;
sea-lock, a lock at the marine extremity of a ship canal;
sea-log, an official record of a ship's voyage (see also
quot. 1867);
sea-longing, a yearning for the sea, sea-fever;
sea-lord, a naval lord (of the Admiralty);
sea-mail, mail conveyed by sea; a service for conveying letters, parcels, etc., by sea (not an official term); so as
v. trans. (
rare), to send by sea;
cf. airmail;
sea marker, a device which can be dropped from an aircraft to produce a distinctive patch on water below it;
† sea-master, a sailing-master;
sea-mile, a geographical or nautical mile (see
mile n.1 3);
sea-mine (see
mine n. 3);
sea-mount, a large natural elevation rising abruptly from the ocean floor,
usu. entirely underwater; an underwater mountain;
sea-mountain, (
a) a high wave; (
b) a mountain covered or partly covered by the sea;
sea-net, a net used in sea-fishing;
† sea-office, an office on board ship;
sea-pass (see
quot.);
Sea People(s) = Peoples of the Sea s.v. people n. 1 c;
sea-peril = sea-risk;
sea-preacher, ?
= sea-lawyer;
sea-price Naut. colloq., an inflated price;
sea-pup jocular, a ‘young sea-dog’, a child of a sailor or fisherman;
sea-purple = purple n. 3, also the dye derived from it;
sea-rainbow = sea-bow;
sea-rake, a rake used for collecting shell-fish, etc., a clam-rake;
† sea-rat, a pirate;
sea-rate,
reach (see
quots.);
sea-reeve, an officer who took care of the maritime rights of the lord of the manor, and watched the shore and collected wrecks;
sea return(s), unwanted radar images due to reflection from a rough sea;
sea-risk, ‘liability to losses by perils of the sea’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
sea-road rare, a route by sea;
sea-run a., ‘having returned to the sea after spawning, as an anadromous fish’ (
Cassell's Suppl. 1902);
sea-runner, ?
= sea-flier;
sea-running a., ‘anadromous; entering rivers to spawn and returning to the sea’ (
Cassell's Suppl.);
† sea-ruttier = ruttier;
sea scout, a member of the (Boy) Scout movement engaged in activities pertaining to the sea and seamanship;
sea-scurvy, the form of scurvy incident of life on ship-board;
sea seiche, a seiche ocurring in the open sea;
sea-sergeant (see
quot. 1867);
sea-shoal, (
a) a shoal of fish in the sea; (
b) a shoal or bank in the sea;
† sea-shoe (in
phr.: see
quot.);
Sea Sled (see
quot. 1948) (a proprietary name in the
U.S.);
sea-slope, a slope facing the sea;
sea-sorrow arch., a catastrophe or cause of trouble at sea;
sea-speed, the ordinary speed of a vessel when at sea, as distinguished from
full speed;
sea-stack = stack n. 7;
sea-state, the degree of turbulence at sea,
esp. as measured according to a scale of average wave height;
sea-stick, a herring cured at sea;
sea-stroke, the stroke of a heavy wave;
sea-tan, tan produced by exposure to sea-air;
sea-tath (see
tath 3);
sea-time, (
a) time spent at sea in service; (
b) the way of reckoning time at sea; (
c) the duration of a journey at sea;
sea-toss colloq., ‘a toss overboard into the sea’ (
Cent. Dict.);
sea-train, (
a) a ship used for the transportation of railway cars; (
b) a group of ships carrying supplies or equipment;
sea-transom, ‘that which is bolted to the counter-timbers, above the upper, at the height of the port-sills’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
sea-trap, a trap in the sea for catching fish, etc.;
† sea-trod a., sea-faring;
sea-turn, (
a) a gale or breeze (usually accompanied by mist, etc.) from the sea; (
b) ‘a tack into the offing’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
sea-valve, ‘any one of several valves in the bottom or side of a steamship communicating with the sea below the water-line’ (
Cent. Dict.);
† sea-wake, the duty of watching the sea;
† sea-warth, the sea-shore;
† sea-watch, (
a) a chronometer; (
b) (see
quot. 1769);
sea-wax = maltha 2;
sea-wise a., versed in the ways of the sea; also
absol. as n.;
sea-wit, a naval jester or wit; also, nautical wit or facetiousness;
sea-woman, (
a) a mermaid; (
b) a female sailor; a woman working at sea;
sea-work, a work or construction in the sea; also naval work or work on a ship or in service;
† sea-yoke, a combination of pulleys and ropes for working the helm in stormy weather.
| 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. iii. vi. (1821) 546 Conversant in *Sea-affaires. 1726 Swift Gulliver iii. i. 2 Having experienced my knowledge in sea-affairs to be at least equal to his, he would enter into any engagement to follow my advice. 1798 O'Keeffe Wild Oats i. i, Since you've..retired to live in quiet, on your estate, and had done with all sea affairs. 1939 J. Masefield Live & Kicking Ned 29 He told me something of sea-affairs. |
| a 1593 Marlowe Hero & Leander i. 138 The wals were of discoloured Iasper stone, Wherein was Proteus carued, and o'rehead, A liuelie vine of greene *sea agget spread. |
| 1945 L. E. O. Charlton Roy. Air Force 266 A strong Japanese battle fleet..delivered an attack..reminiscent of the *sea-air battles of Midway and the Coral Sea. 1959 H. Barnes Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. iii. 106 Information about temperature and salinity conditions and their variation enables deductions to be made about physical processes taking place in the sea-air interface. |
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine ii, Ancre du Large, the *sea anchor, or that which lies towards the offing. 1877 J. Dixon in Daily News 19 Oct. 6/4 She also had a floating bag, or sea anchor, to keep her head to windward. |
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. i. 138 Such young Sea-faring Men, as are desirous to be *Sea-Artists or Navigators. |
| 1918 M. Denig Let. July in K. Cowing Dear Folks at Home (1919) 250 A few big ‘*sea-bags’ had hit near by. 1919 Sea-Bag 9 Feb. 3 Down in the bottom of a sea bag you may find the suit that a German Sub would have fired at if we had been lucky enough to really see a Fritz. 1926 J. W. Thomason Fix Bayonets! 148 If Brother Boche had kept flingin' them seabags around here, he'd a-hurt somebody. 1958 J. Kerouac On Road ii. ii. 187 He grabbed his seabag and threw things into that. 1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 June 6/2 How easy it would have been at that point, one thinks, for the Marine Corps to have packed up its sea bags and departed. |
| 1637 in Archives of Maryland (1887) IV. 76 The Inventary of the goods & chattells of mr John Baxter... 1. rugg & an old *sea-bed. 1722 Defoe Moll Flanders 381 My Governess..came down herself..bringing me in the first Place, a Sea Bed, as they call it, and all its Furniture. 1774 N. Cresswell Jrnl. 8 Apr. (1925) 9 Bought a Sea Bed; paid Captn. Parry my passage. 1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 142/2 So as to stain the whole sea-bed for 1000 feet or yards in depth. |
| 1845 M. Russell in Encycl. Metrop. XIII. 603/1 Repulsed by the *Sea-beggars, he [the Count de Bossu] endeavoured to seek a refuge in Dort. 1922 P. S. Allen Let. 30 Mar. (1939) xvi. 183 We are now on our way to Rotterdam..to attend..the 350th anniversary of the recapture of Brill by the ‘Sea-beggars’ from the Spaniards on 1 April 1572. 1963 Times 22 Feb. 17/3 He spoke for an hour to a packed audience of intent undergraduates and history dons about..the ‘invasion’ of the Netherlands by Prince William of Orange's sea beggars. |
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxx, It was surprising to see how much soap and fresh water did for the complexions of many of us; how much of what we supposed to be tan and *sea-blacking we got rid of. |
| 1883 W. C. Russell Round Galley Fire 109 The *sea-blessings showered out by the cook as he chases his dishes and pans and burns his fingers. 1912 W. I. Downie Reminisc. Blackwall Midshipman ii. 19 Sea blessings galore descended on my unfortunate head. 1933 S. Bradford Shell-Backs & Beachcombers viii. 181 The mate..gave me his sea-blessing for having recommended such a man to him. |
| 1819 Shelley Ode W. Wind 39 The *sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear The sapless foliage of the ocean. |
| 1865 Swinburne Chastelard i. ii. 38 Some *sea-blossom stripped to the sun and burned At naked ebb. |
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Rainbow, The Marine or *Sea-Bow is a Phænomenon sometimes observ'd in a much agitated Sea. |
| 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 131 You may also extend the..Sills..toward the Sea, and thereon fix your five *Sea-braces. |
| c 1610 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster v. iii, Let me stand the shock of this mad *sea-breach, Which I'le either turne, or perish with it. 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1709) 14 You might as good attempt to..stop a Sea-breach by proving the Water gets nothing by overflowing. 1884 Chamb. Jrnl. 3 May 275/1 The whole coast also suffers much from sea-breaches. |
| a 1688 J. Wallace Descr. Orkn. (1693) 19 How great is the power of the *Sea-break may appear from this, that..there are by the violence of the sea & winds, large stones thrown up..a great way above the rock. |
| 1566 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 481 The lettres of marque, or *sey brevis of the Kingis of Denmark, Swaden, or ony uther foreign Prince. 1755 N. Magens Insurances II. 460 All kind of Ships and Vessels..shall be only obliged to shew unto the Officers acting in the Ports of the said States,..their Passport commonly called a Sea-Brief. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. vi. (ed. 2) 224 The Sea-letter, or Sea-brief,..is the document which entitles the Master to sail under the Flag..of the Nation to which he belongs; and it also specifies the nature and quantity of the cargo [etc.]. |
| 1817 Shelley Pr. Athanase ii. iv. 11 The grass in the warm sun did start and move, And *sea-buds burst under the waves serene. 1830 Tennyson Mermaid ii, My starry sea-bud crown. |
| 1976 Times 13 May 5/8 The Navy League, formed 81 years ago to press for more naval power for Britain, announced yesterday that it is changing its name to the *Sea Cadet Association. 1977 Navy News June 32/5 Members are grateful to the Leicester Unit, Sea Cadet Corps, for the use of their H.Q. for branch meetings. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Sea-cap, the white drift or breaks of a wave. White horses of trades. |
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. xii. 64 *Sea-Carriages are made..as the Block-maker that makes them hath Rules for. |
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 400 Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a *Sea-change Into something rich, & strange. 1917 E. Pound Lustra 193 Full many a fathomed sea⁓change in the eyes That sought with him the salt sea victories. 1923 J. M. Murry Pencillings 164 The characters which have suffered this sea-change, ‘of whose bones are coral made’, are the only unpleasant characters we remember. 1948 A. C. Baugh Lit. Hist. England II. ix. 173 An interesting paper suggesting that romance is transplanted epic, which has undergone a kind of sea-change in the passage. 1974 R. Helms Tolkien's World ii. 32 Even before The Hobbit was published he was at work on its sequel, a work in which Middle-earth has undergone a wondrous sea change. 1976 Listener 8 Apr. 450/3 The Messianic vision..has undergone some strange sea⁓changes outside Judaism. 1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon vii. 117 He..could, moreover..bring about a sea⁓change in the image of even the most bumbling police officers going about their duties, so that they emerged as prodigies of intelligence, zeal and kindness. |
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xiii. 86 Like a *Sea Chest. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. i, His sea-chest following behind him in a hand-barrow. 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., Sea-chest, in ship-building, a short open pipe extending from the outside plating to the interior just inside the inner bottom, the inner end of which is closed by a sea-valve placed in a position accessible from the interior of the vessel. 1942 G. C. Manning Man. Ship Construction (1943) iii. 76 Sea valves must be so placed as to be easily worked from the engine-room platforms. When they make connection with the sea through the double bottom or otherwise so that they would require a long neck if fastened directly to the shell they are attached to sea chests which are secured on the inside of the shell plating. 1972 L. M. Harris Introd. Deepwater Floating Drilling Operations 248 All sea chest strainers were removed. The sea valves were opened and examined. The sea chests were thoroughly examined. |
| 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. vi. xxxi. 263 ‘He was a seaman,’ said George Merry, who..was examining the rags of clothing. ‘Leastways, this is good *sea-cloth.’ 1890 ‘Biff’ Hall Turnover Club xviii. 172 The wings are removed, and what is technically known as a ‘sea cloth’ takes their place. 1891 Century Dict., Sea-cloth, Theat. 1901 Referee 4 Aug. 3 (Cass. Suppl.) The quicksand in ‘Wrestler Joe’ was crudely represented by a black ‘sea-cloth’. 1905 ‘Q’ Shining Ferry iii. xviii. 218 A bustious, big fellow, with a round hat like a missionary's, and all the rest of him in sea-cloth. |
| 1946 *Sea clutter [see clutter n. 2 c]. 1970 P. Clissold Radar in Small Craft ii. 26 Sea clutter is not likely to be of any consequence beyond three or four miles, but at short range it can obscure stronger targets. |
| 1810 Hull Improv. Act 36 Paved with such good and substantial *sea-cobbles. |
| 1584 in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 5/1 All fishermen may fish in and upon *sea-commons, that is, all such places in rivers, creeks, or bays as are covered by the water at high tide. |
| 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 82 A *Sea-Cook has been an able Fellow in the last War. 1806 J. Davis Post-Captain v. 27 ‘A precious husband!’ exclaimed captain Brilliant... ‘A son of a sea-cook! If he was to fall overboard, I would not heave him a rope.’ c 1825 J. Choyce Log Jack Tar (1891) 30 [They] struck the landlord, and called him an out-landish son of a sea-cook in his own house. 1865 H. Kingsley Hillyars & B. lv, If he got any more cheek from him, or any other..post and rail son of a sea-cook. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 624 Boisterously trolling, like a veritable son of a seacook. 1977 A. Hunter Gently Instrumental iv. 59 You're a right son of a seacook, aren't you? |
| 1878 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 74 They say who saw one *sea-corpse cold He was all of lovely manly mould. |
| 1896 Kipling Seven Seas, Coastwise Lights 21 Go, get you gone up-Channel with the *sea-crust on your plates. |
| 1899 ‘Martello Tower’ At School & at Sea 80 ‘Mas'r Tower’, said my *sea-daddy to me one quiet evening, ‘I was wantin' to say a word to you, sir.’ |
| a 1240 *Sea dingle [see dingle n.]. c 1931 Auden in M. Roberts New Signatures (1932) 30 Doom is dark and deeper than any sea-dingle. |
| a 1641 Sir J. Finett For. Ambass. (1656) 153 Giving to the Queen some time of refreshing after her *Sea-distempers, before he would see her. 1745 Life Bampfylde-Moore Carew 22 So violently were Bampfylde and his Friend afflicted with the Sea-Distemper. |
| 1861 Lowell Pickens-and-Stealin's Rebell. Wks. 1890 V. 83 The seceding States, every one of which had a *sea-door open to the invasion of an enemy. 1884 Joaquin Miller Memorie & Rime (N.Y.) 120 Portland sits at the sea-door [of Oregon]. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Sea-Drags,..any thing that hangs over the Ship in the Sea; as Shirts, Gowns, &c. or the Boat when it is towed. |
| 1879 Geikie in Encycl. Brit. X. 266/1 The dust or sand of dried lakes or river-beds is sometimes borne away into the upper regions of the atmosphere,..it may descend again to the surface, in the form of ‘red-fog’, ‘*sea-dust’, or ‘sirocco-dust’. |
| 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 102 The Seven Icebergs are each, on an average, about a mile in length, and perhaps near 200 feet in height at the *sea-edge. 1910 N. Munro in Blackw. Mag. Aug. 231 The drystone dykes that marked them rose from the sea-edge dripping. |
| 1968 E. S. Iversen Farming Edge of Sea ii. 31 The most important group of animals to *sea farmers are mollusks (clams, oysters, and mussels), crustaceans (shrimps, crabs, and lobsters), and fishes. |
| 1962 New Scientist 18 Oct. 129 Sir Alister Hardy, of Oxford, the leading prophet of *sea⁓farming. 1972 Aquaculture I. 232 Seafarming is feasible and it can be carried out with profit. 1975 Times 24 Apr. 3/2 By next year the group of sea-farmers expect to have 1,250,000 Pacific oysters..ready for the market. A company, Western Aquaculture, is one of the sea-farming organizations. |
| 1803 Sir J. Moore in Tait's Mag. (1834) I. 333/2 The Volunteers, *Sea-Fencibles, and all, were turned out. |
| 1902 J. Masefield (title of poem) *Sea-fever. 1931 Daily Express 23 Sept. 9/4 Men with the sea-fever on them pottered about among the debris of the docks. 1980 P. Moyes Angel Death i. 9 The much smaller island..has been infected by the current sea-fever to the point of constructing a small yacht basin. |
| 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles Note ix, The phenomenon called by sailors *Sea-fire. 1903 Kipling Five Nations 74 Flying-fish about our bows, Flying sea-fires in our wake. 1947 K. Tennant Lost Haven ii. 30 About her the impersonal sea-fire broke and the strange lights vibrated and shone. |
| 1869–73 T. R. Jones Bk. Birds IV. 175 The *Sea-fliers (Longipennes). Ibid. 219 The Oar-footed Sea-fliers (Steganopodes). |
| 1879 Sir C. Nugent in Encycl. Brit. IX. 450/1 Fig., Plan of *Sea Fort, with continuous Iron wall. |
| 1751 Phil. Trans. XLVII. 213 Upon the passage, I made several trials, with the bucket *sea-gage. |
| 1817 Moore Lalla Rookh, Fire-worshippers, That Eastern Ocean, where the *sea-gipsies, who live for ever on the water, enjoy a perpetual summer in wandering from isle to isle. 1848 Simmonds' Col. Mag. Jan. 49 The sea-gipsies skimming over the waters in prahus filled with their wives and children. |
| 1747 Cooke in Hanway's Trav. (1762) I. iv. lviii. 266 We observed a great quantity of *sea-glass [note Commonly called isinglass, of which lanthorns are made]. 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 240/1 Our object in visiting the reefs was to look through the sea-glasses, which consist of funnels of wood about a yard long, with a piece of glass at the lower end. |
| 1583 in N. Riding Rec. (1894) I. 250 [They] have had *seagroves [? read sea-graves] chosen..from tyme to tyme for the presenntynge of all such wreckes and Regall fishes. |
| 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. v. 366 It was Grenville who introduced a more than Spanish *sea-guard of British America. 1902 Times 15 Aug. 5/3 The [naval] review of this week may also be regarded as a kind of national stock-taking of the Empire's sea-guard. |
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xlii. 8 By y⊇ name of (depth) he sheweth that y⊇ temptacions, wherwith he was assaulted might bee compared too *seagulfes. a 1593 Marlowe Dido v. (1594) F 4 b, I hope that that which loue forbids me doe, The Rockes and Sea-gulfes will performe at large, And thou shalt perish in the billowes waies. |
| 1531 Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII, V. 181 Chawlke for making of a *see hedd be the West Bray gate, which was brokyn by the great rage of the see. |
| 1821 Shelley Hellas 632 The Sirocco..drove his flock of thunder-clouds Over the *sea-horizon. 1878 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. x. 306 A luminous sheet which grazes the sea-horizon. |
| 1835 Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. Explan. Terms p. xv, *Sea ice, ice within which there is a separation from the land. 1909 Edin. Rev. Oct. 484 Travelling over the sea-ice. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick I. xvi. 111 Those thews ran not through base blocks of land wood, but deftly travelled through sheaves of *sea⁓ivory. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. (ed. 4) 78 Sea Ivories, Horns, Bone, &c. manufactured and rough. 1968 G. Jones Hist. Vikings i. i. 23 Southwards..went skins and furs, amber, sea-ivory, and slaves. |
| 1847 H. Melville Omoo xvi. 58 Jermin, *sea-jockey that he was, sometimes stood in the fore-chains. 1897 Outing Dec. 234/1 Aboard one of these well-balanced and swift little vessels the sea jockey's art can easily be acquired. 1971 D. Conover One Man's Island 67 The sea jockeys have taken over the waterways... Outboard cruiser owners—sea jockeys, as we call them. |
| 1963 Times 2 Mar. 8/4 Their employment in certain roles will depend largely on their *sea-keeping qualities. 1972 C. Mudie Motor Boats & Boating 144 Maximum speeds have crept up from some forty knots to eighty knots in ten years and seakeeping has improved out of all recognition with rough water speeds nearly doubled. |
| 1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise of ‘Cachalot’ 133 But for the build and *sea-kindliness of the Cachalot, she could not have come out of that horrible cauldron again. 1936 C. Winchester Shipping Wonders of World I. 690/3 The Livonia..proved her ‘sea⁓kindliness’ by crossing the Atlantic in the worst of weather. 1976 Yachting World Oct. 110/2 Of course, the boat doesn't usually match true wind speed in open sea conditions, but it does exhibit truly phenomenal sea⁓kindliness with the hydrofoils set in moderate and heavy conditions. |
| 1876 Whitby Gloss., *Sea-kindly. 1958 J. L. Kent Ships in Rough Water xi. 157 A seakindly ship is one which rides the seas in rough weather without shipping green water and with little spray blown inboard. 1981 Times 2 Feb. 22 There is a possibility of building hulls which can achieve speeds in excess of 30 knots on a waterline length of only 75 metres. These..should be extremely sea-kindly. |
| 1827 Montgomery Pelican Island ii. (1828) 30 A *sea-lake shone amidst the fossil isle. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 161 The slumbering sea-lake. |
| 1878 Tennyson Revenge v, And the little Revenge ran on thro' the long *sea-lane between. 1948 British Birds XLI. Suppl. 1 After some months on its sea-lanes one could not but feel that the true answer to any one question could only be known if it were possible to cover the whole area in a matter of a few days. 1978 J. A. Michener Chesapeake 346 Can we keep the sea lanes open? |
| 1903 Kipling Five Nations 23 They forced the sea a *sea-league back. |
| 1887 ‘J. Bickerdyke’ Angling in Salt Water 24 The *Sea Leger..is a very useful piece of tackle for catching flat fish. |
| 1755 N. Magens Insurances II. 501 The Ships and Vessels belonging to the Subjects of the other Ally must be furnished with *Sea-Letters, or Passports, expressing the Name, Property and Bulk of the Ship [etc.]. 1848 Arnould Law Marine Insur. ii. iii. (1866) II. 577 In New York..a difference has been held to exist between a passport and a sea-letter, the latter term being confined to a mere certificate of ownership. |
| 1956 Sun (Baltimore) 19 Dec. 2/1 The General Eltinge will sail..tomorrow with the first of 5,500 Hungarian refugees to head toward the United States by sea... The *sealift complements commercial air services and the airlift inaugurated by United States military planes. 1967 Economist 4 Mar. 802/2 [The United States] has the air-lift and sea-lift capacity to be on hand whenever a power vacuum develops. 1972 S. Burnford One Woman's Arctic i. 15 It had been brought in by the annual sea-lift the year before. 1974 Greenville (S. Carolina) News 23 Apr. 14/3 The Middle East fighting proved, he says, our capacity to airlift and sealift needed munitions and equipment over long distances. 1980 N.Y. News 11 May 14/2 Officials put at 30,598 the total number of Cubans sealifted to freedom across the Florida strait. |
| c 1645 in Macfarlane Geogr. Collect. (S.H.S.) II. 522 Ther is a *sealoch cumeth in betwixt both the countreys of Morrour and Knodeart. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. xx. (1907) II. 84 Would any but a poet..have brought all the different marks and circumstances of a sea⁓loch before the mind, as the actions of a living and acting power? 1934 Sea loch [see fiard, fjard]. 1975 J. G. Evans Environment Early Man Brit. Isles iii. 67 The various long bays of south-west Ireland, some of which, like the sea lochs of western Scotland, have been glacially deepened as well. |
| 1839 Civ. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 11/1 The difficulties experienced in building the *sea lock at the eastern end of the [Caledonian] canal. 1959 Times 8 Dec. 13/6 Down at the sea-locks..the tugs would be worrying like strange small sea animals. |
| 1853 D. G. Rossetti Let. 16 Apr. (1965) I. 131 Your ‘*sea-log’ gave me the greatest pleasure. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sea-log, that part of the log-book relating to whatever happens while the ship is at sea. |
| 1955 J. R. R. Tolkien Return of King 149 Deep in the hearts of all my kindred lies the *sea-longing. a 1973 ― Silmarillion (1977) xxiii. 244 The sea-longing woke in his heart. |
| 1817 Canning in Parl. Deb. 322 The Admiralty ought to be constituted partly of lay and partly of *sea lords. 1872 Daily News 19 Jan., The First Sea Lord had charge of all ships in commission. 1907 Who's Who s.v. Fisher, Fisher, Admiral Sir John Arbuthnot,..2nd Sea Lord of Admiralty, 1902–3. |
| 1951 R. Macaulay Let. 12 Aug. in Lett. to Friend (1961) 173, I think I shall airmail this [letter]... But I really will *seamail the next. 1971 New Society 14 Jan. 47/1 This [order coupon] gives inland and overseas rates (airmail and seamail). |
| 1933 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) 64 *Sea marker, a device dropped from an aircraft on to water, providing a distinguishable patch for determining the drift-angle. 1944 ‘N. Shute’ Pastoral iii. 43 He began a chat with the Equipment Officer about sea-markers that did not mark. |
| 1582 J. Dee Priv. Diary (Camden) 17 The same day cam M{supr} Clement the *seamaster. |
| 1796 Hutton Math. & Phil. Dict. I. 530 Geographical Mile, which is the *sea-mile or minute. 1871 Proctor Lt. Sci. 224 At the rate of three or four hundred sea-miles an hour. |
| 1941 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. LII. 338 A number of remarkable submarine mountains, termed ‘*seamount’ by the United States Board on Geographic Names, rise sharply to heights of 1 to more than 2 miles above the gulf floor. 1959 New Scientist 1 Jan. 14/1 The few Pacific seamounts whose summits do form islands are mostly coral atolls. 1962 [see guyot]. 1977 Dædalus Summer 118 Both noticed that the magnetic field over some seamounts could be explained only if the seamount was reversely magnetized. |
| 1694 tr. Marten's Voy. Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. 30 The Ships do not feel these smaller Waves but only the great ones, that are called *Sea-Mountains. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) III. 70 That extensive flat [the sand-banks off Cape Breton] seems to be no other than the broad top of a sea mountain,..surrounded with a deeper sea. |
| 1851 Act 14 & 15 Vict. c. 26 §6 It shall not be lawful for any Person to use for the Purpose of taking Herrings any Drag Net, or *Sea Net mounted for trawling. |
| 1669 Dryden & Davenant Temp. iii. iii, This [the boatswain's whistle]..is a Badge of my *Sea-Office. |
| 1864 Webster, *Sea-pass, a document carried by neutral merchant vessels, in time of war, to show their nationality. |
| 1928 C. Dawson Age of Gods xv. 358 It is extremely improbable that the *Sea Peoples actually penetrated into the Hittite homelands. 1957 Antiquity & Survival II. 145/1 Sisera stood at the head of the Canaanite coalition, and perhaps belonged to the Sea People who invaded Palestine in the 12th century b.c. and gained control of the sea-coast. 1978 N. K. Sandars Sea Peoples iv. 83 Wild northerners..took ship to arrive on the borders of Egypt as those mysterious ‘Sea Peoples’ who so terrified Rameses III. |
| 1811 E. H. East Cases K.B. (1812) XIV. 465 The ship..was run foul of by another vessel in a gale of wind, and from that and other *sea perils received so much damage as to be obliged to put into Warberg Roads. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sea-peril, synonymous with sea-risk. |
| 1855 Hawthorne Eng. Note-bks. (1883) I. 566 The poor old fellow..seems to have been a mischief-maker,—what they call a *sea-preacher,—promoting discontent and grumbling. |
| 1910 D. W. Bone Brassbounder 64 ‘Good ol' {oqq}*sea price{cqq},’ said Martin. ‘Many an 'appy 'ome, an' garden wit' a flagstaff, is built o' {oqq}sea price{cqq}.’ 1924 R. Clements Gipsy of Horn iv. 71 Sea-price is often a figure which a Maltee Jew would hesitate to ask. 1972 N. Ayland Schooner Captain xv. 134 All the bread he would let them have was a two pound loaf, for which he charged sea price. |
| 1897 Watts-Dunton Aylwin ii. iii, Associating with fisher-boys and all the shoeless, hatless ‘*sea-pups’ of the sands. |
| 1861 Paley æschylus (ed. 2) Agamem. 921 note, Garments of the precious *sea-purple. Ibid. 933 note, The shores of Laconia..produced the sea-purple (Murex trunculus) little inferior to the Tyrian. |
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Iris, Iris marina, the *Sea Rainbow. This elegant appearance is generally seen after a violent storm. |
| 1902 R. W. Chambers Maids of Paradise x. 176 Dragging a *sea-rake over the ground [sc. the sand] behind her. |
| 1634 Massinger Very Woman v. i, I'll make..you the Neptunes of the Sea, you shall No more be *Sea-rats. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Sea-rate, the going of a chronometer as established on board, instead of that supplied from the shore [etc.]. |
| Ibid., *Sea-reach, the straight course or reach of a winding river which stretches out to sea-ward. |
| 1855 Ogilvie Suppl., *Sea-reeve. |
| 1945 E. W. Cowan Sea-Return Effects & their Elimination in AN/APS-6 (M.I.T. Radiation Lab. Rep. No. 707) 1 An airplane flying very close to the sea may be hidden by *sea return. 1959 Listener 12 Feb. 277/1 It is almost impossible to pick up that iceberg with the radar equipment, because of what we call ‘sea return’ or ‘sea clutter’. 1966 D. Taylor Introd. Radar & Radar Techniques iii. 40 The actual performance obtained with this form of A.S.V. equipment depended on aircraft height, state of sea (because of sea returns), operator's experience, etc. |
| 1727 Arbuthnot Tables Anc. Coins, etc. 273 He charged himself with all the *Sea-risque of such Vessels as carried Corn to Rome in the Winter time. 1884 G.W.R. Time Tables July 82 The Company will not be responsible for Sea risks of any kind. |
| 1893 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 9 Nov., If fish disappeared from the *sea-roads and fiords. 1906 Outlook 19 May 677/1 We hold the great sea-roads to the East. 1907 T. C. Middleton Geogr. Knowl. Discov. Amer. 25 The Vivaldi brothers of Genoa..in 1291 essayed a sea⁓road to India. |
| 1885 Science 22 May 424 The group [of Salvelini] includes fontinalis, known in the *searun condition as immaculatus. 1896 Jordan & Evermann Fishes N. & Mid. Amer. 492 Sea-run specimens are nearly uniform silvery. |
| 1872 Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 324 Petrels..are oceanic birds..; excepting the *sea-runners, none of them dive. |
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 10 My Tables are not yet one quarter emptied of my notes out of their Table, which..is, as it were a *Sea Rutter diligently kept amongst them from age to age. |
| 1911 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Sea Scouting for Boys 8 *Sea Scouts are of two kinds, viz. (1) Coastguard Scouts; (2) Seamen Scouts. 1912 C. Beresford in W. Baden-Powell Sea Scouting & Seamanship for Boys p. vi, The Sea Scouts were formed as an auxiliary to..the Boy Scouts. The object of the Sea Scouts is to teach lads at or near the sea seamanship, navigation, pilotage, knotting and splicing, how to handle boats under oars and sail, [etc.]. 1950 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IX. 87/1 The boy who is fond of the sea can become a Sea Scout... There are Sea Scout Troops on rivers and inland waterways as well as on the sea. 1977 Listener 24 Mar. 382/3, I was a sea scout and sailed and rowed boats. |
| 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 110 Languishing..for the land and its vegetable productions, (an inclination constantly attending every stage of the *sea-scurvy). 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 423/2 In sea-scurvy..a similar state occurs. |
| 1925 J. Proudman in Monthly Notices R. Astron. Soc. (Geophysical Suppl.) I. 247 By ‘*sea-seiches’ we mean those oscillations of fairly definite period but of irregular amplitude and phase which are frequently observed on the sea coast. 1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 42 These modes have been called sea seiches..and are basically similar to the transient oscillations or seiches set up by wind and atmospheric pressure in closed basins. |
| 1744 Gen. Even. Post No. 1670 On Saturday the 14th Day of July next will be held the Anniversary Meeting of the Society of *Sea-Serjeants. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Sea-sergeants, a society of gentlemen, belonging to the four maritime counties of South Wales... It was a secret association of early date, revived in 1726, and dissolved about 1765. |
| 1738 [G. Smith] Cur. Relat. II. v. 8 There are a great many *Sea Shoals floating about the Sea, between which the Fishermen in still Weather look out for Whales. 1903 Morley Gladstone iv. vii. (1905) I. 346 Like quicksands or sea-shoals. |
| 1769–80 Falconer Dict. Marine ii, Avoir le pied marin, to wear *sea-shoes; or to walk firm in a ship like a sailor. |
| 1916 Rudder Apr. 175 One noticeable thing about the *sea sled..is the absence of bow-wave. 1948 R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 639/2 Sea sled, a type of construction adopted for small craft of high speed in which the ordinary V bottom is inverted in order to collect a layer of air under the bows of the boat. 1957 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) tm–10/2 Norman A. McDonald, Skokie, Ill. Filed Jan. 24, 1957. Sea Sled..For Boats. First used Mar. 15, 1953. |
| 1838 Civ. Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 136/2 The Plymouth Breakwater..has a *sea-slope of about one in five. 1883 Fortn. Rev. Feb. 277 The sea-slope of the mountains. |
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 170 Sit still, and heare the last of our *sea-sorrow. |
| 1887 W. H. White Mod. War Ships 94 The ‘*sea-speeds’ of all war-ships are always estimated on different assumptions. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 27 Apr. 10/2 The sea-speed aimed at in the contract will be about 16½ knots. |
| 1899 Geogr. Jrnl. Mar. 288 The isolated rock-masses and *sea-stacks, which we are enabled to trace by means of the soundings. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon xxi. 292 A sea-stack on the north coast of Scotland. |
| [1963 Meteorol. Gloss. (Met. Office) (ed. 4) 222 The degree of sea disturbance is reported in a ‘state of sea’ code in which the scale number increases from 0 to 9 according to the average wave height.] 1967 Jane's Surface Skimmer Systems 1967–68 85/1 The journey has been covered successfully in *Sea States 2–4, with wave heights up to 5 ft 0 in (1·5 m). 1977 Offshore Engineer Apr. 74/1 The calculator multiplies measured value of the load by a factor determined by sea-state, and compares result with safe-load for the particular crane luff angle specified in manufacturer's table. |
| a 1618 Rates Marchandizes M 4 b, Herrings, Shotten, vnpacked, or *Sea-sticks y⊇ Last, cont. 18 barrels, iiij l. 1641 S. Smith Herring Buss Trade 7 The sea-sticks are all the Fishing season as they come from the sea..repact on shore. 1813 Q. Rev. IX. 291 All the Herrings caught and packed to be bought by Government at 25/ a barrel of sea-sticks. |
| 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Voy. to Eng. 33 Chances of squall, collision, *sea-stroke, piracy, cold, and thunder. |
| 1902 R. W. Chambers Maids of Paradise x. 176 She was a lithe creature..with the *sea-tan on throat and knee. |
| 1663 Pepys Diary 7 Jan., Commanders did never heretofore receive any pay for the rigging time, but only for *Seatime. 1793 Rennell in Phil. Trans. LXXXIII. 193, I have, through⁓out, reckoned according to sea time; that is, the day commences at noon. 1899 Mahan in Eng. Hist. Rev. July 483 The date of this Opinion is misleading to-day, because it uses the now obsolete sea-time. 1930 Times 26 Mar. 17/4 Her sea-time beat the Bremen's best..by eighteen minutes. 1933 J. Masefield Bird of Dawning 16, I wished to get sea-time, sir, so as to be able to pass for master. 1977 Navy News Aug. 22 (Advt.), Service includes normal roster sea-time in Leander and Type 12 frigates and small ships. |
| 1847 H. Melville Omoo xxiv. 92 ‘Give him a *sea⁓toss!’ ‘Overboard with him!’ |
| 1933 Nat. Geogr. Mag. May 581/1 Freight-car contents are transferred here into the holds of liners, and recently a terminal was established which places loaded cars themselves within huge vessels called ‘*seatrains’. 1942 W. S. Churchill Second World War (1951) IV. i. xxii. 349 These equipments will sail for Suez..in two sea-trains taken from the Havana sugar traffic, doing 15 and 13 knots respectively. 1947 Sun (Baltimore) 14 July 7/3 The ships which..should be started this year..are..two for Alaskan trade specifically, two sea trains and two ‘mystery’. |
| 1876 Smiles Sc. Natur. xiv. 280 He usually visited his *sea-traps once a month. |
| 1624 Chapman Homer's Hymn to Apollo 684 The Light himselfe..made the *Sea-trod ship [τοντοπόρος νηῦς] ariue them nere The Grapefull Crissa. |
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. x. 46 All the night it [the breeze] is from the shore which is called a Turnado, or a *Sea-turne. 1792 J. Belknap Hist. New Hampsh. III. 23 Sometimes the extreme heat of several days, produces, in the maritime parts, a sea turn, and in the inland parts, a whirlwind. 1883 Howells Woman's Reason I. 97 A dull chilly morning when the sea-turn was beginning to break in a thin, chilly rain. |
| 1895 Kipling Day's Work (1898) 81 A *sea-valve that communicated directly with the water outside. 1915 Chesterton Poems 16 On them the sea-valves cluster and the grey sea-forests curl. |
| 1201 Rot. Chart. (1837) 89/1 Quieta de schiris et hundredis..de *sewake, castelwerke, taillagio, cornagio, et de omni thelonio. |
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxii. §3 Be *sæwaroðe. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 7 As he walket on þe see-warth, he segh a drownet man cast vp on þe watyr. |
| 1767 Ann. Reg. X. i. 141/1 Two time-pieces or *sea-watches. 1769–80 Falconer Dict. Marine ii. s.v. Bordee, Faire la grande Bordee, to set a watch of half the ship's crew, when in any dangerous road, usually called the sea-watch. |
| 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 455 *Sea wax, or maltha, is a solid substance found on the Baikal lake in Siberia. 1855 in Ogilvie's Suppl. |
| 1934 Sun (Baltimore) 17 Sept. 12/1 The *sea-wise reason that in a strong breeze and an attendant unruly sea that elongated prow will come down and pound against the chop or plunge into a heavy swell. 1966 T. H. Raddall Hangman's Beach i. ii. 29 The sea⁓wise folk of Halifax awaited word from Europe. |
| 1695 Congreve Love for Love iii. vi, I swear Mr. Benjamin is the verriest Wag in nature; an absolute *Sea-wit. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 98 He and his Brother Jacks lie pelting each other with Sea-Wit. 1728 ? Arbuthnot A.'s Misc. Wks. (1751) II. 164 In this Instance his absolute Sea-Wit seems to come somewhat short of the Mark. |
| 1609 E. Grimstone Hist. Netherl. 116 A *Sea-woman swimming in the Zuyderzee. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 22 Aug. 2/3 The green weed shone as silken as a sea-woman's hair. 1939 Sun (Baltimore) 1 July 20/2 Twenty-three seawomen sailed into Baltimore harbor yesterday afternoon aboard the ship William J. Stanford. 1963 Punch 21 Aug. 288/3 The endless queue of frustrated seawomen. |
| 1528 Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII, IV. ii. 2228 The ordinary reparations of the town sluices, *see works [etc.]. 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. xiii. 1079, I Was given too seawoorkes, and in them mee only did apply. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxix, He never saw sea-work to my remembrance. Never saw a shot fired by sea, except ours at Smerwick. 1897 River & Coast 29 May 12/2 Mr. Gibson well-known in connection with sea-work, including bridges, screw-pile piers, jetties, &c. |
| 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, *Sea-Yoke. |
b. In the names of marine mammalia, as
† sea-boar, some kind of large cetacean;
sea-canary, a sailor's name for the white whale or beluga,
Delphinapterus leucas, of the dolphin family (see
quot.);
sea-goose, ‘a dolphin, so called from the shape of the snout’ (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
sea-leopard, a name for various seals of the antarctic and southern seas,
esp. of the genus
Ogmorhinus (formerly
Stenorhynchus);
sea-monk, ‘the monk-seal’ (
Cent. Dict.);
† sea-monoceros = sea-unicorn 1;
sea-morse, the morse or walrus, also
attrib.;
sea-pellock dial., the porpoise (
E.D.D.);
sea-pig, applied to the porpoise, the dolphin, the dugong, etc. (see also
pig n.1 4);
sea-seal, the seal;
† sea-veal = sea-calf.
| 1634 T. Johnson tr. Parey's Chirurg. xxv. xxi. 1005 The effigies of a *Sea-Bore. Olaus Magnus writes that this monster was taken at Thyle. |
| 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 130 When under water, they [dolphins] emit a peculiar whistling sound,..and on this account the seamen often call them *sea-canaries. |
| 1664 Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 14 A *Sea-Leopard. 1825 Weddell Voy. S. Pole 22 Having seen some sea-leopards on shore, I sent the second mate to take them... This creature resembles the quadruped of the same name in being spotted. 1891 Flower & Lydekker Introd. Mammals 605 One species, Ogmorhinus leptonyx, the Sea-Leopard, widely distributed in the Antarctic and southern temperate seas. |
| 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 32 Sea Vnicorn or *Sea Mononeros. |
| 1631 J. Rous Diary (Camden) 64 A *Sea-morce as big as an oxe. 1642 Rates Merchandizes 48 Sea morse teeth the pound 00. 05. 00. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Sea-morse-teeth, a name for the canines or tusks of the hippopotamus. |
| 1826 *Sea-pig [see pig n.1 4]. 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 130 [Dolphins] are sometimes also called ‘sea-pigs’. |
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxxii. (1495) 840 The skynne of the *see Sele. 1851 Zoologist IX. 3298 The common sea-seal or elephant is very numerous on our coast [California]. |
| 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Eng. Dogs (1880) 19 The sea Calfe,..other more largely name a *Sea Vele. |
c. In names of birds:
sea-brant, (
a)
U.S., the white-winged scoter,
Œdemia deglandi; (
b) ‘the brant- or brent-goose’ (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
sea-bumblebee = sea-dove (ibid.);
sea-coot,
† (
a) the cormorant; (
b) the guillemot (see
coot n.1 1); (
c) a scoter of the genus
Œdemia (
Cent. Dict.); (
d) the American coot (see
coot n.1 2);
sea-coulter, the puffin,
Fratercula arctica;
sea-dotterel, the turnstone,
Strepsilas interpres; also a local name for the ring-plover;
sea-dove, the little auk,
Mergulus alle;
sea-drake, a cormorant or sea-crow; also
U.S., the male eider-duck;
sea-goose U.S., a phalarope (see
quot.);
sea-kittie, a
dial. name for the kittiwake, also for any sea-gull;
sea-magpie = sea-pie1;
† sea-moit [F.
mouette], a sea-gull;
† sea-peacock, the Balearic or Crowned Crane;
sea-piet,
-pilot = sea-pie1;
sea-plover, a local name for
Squatarola helvetica;
sea-quail U.S., the sea-dotterel or turnstone;
sea-skimmer, a skimmer, a bird of the genus
Rhynchops;
sea-titling, the rock-pipit;
† sea turtle-dove = sea-turtle1;
sea-whaup Sc., a species of sea-gull;
sea-widgeon, (
a) ‘the pintail duck’; (
b) ‘the scaup-duck’ (
Funk's Stand. Dict.);
sea-woodcock, (
a) some West Indian bird; (
b) applied
dial. to various birds,
e.g. the bar-tailed godwit,
Limosa lapponica, the oyster-catcher or
sea-pie, and the little grebe,
Trachybaptes fluviatilis.
| 1888 Trumbull Names & Portr. Birds 99 *Sea Brant. |
| 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 137 The flesh of the Bitter and *Sea Coote is good. |
| 1684 Sibbald Scotia Illustr. ii. iii. vii. 22 Avis Marina *Sea-Coulter dicta. |
| a 1672 Willughby Ornith. (1676) 231 Morinellus marinus... The Turnstone or *Sea-Dotterel. 1805 G. Barry Orkney Isl. 300 The Turnstone or Sea Dotterel (charadrius morinellus Lin. Syst.). |
| 1826 J. F. Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. XIII. i. 34 (Mergulus melanoleucos)... *Sea-dove. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxvii, Or if I was a say-dove, to fly unto the shoor. |
| 1632 Sherwood, *Sea-drake, sea-raven, or sea-cormorant, diable de mer. 1861 [see sea-duck 1]. |
| 1861 Coues in Proc. Philad. Acad. 229 The [Phalaropus] fulicarius and hyperboreus are both known by the..inappropriate, though curious name of ‘*Sea-geese’. |
| 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 206 Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)... *Sea kittie (Norfolk; Suffolk). |
| 1805 Sporting Mag. XXV. 226 *Sea-magpye. |
| 1681 Grew Musæum i. §iv. iv. 77 The Egg of the *Sea-Moit. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) II. 362 Some have described them [the Balearic cranes] by the name of the *Sea Peacock. |
| 1710 Sibbald Fife & Kinross 46 Hæmotopus Bellonii, the *Sea-Piot. 1880 Black White Wings xx, There is no screaming sea-pyot to give warning. |
| 1891 Century Dict., *Sea-pilot. |
| 1682 A. Mudie Pres. St. Scot. i. 12 *Sea-plover, Pewits, Woodcoks [etc.]. |
| 1888 Trumbull Names & Portr. Birds 186 *Sea Quail. |
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 333/1 Brisson placed in his twenty-third order..the Gulls,..Terns, *Sea-skimmer or Rhyncopsalia. |
| 1872 Latham Dict., *Sea-titling. |
| a 1672 Willughby Ornith. (1676) 245 Columba Groenlandica dicta. The Greenland-Dove or *Sea-Turtle⁓Dove. |
| 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgr. Land of Burns 208 The *sea whaups cry As they rise frae the whitening roar. |
| 1624 Capt. Smith Gen. Hist. v. 171 Coots and Red-shankes, *Sea-wigions, Gray-bitterns [etc.]. |
| 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isles 106 There is another kind of Becunes, by some called *Sea-Wood-Cocks from the figure of the Beak. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Norf. Fishes Wks. 1835 IV. 329 A scolopax or sea woodcock of Rondeletius. 1887 A. C. Smith Birds Wilts. 423 In consequence of their great length of beak, they [sc. the bar-tailed godwits] are often called ‘Sea Woodcocks’. |
d. In the names of fishes, jelly-fishes, molluscs, shells, etc., as
sea-acorn (see
acorn 4); also
sea-acorn shell;
sea-anemone (see
anemone 2);
sea-angel, the angel-fish;
sea-arrow, (
a) a mollusc of the genus
Ommastrephes; (
b) a member of the
Sagittidæ;
sea-attorney, ‘the ordinary brown and rapacious shark’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk. 1867);
sea-barrel, an ascidian of the class
Tunicata;
sea-barrow, the egg-case of the skate;
sea-basket, a basket-fish or gorgon's head;
† sea-beard, a sertularian coral (see
quot.);
sea-biscuit = sand dollar s.v. sand n.2 10 b;
† sea-bleb = sea-blubber 2;
† sea-blewling [
cf. G.
bläuling pilchard], some bluish fish;
sea-blub = sea-blubber 2;
sea-bread = sea-cracker;
sea-bristle, a sertularian polyp,
Plumularia setosa;
sea-bug,
† (
a) a triton shell; (
b) (see
quot. 1884);
sea-bun, the heart-urchin;
sea butterfly, a mollusc of the sub-class
Pteropoda;
† sea-button, a sea-urchin (
cf. button-fish s.v. button n. 12);
sea-cactus, a holothurian of the family
Thyonidæ;
sea-cap, ‘a basket-shaped sponge which sometimes attains great size, found in Florida’ (
Cent. Dict.);
† sea-capon (see
quot.);
sea-carnation, a kind of sea-anemone;
sea-caterpillar, (
a) a marine worm of the genus
Polynoë; (
b) a chiton shell;
sea-catfish, a name for various marine siluroid fishes;
sea-centipede, (
a) a large marine errant annelid; (
b) an isopod of the family
Idoteidæ;
† sea-chameleon, the
bleak;
sea-chestnut, a sea-urchin;
† sea-chough, ?
= sea-crow;
† sea-chub (see
quot.);
sea-clam one of several species of clam found on the Atlantic coast of North America,
esp. the surf clam,
Spisula solidissima;
cf. hen-clam;
sea-clerk, the calamary;
sea-cockroach , a crustacean of the genus
Remipes;
† sea-coralline, a coralline or coral;
sea-corn U.S., the string of egg-capsules of the whelk;
sea-cracker (see
quot.);
sea-crawfish,
-crayfish,
† (
a) (see
crayfish n. 2); (
b) a crustacean of the genus
Palinurus (
= crayfish n. 3 b);
sea-cross, a jelly-fish;
† sea-cup, a polyp (see
quot.);
sea-cut, the cuttlefish or calamary;
† sea-cypress, a sertularian polyp;
sea-dace, the sea-perch or bass;
sea-danger, a jelly-fish;
† sea-dart (see
quots. and
dart n. 5);
sea-date,
sea date-shell (see
quots. and
date-shell s.v. date n.1 4);
† sea dog-fish, the
sea-fox or
sea-ape;
† sea-emperor, a swordfish;
† sea-fig, a polyp (see
quot.);
sea-finger (see
quots.);
sea-fir, a sertularian polyp or coral;
sea-flea, the sand-flea or sand-hopper;
† sea-forty-legs = sea-centipede;
sea-frog = angler 2;
† sea-galliwasp, a Jamaican name for
Elops saurus;
† sea-gar, a crustacean (see
quot.);
sea-gherkin, one of several small holothurians, akin to the sea-cucumber;
sea-ginger (see
quot.);
† sea-grasshopper, a squill or mantis-shrimp;
sea-gudgeon (see
gudgeon n.1 1 b);
sea-hag, the hag-fish;
sea-hair, a sertularian polyp;
† sea-hare-fish, the
sea-hare (
Aplysia);
† sea hog-louse, a sea-slater;
sea-honey-comb (see
sea-corn above);
sea-insect,
† (
a) a coral-polyp (or ‘-insect’); (
b) a crustacean;
sea-jelly, a jellyfish;
† sea-kite, a kind of flying-fish;
† sea-lampern = sea-lamprey (
a);
sea-lamprey,
† (
a)
= remora 1; (
b) a marine lamprey,
Petromyzon marinus;
sea-leech, a marine annelid of the genus
Pontobdella;
sea-lemon, (
a) a nudibranchiate gastropod of the family
Dorididæ; (
b)
Austral., ‘a holothurian of the genus
Cuvieria; sea-orange’ (
Funk's Stand. Dict.);
sea-lily, a crinoid;
† sea-liver (see
quots.);
sea-locust arch. [L.
locusta], a lobster;
sea long-worm, a nemertean worm of the family
Lineidæ and genus
Lineus;
sea mantis, the mantis-shrimp;
sea-marigold, a kind of sea-anemone;
sea-mat, a polyzoan of the family
Flustridæ and genus
Flustra;
sea-mat acorn-shell (see
quot.);
sea-melon, a holothurian of the family
Pentactidæ;
sea-minnow,
† (
a) the anchovy; (
b)
dial. (see
quot.);
sea-moth, a small fish of the family Pegasidæ, found in Indo-Pacific waters and having bony plates covering the body and enlarged pectoral fins;
† sea-mulberry, a variety of coral (see
quot.);
† sea-mushroom, a sea-anemone;
† sea-nail = sea-finger (above);
† sea-navel (see
quot.);
sea-necklace (see
sea-corn above);
sea-needle, the gar-fish,
Belone vulgaris (
cf. needle-fish);
sea-orange, a large holothurian (
Lophothuria fabricii) of a globose shape and orange-coloured;
sea-orb, a swell, globe, or orb-fish;
sea-pad, a star-fish;
sea-palm, a crinoid (see
quot.);
sea-panther,
† (
a) ? a houndfish or shark; (
b) ‘a South African fish,
Agriopus torvus, of a brown color with black spots’ (
Cent. Dict.);
sea-parson, the stargazer;
sea-peach (see
quot.);
sea-pear, an ascidian or sea-squirt of the genus
Boltenia;
† sea-pelican = sea-dart;
† sea-pencil, the razor-shell or spout-fish;
sea-perch (see
perch n.1 2);
sea-pert, the
opah;
sea-pill-ball, an isopod crustacean (
Sphæroma), a globe-slater;
sea-pincushion, (
a)
= sea-barrow; (
b) ‘a kind of starfish of the genus
Goniaster’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
† sea-pipe, ? a ‘pipe-worm’;
sea-poacher, the armed bull-head or pogge;
sea-porcupine, the porcupine-fish,
Diodon hystrix;
sea-potato local U.S., an ascidian, as
Boltenia reniformis or
Ascidia mollis (
Cent. Dict.);
† sea-poult, ? a sea-hen;
† sea-priest (
cf. sea-parson);
sea-pudding,
† (
a) an
Actinia or sea-anemone; (
b) a large sea-cucumber;
sea-qualm, a jelly-fish or cuttle-fish;
sea-quince = sea-orange;
† sea-roach, the cunner;
sea-roll, ‘a holothurian’ (
Cent. Dict.);
sea-rose, (
a)
= sea-corn; (
b) ‘a sea-anemone,
Urticina nodosa, found on Newfoundland, etc.’ (
Cent. Dict.);
sea-ruff = ruff n.1 1;
sea-ruffle = sea-corn;
sea-sac, any ascidian of the class
Tunicata;
sea-salmon, a pollack, also the spotted weakfish and the white sea-bass (
Funk's Stand. Dict.);
sea-scallop, ‘the great northern scallop’ (ibid.);
sea-scurf, a polyzoan of the genus
Lepralia;
† sea-shears, ?
= sea-woodlouse;
† sea-shilling [
Du. zeeschelling], a sea-urchin;
sea-shrub, an alcyonarian polyp of the family
Gorgonidæ, a sea-fan;
sea-silkworm, a bivalve mollusc of the genus
Pinna;
sea-slater, a small isopod crustacean,
Ligia oceanica;
sea-sleeve, a cuttle-fish or calamary;
† sea-snapple (see
quot.);
sea-sow dial., the ballan wrasse;
† sea sparrow, ? the plaice;
† sea sparrow-hawk, the lizard- or snake-fish,
Synodus fœtens;
sea-squirt, any ascidian or tunicate, also
attrib.;
† sea-star-flower, a sea-anemone;
sea-stickle,
-stickleback, the (marine) fifteen-spined stickleback,
Gasterosteus spinachia or
Spinachia vulgaris;
† sea-stickling, ?
= the
glaucus of Pliny;
† sea-stranger Sc., the adder-pike,
Trachinus vipera;
sea-strawberry, ‘a kind of polyp,
Alcyonium rubiforme’ (
Cent. Dict.);
sea-sucker, a sucker, a fish of the family
Cyclopteridæ;
† sea-sun, a kind of starfish;
sea-sunflower, a sea-anemone;
sea-surgeon, ‘a surgeon-fish’ (
Cent. Dict.);
sea-tamarisk, a sertularian polyp;
sea-tench, ‘the black sea-bream,
Cantharus lineatus’ (
Cent. Dict.);
sea-thorn (see
quot.);
sea tiger = barracuda;
† sea-tod Sc., the ballan wrasse,
Labrus maculatus;
† sea-torchthistle, a variety of sea-anemone;
sea-umbrella, ‘a pennatulaceous polyp of the genus
Umbellularia’ (
Cent. Dict.);
sea-vampire, ‘a devil-fish or manto’ (ibid.);
sea-washball, a local name for the egg-case of the whelk;
sea wasp, a poisonous jellyfish belonging to the order Cubomedusæ, found in Indo-Pacific waters;
sea-weasel, ‘an old name of the lamprey’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
sea-weever, the greater weever (
Trachinus draco);
sea-whip = sea-fan;
sea-wife, a kind of wrasse,
Acantholabrus yarrelli;
sea wood-borer, a wood-shrimp,
Chelura terebrans;
sea-woodlouse, (
a) a sea-slater; (
b) a chiton or coat-of-mail shell, so called from resembling the above;
sea-wreath, a sertularian polyp.
| 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 33 *Sea Acorns, Balani. 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 531 The Sea Acorn Shells. |
| 1742 H. Baker Microsc. ii. v. 99 The Sea-Mushroom.., some Naturalists have called it the *Sea-Anemone. 1855, 1881 [see anemone 2]. |
| 1891 Century Dict., *Sea-angel. 1896 tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 384 There are Sharks (Squatina, the Sea-angel), which are somewhat flattened. |
| 1851 Woodward Mollusca 73 The sailors call them ‘*sea-arrows’ or ‘flying squids’ from their habit of leaping out of the water. 1854 A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 142 Sea-Arrows (Sagittidæ). |
| 1849 H. Melville Mardi I. 55 There is the ordinary Brown Shark, or *sea-attorney, so called by sailors. 1854 Putnam's Mag. Apr. 362/2 The dippers dip carefully, lest they get a stroke from the ray..or a rip from his cousin the ‘sea-attorney’. |
| 1876 tr. Haeckel's Hist. Creat. II. 150 Sea-sacs, Tunicata, Sea-squirts, *Sea-barrels. |
| 1860 Worcester (cites Gentl. Mag.), *Sea-barrow. |
| 1865 T. R. Jones Anim. Creation 65 The *Sea-baskets (Gorgonocephalus). |
| 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 15 Lobster's horn Coralline, or *Sea-beard. |
| 1949 G. E. & N. MacGinitie Nat. Hist. Marine Anim. xxvi. 236 The sand dollars, *sea biscuits, or cake urchins..resemble very much flattened sea urchins. 1972 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 12 Mar. 16/4 White people call them [sc. sea-urchins] sea-biscuits or sand-dollars. |
| 1700 C. Leigh Nat. Hist. Lancs., etc. i. 133 We have frequently cast upon the sea-shore the *Sea-Blebs, the whole substance of which seems to be nothing but a perfect Gelly. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 135 Glaucus Bellonii... Idem forte, quem piscatores nostri *Sea-Blewling vocant. |
| 1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) I. 89 Those called the Discophora, ‘sea-nettles’, ‘*sea-blubs’, or jelly-fishes. |
| 1888 *Sea-bread [see sea-cracker below]. |
| 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 19 *Sea-Bristles. 1843 Zoologist I. 209 Sea-bristles (Plumularia setacea). |
| 1602 Dolman La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1618) iii. 783 The Triton (otherwise called the *sea Bug). 1884 Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 701 These [Chiton] shells have been called by different names,..such as..‘Sea-bug’, and ‘Sea-caterpillar’. |
| 1882 Cassell's Nat. Hist. VI. 270 Spatangus (Heart-urchin or *Sea-bun). |
| [1883 Science I. 508/1 The winged..mollusks..known to the Neapolitan fishermen as farfalle di mare, or sea-butterflies.] 1909 Shackleton Heart Antarctic II. 266 A few *sea-butterflies (Pteropods) of large size and red colour. 1932 Borradaile & Potts Invertebrata 494 The Pteropoda (sea butterflies)..are modified for pelagic life. 1972 M. S. Gardiner Biol. Invertebrates v. 161/1 Planktonic ‘pteropods’..or ‘sea butterflies’. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 183 Echinus Minimus..the *Sea-Button. |
| 1854 A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 330 *Sea-Cactuses (Thyonidæ). |
| 1620 Venner Via Recta iv. 75 The Sole,..For whitenes [etc.]..far excelleth all other Sea fish, and therefore may well be termed the *Sea Capon. 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 30 Soles, or Tonguefish, or Sea Capon, or Sea Partridge. |
| 1767 J. Ellis in Phil. Trans. LVII. 436 The Actinia dianthus or *Sea carnation. |
| a 1843 Southey Comm.-Pl. Bk. (1851) IV. 401 Herrings [feed] on an insect called the *sea caterpillar. 1869 W. S. Dallas tr. F. Müller's Facts for Darwin 111 The Sea Caterpillars (Polynoë) at first possess only a few body-segments. 1884 Sea-caterpillar [see sea-bug above]. |
| 1882 Jordan & Gilbert Synopsis Fishes N. Amer. 110 Arius felis... *Sea Cat-fish. Ibid. 111 ælurichthys marinus... Sea Cat-fish. |
| 1858 Baird Cycl. Nat. Sci. s.v. Aunelida, To this order [Dorsibranchiata] belong the *sea centipedes or Nereidæ. Ibid. s.v. Isopoda, The sea centipedes, Idotea. |
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 187 They are called *Sea Chameleons also. 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 24 Sea Bleak or Bley, or Sea Camelion. |
| 1666 *Sea-chestnut [see sea-egg 1]. |
| 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 24 *Sea Chough. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 151 Capito..the *Sea-Chub, or Pollard. |
| 1765 J. Bartram Jrnl. 29 July in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. (1942) XXXIII. 16/2 There is many clam shels of different sises..y⊇ very same with our *sea clams. 1782 [see hard-shelled a. 1]. 1864 Sea-clam [see hen n. 6]. 1935 J. C. Lincoln Cape Cod Yesterdays 49 Along the outer bar, almost two miles from shore..were the large ‘sea clams’. 1960 J. J. Rowlands Spindrift 83 Sea clams are from four to six inches long and about four inches wide. |
| 1623 Cockeram iii, Calæmarie, a fish called the *Sea Clarke, hauing as it were a knife and a pen. 1896 tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 323 The Sea-clerk (Loligo vulgaris). |
| 1792 M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 77 The oniscus physodes, or *sea-cockroach, is about two inches long; it has fourteen feet without nippers. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Corallina, The small, fir-like, *sea-coralline. |
| 1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) I. 333 Presenting an appearance well-described by the name ‘*sea-corn’ applied to them by the New England fishermen. 1891 Century Dict., Sea-corn... Also sea-ear, sea-ruffle, sea-honeycomb, sea-necklace, etc. |
| 1888 A. Heilprin Anim. Life Sea-shore v. 115 The ‘sea-bread’ or ‘*sea-crackers’, rounded yellowish masses..are also skeletal parts of sponges. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxxii. xi. II. 451 The *sea Craifish Cammarus. 1694 tr. Marten's Voy. Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. 113 The sea Crawfish without a Tail, or Sea Spider. 1856 Engl. Cycl., Nat. Hist. IV. 174 The Palinuri or Sea-Crawfish, as they are popularly called, have the body nearly cylindrical. |
| 1850 Miss Pratt Comm. Things of Sea-side v. 326 Our common species [of jelly-fish] are termed Sea-blubbers, Sea-dangers, Falling stars, or *Sea-crosses. |
| 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 87 Alcyonium, seu Cyathus marinus. *Sea Cup. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny ix. xv. I. 244 Good store of *Sea-cuts or Calamaries. |
| 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 7 *Sea-Cypress. a 1776 ― Zoophytes (1786) 38 Sertularia cupressina. Sea Cypress. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 143 Apua..the Spirling, Smy, or *Sea-Dace. 1863 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 231 The..Basse, or Sea-Dace, or Sea-Perch. |
| 1850 *Sea-danger [see sea-cross above]. |
| 1664 Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 17 A long narrow fish called the Sea-Pelican for the form of its head, also it is called the *Sea-Dart. |
| 1797 Holcroft Stolberg's Trav. III. lxv. (ed. 2) 23 A kind of sea insect..called..*Sea-date. 1858 Baird Cycl. Nat. Sci. s.v. Lithodomus, It [the bivalve L. lithophagus].. is generally known by the name of the ‘sea date shell’. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Peis espase, the sea Fox, or *sea Dog-fish. |
| 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 25 *Sea Emperour or Sword Fish. |
| 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 82 Alcyonium pulmonis instar lobatum... *Sea Fig. |
| 1748 Veg. Renatus of Distemp. Horses 42 Those small Shell Fishes they call Sea-nails or *Sea-fingers. 1876 Smiles Sc. Natur. xvi. 329 ‘Dead-men's paps, sea-fingers, etc.’ (Alcyonium digitatum). |
| 1633 Johnson Gerarde's Herbal iii. clxv. 1574 Abies marina Belgica, Clus. Clusius his *Sea Firr. 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 4 Corallina marina Abietis forma... Sea-Fir. a 1776 ― Zoophytes (1786) 36 Sertularia abietina, Sea Fir Coralline. 1870 Nicholson Man. Zool. vii. (1875) 90 The Sea-firs (Sertularida). |
| 1658 Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1127 The *Sea-fleas are larger... It shewes a wonderful deal of agility when men strive to catch it. |
| 1750 G. Hughes Barbados 259 The *Sea-Forty-Legs. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxxii. v. II. 434 The decoction of *sea-frogs sodden in wine and vinegre. 1854 Badham Halieut. 251 A sea-frog as prepared by the Neapolitan boatmen for a show. |
| 1713 Ray Syn. Pisc. 159 Saurus maximus non maculatus; The Sean fish or *Sea Galley Wasp. |
| 1674 ― Catal. Fishes 105 Shell-Fish. Crustaceous. Long Oyster, *Sea-gar, Red Crab: Locusta marina. |
| 1841 E. Forbes Brit. Starfishes 229 The animals to which we have applied the name of *Sea-Girkins. |
| 1884 Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 841 The so-called Finger Coral or *Sea Ginger (Millepora alcicornis), the latter common name having reference to the smarting sensation which it imparts to the skin, on handling. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 175 Squillæ..Mantis..the *Sea-Grashopper. |
| 1665 *Sea-gudgeon [see sea-cob2]. 1864 W. S. Symonds Old Bones (ed. 2) 122 The Sea Gudgeon, or common goby of the aquavivarium. |
| 1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 645/1 The skeleton of the Cyclostomata (or Marsipobranchii) (lampreys and *sea-hags). |
| 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 8 Corallus muscosa denticulata procumbens [etc.]. *Sea-Hair. a 1776 ― Zoophytes (1786) 39 Sertularia operculata. Sea-Hair Coralline. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 27 Against the venom of a *sea-Hare-fish. |
| 1702 Petiver Gazophyl. i. Tab. 1 Asellus marinus, e nigro luteoque striatus. *Sea-Hog-louse. |
| 1664 Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 27 A *Sea insect called the Sea Shears. 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 73 On which different species of Sea Insects build their calcarious Nests. 1860 Wraxall Life in Sea iii. 68 The hopping sea-insects and molluscs. |
| a 1682 Sir T. Browne Norf. Fishes Wks. 1835 IV. 333 Squalders, or *sea-jellies. 1683–4 Robinson in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 478 The Urtica Marina (called Sea Gelly or Blubber). 1864 Browning Death in Desert 152, I seemed left alone Like a sea-jelly weak on Patmos strand. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny ix. xxvi. I. 249 The *sea Kite. 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 27 Sea Kite or Flying Swallow. |
| 1613 M. Ridley Magn. Bodies Pref. Magn. 3 The *sea-Lampron or Remora, that is thought to stay a ship under saile. |
| 1616 Bullokar Eng. Exp., *Sealamprie, a fish called by some Remora. c 1617 Middleton Witch i. ii. 209 A remora? what's that? Hec. A little suckstone; Some call it a sea-lamprey, a small fish. 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 467 The Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is widely dispersed in the seas of Europe, North America, and West Africa. |
| a 1682 Sir T. Browne Norf. Fishes Wks. 1835 IV. 334 Hirudines marini, or *sea-leeches. 1750 G. Hughes Barbados 258 The Sea-Leech. The common People call this the Sea, or the Black-pudding. However, I shall call it, the Sea-leech. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 382/2 The sea-leech is distinctly mentioned by Belon, Rondelet, [etc.]. |
| c 1790 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VI. 91/2 The argo, or lemon doris,..called about Brighthelmstone the *sea-lemon. 1858 Baird Cycl. Nat. Sci., Doris, the Sea Lemons. 1890 Doyle Capt. ‘Pole-Star’ 13 Numerous small medusæ and sea-lemons. |
| 1876 tr. Haeckel's Hist. Creat. II. 166 *Sea Lilies. Crinoida. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Foye marin, the *sea Liuer; a kind of Breame⁓like fish, that is but seldome seene. |
| 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 27 *Sea Locusts. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia x, The strange crabs and sea-locusts which crawled up and down the face of the masonry. |
| 1813 Bingley Anim. Biog. (ed. 4) III. 405 The *sea long-worm. |
| 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. 58 The Stomapods..are called *Sea Mantises. |
| a 1776 J. Ellis Zoophytes (1786) 7 Actinia Calendula. *Sea Marigold. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1805) III. 541 The Sea Marigold. |
| a 1776 J. Ellis Zoophytes (1786) 10 Flustra. The *Sea Matt. Ibid. 11 Flustra truncata. Square-top'd Sea Matt. 1863 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 449 Flustra denticulata (Toothed Sea Mat). |
| 1819 W. Turton Conchol. Dict. 76 Lepas Alcyonii. *Sea-mat Acorn-shell. |
| 1854 A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 330 *Sea-Melons (Pentactidæ). |
| 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 23 Anchova or *Sea Minnow. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Sea-minnow, the young of the coal-fish, Merlangus carbonarius. |
| 1905 D. S. Jordan Guide to Study of Fishes II. xiii. 239 These ‘*sea-moths’ are fantastic little fishes. 1947 K. H. Barnard Pict. Guide S. Afr. Fishes III. 76 The Dragon-fish or sea-moth..is also encased in bony plates like the sea-horses... It derives its name of sea⁓moth from its habit of skimming over the surface of the water. 1978 Nature 26 Oct. 693/1 The sea moths are a small family (Pegasidae) of marine fishes found only in the Indian and Western Pacific oceans, from East Africa to Hawaii. |
| 1752 Watson in Phil. Trans. XLVII. 465 The soft lithophyton, usually call'd the *sea-mulberry. |
| 1742 H. Baker Microsc. ii. v. 98 The *Sea-Mushroom, or Anemone:..a little Animal found frequently on the Coasts of Normandy. |
| 1678 Phillips (ed. 4), *Sea-navel, a turbinated and small shell⁓fish like a Navel. |
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 200 Certaine fishes called the *Sea-needles [Gr. βελόνη]. 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 274 This fish [the sea pike] is known by the name of the Sea Needle. 1753 *Sea orange [see orange n.1 4]. c 1800 E. C. Knight Autobiog. II. 256 Sea-oranges and Sea-lemons I have seen. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon iii. ii. 91 The Alcyonium Lyncurium of Lamouroux, commonly called the Sea-quince or Sea-Orange. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 291 The *Sea Orb, which is almost round, has a mouth like a frog... Also called the Sea Porcupine. |
| 1558 Rondelet Gesner's Hist. Anim. iv. 1106 Eliota Anglus interpretatur a Sterrefyshe. Ego ab erudito quodam Anglo audiui nominari a *Seepadde. 1661 [see pad n.1 2]. 1773 Johnson (ed. 4), Sea-pad, the star-fish. |
| 1896 tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 130 *Sea Palms (Pentacrinus) are large animals with ten arms, which may divide repeatedly. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 128 Pardalus Marinus..the *sea-Panther. 1681 Grew Musæum i. §v. i. 91 The Spoted Houndfish or Sea-Panther. |
| 1898 E. P. Evans Evol. Ethics v. 184 On account of this sanctimonious look it [the fish called stargazer] is also known as the ‘*sea parson’. |
| 1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 57 The fishermen call some of the species of the genus Cynthia by the rather appropriate name ‘*sea peach’. |
| Ibid., The..genus..Boltenia..embraces the ‘*sea pears’ of the fishermen's terminology. |
| 1664 *Sea-Pelican [see sea-dart]. |
| 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 82 The *Sea Pencil, or Watering Spout, is the most remarkable shell of this tribe. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxxii. xi. II. 452 The *sea Perches. 1857 Perley Hand-bk. N. Brunswick 25 The cunner, or sea⁓perch. 1882 J. E. Tenison-Woods Fishes N.S. Wales 33 The Rock Cod [Serranus]... These are commonly called ‘sea-perches’. |
| 1880–84 F. Day Brit. Fishes I. 119 Lampris luna... Opah, King-fish, *sea-pert. |
| 1850 A. White List Spec. Crustacea Brit. Mus. 75 Sphæroma serratum. Serrated *Sea Pill⁓ball. |
| 1860 Worcester (cites Gentl. Mag.), *Sea-pincushion, the egg of the skate. |
| 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 32 *Sea Pipes, Tubuli Marini. |
| 1808 Neill in Mem. Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc. (1811) I. 534 Cottus cataphractus..*Sea-Poacher. 1836 W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Fishes I. 70 The Armed Bullhead, Pogge. Lyrie, Sea-poacher, Pluck, Noble. 1905 D. S. Jordan Guide to Study of Fishes II. xxv. 449 The sea-poachers or alligator-fishes, Agonidæ, are sculpins enclosed in a coat of mail. |
| 1681 Grew Musæum i. §v. ii. 107 The *Sea-Porcupine, Histrix Piscis. 1858 Baird Cycl. Nat. Sci. s.v. Diodontidæ, The sea porcupine.., Diodon hystrix, is nearly spherical in shape. |
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 53 The handsome Rhombusses of the *Sea-poult, or Werrell. |
| 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 29 Priest Fish or *Sea Priest. |
| 1750 *Sea pudding [see sea-leech above]. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica (1789) 387 The Sea-Pudding. This insect..is soft and glutinous, of a cylindric form, short, and furnished with a great number of small flabby tentaculæ. 1861 *Sea-quince [see sea-orange above]. |
| 1694 tr. Marten's Voy. Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. 168 Called *Sea-qualms by the Seamen, as if they were a thick Scum of the sea coagulated together. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1805) II. 373 The Sea-qualm (a kind of Cuttle fish). |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 140 Erythrynus..the *Sea-Roach. 1722 Diaper tr. Oppian's Halieut. i. 135 Sea-Roach in ruddy Shoals frequent the Land. |
| 1850 Miss Pratt Comm. Things of Sea-side v. 282 This mass of eggs is called on the coast bladder-chain,..*sea-rose,..or wash-ball. 1896 tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 118 The Actiniaria (Sea-anemones, Sea-roses). |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 140 The *Sea-Rough. 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 27 Sea Ruff and Reeves. 1773 in Johnson (ed. 4) [and in later Dicts.]. |
| 1876 tr. Haeckel's Hist. Creat. II. 150 *Sea-sacs. Tunicata. Sea-barrels. |
| 1884 Goode, etc. Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 230 In the Gulf of Saint Lawrence they [sc. Pollock] are known as ‘*Sea Salmon’. |
| 1881 Cassell's Nat. Hist. V. 279 The *Sea⁓scurfs. |
| 1664 Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 27 A Sea insect called the *Sea Shears: It hath many scales like a wood louse, two long hornes, and a forked tayle. |
| 1713 Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. iii, Echinus planus... *Sea-Shilling. |
| 1681 Grew Musæum ii. §v. i. 242 *Sea-Shrubs. 1755 J. Ellis Corallines 56 Next in Order to the Corallines, may be ranked the Frutices coralloides, or Sea-shrubs. 1870 Nicholson Man. Zool. xiv. (1875) 145 The Gorgonidæ, or ‘Sea-shrubs’. |
| 1822–29 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) V. 291 Reaumur denominates the pinna the *sea-silk-worm. |
| 1850 A. White List Specim. Crustacea Brit. Mus. 71 Ligia oceanica. Great *Sea Slater. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Sea-sleeve, a name of the flosk or squid, Loligo vulgaris. |
| 1658 Phillips *Seasnapple, a kinde of Shell-fish, called in Latin Cochlea Veneris, i. Venus shell. |
| 1838 Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. vi. 172 Labrus maculatus... Ballan Wrasse... *Sea Sow. |
| 1672 J. Josselyn New-Eng. Rarities 27 Plaice or *Sea Sparrow. |
| 1743 Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina, etc. (1754) II. 2 The *Sea Sparrow-Hawk..is a slender long Fish. |
| 1850 Miss Pratt Comm. Things of Sea-side iii. 182 One of those strange looking things, commonly called *sea-squirts (Ascidiæ). 1880 [see appendicularian]. |
| 1767 J. Ellis in Phil. Trans. LVII. 436 The Actinia aster, or *Sea star flower. |
| 1896 tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 390 The *Sea-Stickle (Spinachia vulgaris) is exclusively marine. |
| 1880 Günther Stud. Fishes 506 The *Sea-Stickleback (Gasterosteus spinachia) is likewise a nest builder. 1896 tr. Boas' Text-bk. Zool. 377 note, The male Sea Stickleback (Spinachia vulgaris). |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 123 Glaucus..the *Sea-Stichling [sic]. |
| 1710 Sibbald Fife & Kinross 53 Draco sive Araneus minor; I take it to be the same our Fishers call the Otter-pike or *Sea-stranger. |
| 1750 G. Hughes Barbados 259 The *Sea-Sucker. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 161 One form of sea-sucker (Lepidogaster) affixes its eggs to the inside of a dead shell. |
| 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 210 There is a sort of shell-fish at the Cape, which the Europeans there call *Sea-suns. 1773 Cook Voy. (1790) I. 323 Sea-suns and sea-stars, are small round shell-fish, and receive their denominations from the great variety of prickles, which shoot from them like rays of light. |
| 1767 J. Ellis in Phil. Trans. LVII. 436 The Actinia helianthus or *Sea-sun-flower. |
| 1755 ― Corallines 4 Corallina vesiculata sparsim et alternatim ramosa [etc.]... *Sea-Tamarisk. a 1776 ― Zoophytes (1786) 36 Sertularia tamarisca. Sea-Tamarisk Coralline. |
| 1602 Carew Cornwall ii. 127 They beare..a *sea-tenche nayante proper. 1778 Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Holyhead, Sea-tenches,..and plenty of other fish. |
| 1891 Century Dict., Pustule of the sea, a sailor's name of sessile barnacles or acorn-shells. Also called *sea-thorns. |
| [1924 L. L. Mowbray in J. O. La Gorce Bk. Fishes 143 Well deserving its nickname of ‘The Tiger of the Sea’, the carnivorous Barracuda..darts at its prey on sight.] 1937 M. N. Kaplan Big Game Anglers' Paradise iv. 180 Although ichthyologists gave the great barracuda the euphonious name Sphyraena barracuda, in common parlance it bears the nom-de-guerre, ‘*Sea-tiger’. 1963 Sea tiger [see picuda]. |
| 1710 Sibbald Fife & Kinross 53 Turdi alia species; It is called by our Fishers, the *Sea-Tod or Kingervie. |
| a 1776 J. Ellis Zoophytes (1786) 2 Actinia Cereus. *Sea Torch-thistle. |
| 1755 ― Corallines 84 Alcyonium, seu Vesicaria marina... *Sea Wash-balls. |
| 1910 A. G. Mayer Medusæ of World III. 504 The flexible part of the tentacles are [sic] armed with nematocysts, the stinging power of which is so great that the name ‘*Sea Wasp’ is commonly given to these medusæ. 1966 J. H. Barnes in W. J. Rees Cnidaria & their Evolution 332 The origin of such stings was not known, but..it must have been a sea wasp. 1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds xiii. 301 We're too far south here for sea wasps. |
| 1902 H. H. Littlejohn in Encycl. Brit. XXX. 609/1 Trachinus draco or *sea-weever. |
| 1775 J. Ellis in Phil. Trans. LXVI. 1 Those [Zoophytes]..called..Gorgoniæ; and known in English by the names of sea-fans, sea-feathers, and *sea-whips. |
| 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes I. 284 The *Sea Wife. Labrus vetula [1841 (ed. 2) I. 339 Acantholabrus Yarrellii, Cuv. et Valenc.]. |
| 1850 A. White List Spec. Crustacea Brit. Mus. 56 Chelura terebrans. *Sea Wood-Borer. |
| 1858 Baird Cycl. Nat. Sci., Chitonidæ,..*Sea Wood-lice. Ibid. s.v. Isopoda, The sea wood lice, Asellidæ. 1863 Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. III. 631 The Great sea-Slater, or Sea-woodlouse. 1860 *Sea-wreath [see sea-bell 2]. 1865 T. R. Jones Anim. Creation 35 The Sea-wreaths (Sertulariæ) are known to every sea-side visitor. |
e. In names of seaweeds:
sea-apron, the genus
Laminaria (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
sea-bamboo S. Afr., a large kelp,
Ecklonia maxima;
= sea-trumpet 3;
sea-belt,
Laminaria saccharina (in Turner
perh. Zostera marina);
sea-bottle, the bladder-wrack; also applied to the pod or vesicle of some American fuci;
sea-catgut = sea-lace;
sea-chitterling, ‘common name for the plant otherwise called
Enterophytum’ (Mayne
Expos. Lex. 1858);
† sea-cluster,
-colander (see
quots.);
sea-furbelow, the
Laminaria bulbosa;
sea-girdle,
Laminaria digitata; also
= sea-belt;
† sea grass-wrack, the seaweed
Zostera;
sea-hanger,
Laminaria bulbosa;
sea-lace,
Chorda filum;
sea-lentil, the gulf-weed;
† sea-lungwort, the seaweed
Ulva lactuca or
sea-lettuce;
sea-membrane, dulse,
Rhodymenia palmata (Cassell's
Encycl. Dict. 1887);
sea-network (see
network n. 3);
sea-ore (see
ore n.5);
sea-points = sea-lace;
† sea-ragged-staff, ? the
Ascophyllum nodosum;
sea-staff = sea-girdle;
sea-tang,
-tangle (see
tang n.3,
tangle n.1);
sea-tape (see
quot.);
sea-thong, one of several chord-like seaweeds, as
Chorda filum,
Himanthalia lorea, etc.;
sea-thread (see
quots.);
sea-turnip, a seaweed of the genus
Nereocystis, having a turnip-shaped protuberance of the stem;
sea-wand,
Laminaria digitata = tangle n.1 2;
sea-whip,
-whipcord,
-whiplash = sea-thong;
sea-whistle,
Ascophyllum nodosum. See also
sea-oak, seaware,
seaweed, seawrack, etc.
| 1798 S. H. Wilcocke tr. Stavorinus' Voy. East Indies I. i. i. 25 On the 10th of November, we saw for the first time trumpets, or *sea-bamboo, floating on the ocean. 1822 W. J. Burchell Trav. Interior S. Afr. I. ii. 28 The Dutch call this plant Zee bambos (sea-bamboo), and boys after cutting its stem to a convenient length when dry, sometimes amuse themselves in blowing it as a horn or trumpet. 1946 L. G. Green So Few are Free viii. 116 The place is called Bamboes Bay, because the sea bamboo is piled high on the beach after heavy gales. 1973 Stand. Encycl. S. Afr. IX. 562/2 The largest kelp of Southern Africa is the sea-trumpet or sea-bamboo..which commonly reaches lengths of over 6 metres. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 27 Cingulum is named in greeke Zoster,..& is like a gyrdel, wherefore it maye be named in englishe, fysshers gyrdle or sea gyrdel, or *sea belte. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 156/1 Laminaria saccharina, or the sugar sea-belt. |
| 1825 Jennings Dial. W. Eng. 66 Many of the species of the sea-wrack, or fucus, are called *sea-bottles, in consequence of the stalks having round or oval vesicles or pods in them. 1859 J. M. Jones Nat. in Bermuda 176 That very curious marine plant, commonly designated the ‘sea bottle’... These ‘sea bottles’ are transparent, and shaped like a small balloon. |
| 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 322/2 The Chorda filum, or *sea cat-gut, of Orkney. |
| 1777 Lightfoot Flora Scot. II. 968 Gut Laver or *Sea Chitterling. |
| 1728 Bradley Dict. Bot. II, *Sea-cluster, Uva marina. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot., *Sea-colander, the American name in the North-eastern States of Agarum Turneri. |
| 1808–30 Edinb. Encycl. X. 20/2 Fucus bulbosus..sometimes called *sea furbelows. 1860 Tennyson Sea Dreams 257 The dimpled flounce of the sea-furbelow. |
| 1548 *Sea-girdle [see sea-belt above]. c 1550 Lloyd Treas. Health (c 1560) X 7, Take of dragons bloud, seagyrdel [etc.]. 1845 Gosse Ocean i. (1849) 34 The sea-weed usually called in England the Sea-girdle... (Laminaria digitata). |
| 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) II. 497 Zostera... *Sea Grass-wrack. |
| 1633 Johnson Gerarde's Herbal iii. clxiv. 1569 The diuided one they may call *Sea Hangers. |
| 1666 *Sea-lace [see sea-point below]. 1877 Bryant Sella 136 The dulse with crimson leaves, and streaming far, Sea-thong and sea-lace. |
| 1633 Johnson Gerarde's Herbal App. xxii. 1615 Lenticula marina angustifolia. Narrow leaued *Sea Lentill. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal iii. clix. 1377 Lichen Marinus. *Sea Lungwoort, or Oister greene. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden cvi. |
| 1666 Merrett Pinax 40 Fucus marinus rotundus, *Sea points or laces. |
| 1633 Johnson Gerarde's Herbal iii. clxiv. 1569 M{supr}. Thomas Hickes being in our companie did fitly name it *Sea ragged Staffe. Ibid. 1570 Fucus spongiosus nodosus. Sea ragged Staffe. |
| 1865 Mrs. L. L. Clarke Seaweeds vi. 116 Laminaria Digitata. Sea-girdles, Tangle, *Sea-staff, Sea-wand, Cows'-tails. |
| 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 720 Laminaria saccharina is called *Sea-tape in China, where it is used for food and other purposes. |
| 1633 Johnson Gerarde's Herbal iii. clxiv. 1568 Quercus marina secunda. *Sea Thongs. 1845 Gosse Ocean i. (1849) 43 The common Sea-thong (Himanthalia lorea). |
| 1843 Zoologist I. 209 The knotted *sea-thread (Laomedea geniculata). |
| 1878 B. Harte Man on Beach 39 The long, snaky, undulating stems of the *sea turnip. |
| 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 156 Laminaria digitata, or *sea-wand. |
| 1858 K. H. Digby Children's Bower II. 67 These sea-laces or *sea-whips. |
| 1833 Hooker Brit. Flora II. i. 275 Chordaria flagelliformis, Ag. (common *Sea-Whipcord). |
| Ibid. 276 Chorda Filum, Lamour. (common *Sea Whip-lash). |
| 1808–30 Edinb. Encycl. X. 19/1 Boys amuse themselves by cutting them [the fronds] transversely near the end, and making whistles of them; hence the name *sea-whistles sometimes bestowed on the plant [Fucus nodosus]. |
f. In names of plants growing on the sea-shore:
sea arrow-grass, a marsh plant,
Triglochin maritima, with fleshy grass-like leaves and spikes of green flowers;
sea-ash,
Xanthoxylon Clava-Herculis or
carolinianum;
sea-aster = sea-starwort;
† sea ay-green = sea-houseleek;
sea-beard, a marine plant,
Cladophora (
Conferva)
rupestris;
sea-beet, (
a) a variety of the common beet,
Beta vulgaris, often called
Beta maritima; (
b)
= sea-lavender b;
sea-bent,
Psamma or
Ammophila arenaria (see
bent n.1 1);
sea-berry,
† (
a) some South American plant; (
b)
Austral., applied to the genera
Haloragis and
Rhagodia;
sea-bindweed,
Convolvulus soldanella;
sea-blite,
Suæda fruticosa;
sea-buckthorn,
Hippophaė rhamnoides;
sea-bugloss = sea-lungwort;
sea-burdock, the small burdock or burweed,
Xanthium strumarium;
sea campion,
Silene maritima;
sea-catchfly = prec.;
sea-chickweed = sea-sandwort;
sea cock's-foot-grass,
Spartina stricta;
sea coco,
coco-nut (see
coco 6);
sea-cole,
-colewort, (
a)
= sea-kale;
† (
b)
= sea-bindweed;
sea convolvulus = sea-bell 1,
sea-bindweed;
sea-cushion = sea-pink a;
sea cypress (see
quot.);
sea-daffodil, the bulbous plant
Pancratium maritimum, also the allied Peruvian plant
Hymenocallis (
Ismene)
calathina;
† sea-dock,
Acanthus mollis;
† sea dog's grass, a maritime variety of couch-grass;
sea-fennel, samphire;
sea-gilliflower = sea-pink a;
sea-goosefoot = sea-blite;
sea-gromwell, the sea-bugloss (
Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1887);
sea hard-grass, one of various maritime species of hard-grass;
sea-heath, a ‘heath’ of the genus
Frankenia;
sea hog's-fennel (see
quot.);
sea-houseleek, the aloe;
† sea-hull = sea-holly;
sea-hulver = sea-holly (see
hulver); also
attrib.;
sea ivory, a pale greyish lichen,
Ramalina siliquosa, growing in flattened branches on sea-shore rocks; see also sense 23 a;
† sea-ivy, ?
= prec.;
sea-kemp Sc. = sea-plantain;
sea-laurel, the seaside laurel;
sea-lavender,
† (
a) ? some species of
Heliotropium; (
b)
Statice Limonium (see
lavender n.2 1 b);
sea lungwort, the oyster-plant,
Mertensia maritima;
sea matgrass,
matweed,
Psamma arenaria;
† sea-mugwort = sea-wormwood;
sea myrtle = groundsel-tree s.v. groundsel n.1 2;
† sea-narcissus = sea-daffodil;
† sea-navel,
-navelwort, some plant resembling the genus
Cotyledon;
sea-onion (see
onion n. 2 c);
sea-orach,
Atriplex littoralis;
sea ox-eye, the seaside ox-eye (see
ox-eye 3 e);
sea-parsley (see
quot.);
† sea-pennywort = sea-navelwort;
sea-plantain,
Plantago maritima;
sea-poppy (see
poppy n. 3);
† sea pot-herb = sea-orach;
sea-purslane (see
purslane 2);
sea-purslane tree (see
quot.);
sea-radish, a variety of the wild radish, sometimes regarded as a species (
Raphanus maritimus);
sea-ragwort, a common cultivated foliage-plant,
Senecio Cineraria (or
Cineraria maritima);
sea-reed,
reed-grass = sea-bent;
sea-rocket (see
rocket n.2 3);
sea-rosemary, (
a)
= sea-blite; (
b)
= sea-lavender b (
Cent. Dict.);
sea sand-reed (see
quot.);
sea-sandwort, a variety of sandwort,
Honkenya (
Arenaria)
peploides, growing in the sand of the coasts of Europe and N. America;
† sea spike-grass, thrift;
sea-spleenwort, a fern,
Asplenium marinum, growing on the rocky coasts of Western Europe;
sea-spurge, a maritime spurge,
Euphorbia Paralias;
sea spurrey,
spurrey sandwort (see
quots.);
sea-starwort,
Aster Tripolium;
sea-stock (also
great sea stock),
Matthiola sinuata;
† sea stock-gillyflower = prec.;
sea sulphur-weed,
-wort,
Peucedanum officinale;
sea-thrift = sea-pink a;
† sea trifoly,
Astragalus Glaux;
† sea wartwort, a variety of spurge,
Euphorbia Peplis;
sea-wheat,
-wheatgrass, the wheatgrass
Triticum junceum, growing on the sandy seashore;
sea-withwind,
Convolvulus Soldanella;
† sea-wormwood,
Artemisia maritima.
| 1770 J. Hill Herbarium Britannicum II. 215 (heading) *Sea Arrow Grass. 1851 C. A. Johns Flowers of Field II. 245 Sea Arrow-grass... Salt marshes, common. 1975 J. G. Evans Environment Early Man Brit. Isles ii. 37 A number of species..today confined to coastal or estuarine situations, such as sea arrow grass..and sea thrift. |
| 1884 Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 30 *Sea Ash. |
| 1812 Crabbe Tales x. I. 196 note, The *Sea-aster, the dullest of that numerous and hardy genus. 1925 G. Bonnier Brit. Flora 96 Sea Aster. Salt marshes: July–Sept. 1960 Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 136/2 Sea Aster..is common in salt-marshes and on cliffs and rocks round the coasts. |
| 1551 Turner Herbal i. B vj, Some haue called it semper viuum marinum, that is *sea aigrene. |
| 1777 Robson Brit. Flora 317 Conferva rupestris... *Sea-beard. |
| c 1710 Petiver Catal. Ray's Eng. Herbal Tab. 8 *Sea Beet. 1838 G. Don in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XXV. 28/2 Statice limonium, the Sea Beet, or Sea Lavender. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Beta, The Sea Beet, Beta maritima, a perennial,..grows wild on the sea coast in various parts of Britain. |
| 1551 Turner Herbal ii. 144 Sparta..is a kind of *sea bente or sea rishe. 1899 Cumbld. Gloss., Sea bent, the sea-side grasses—Psamma arenaria, or Ammophila arundinacea, growing on the Bent hills at Maryport. |
| c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. vi. 60 Brasil *Sea-berry... Its leaves very green, juicy, and thick like Purslain. 1884 W. Miller Plant-n. 123 Sea-berry, of Australia, the genera Haloragis and Rhagodia. |
| 1597 *Sea-bindweed [see sea-bell 1]. 1786 Gentl. Mag. LVI. i. 35 Convolvulus Soldanella, Sea Bindweed. |
| 1762 W. Hudson Flora Anglica 92 Chenopodium..maritimum... Anglis, *Sea Blite or white Glasswort. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 267 Suæda (Sea-Blite). 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Schoberia, S. fruticosa, the Shrubby Sea-blite, abundant on the muddy coast of Norfolk,..locally known by the name of Sea Rosemary. |
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Rhamnoides, the *Sea Buckthorn. 1905 Rider Haggard Gardener's Year Sept. 323 Four or five years ago I planted some hundreds of Sea-buckthorn upon the face of my cliff. |
| 1884 W. Miller Plant-n. 123 *Sea Bugloss, Pulmonaria (Mertensia) maritima. |
| 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. 186/2 Xanthium..strumarium (cockle-burr, *sea-burdock). |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxi. 382 Lychnis marina Anglica. English *Sea Campion. Ibid., The sea rose campion. 1762 W. Hudson Flora Anglica 164 Silene..amoena... Anglis, Sea Campion. |
| 1864 Brady in Intell. Observ. V. 27 The *Sea Catchfly (Silene maritima). |
| 1786 Gentl. Mag. LVI. i. 35 Arenaria Peploides, *Sea Chickweed, remarkable for the depth and length to which it runs its roots. |
| 1837 Baxter Brit. Phænog. Bot. III. 203 Spartina stricta. Twin⁓spiked Cord-grass. Smooth Sea-grass. *Sea Cock's-footgrass. |
| 1795 tr. Thunberg's Trav. IV. 183 A Borassus or *Sea-Cocoa, brought from the Maldive islands. |
| 1850 F. Mason Nat. Product. Burmah 168 *Sea cocoanut. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 20 Brassica syluestris groweth in Douer cliffes... It may be named in english *sea cole. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. liv. 394 Of Soldanella or Sea Cawle. 1858 Mayne Expos. Lex., Sea cole, a common name for the Crambe maritima, or sea-kale. |
| 1700 C. Leigh Nat. Hist. Lancs., etc. i. 93 *Sea-colewort. 1725, 1794 [see colewort 2 b]. 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) II. 240 Scottish Scurvy Grass. Sea Colewort. Sea Bindweed. |
| 1921 ‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 8 Aug. (1977) 227 Bathing dresses hanging over verandas, and sandshoes on window sills, and little pink ‘*sea’ convolvulus. |
| 1629 Parkinson Parad. 317 Caryophyllus Marinus. Thrift, or *Sea Cushion. |
| 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 305 Tamarix Anglica..is in England commonly called *Sea Cypress. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. lxxxv. 135 The sea Onion of Valentia, or rather the *sea Daffodill, hath many long and fat leaues. 1629 Parkinson Parad. 98 Narcissus Marinus Africanus, sive Exoticus Lobelii. The Sea Daffodil of Africa. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Ismene, The name of Sea Daffodil is given to I. calathina. |
| 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 13/1 Branca ursina, herbaest, an. *scehock [? read scedock]. c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 25 Branca ursina..sedokke. 1597 Gerarde Herbal Suppl., Sedocke [ed. 1636 Sea Docke] is the brank vrsine. 1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornw. 235 The bloody sea-dock, Lapathum marinum sanguineum. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. xviii. 23 Gramen Caninum marinum *Sea Dogs grasse. |
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Crithmum;..Smaller Samphire, or *Sea-Fennel. |
| 1629 Parkinson Parad. 318 The greater or Leuant Thrift, or *Sea Gilloflower. 1806 Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 403 The root of sea-gilliflower, statice armeria. |
| 1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 366 Chenopodina... *Sea Goosefoot. |
| 1843 Baxter Brit. Phænog. Bot. VI. 476 Rottbollia incurvata... *Sea Hard-grass. |
| c 1710 Petiver Cat. Ray's Eng. Herbal Tab. 10 *Sea heath. 1762 W. Hudson Flora Anglica 120 Frankenia..lævis.., smooth Sea Heath. |
| 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 55 Peucedanum officinale (*Sea Hog's-fennel, or Sulphur-weed). |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxxiv. 410 The same effect *Sea Housleeke works as well as thees. |
| 1608 Topsell Serpents 45 The Sea-thistle called Eryngium marinum, which some call *Sea-hull, or Huluer. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 36 Eryngium is named in englishe *sea Hulver or sea Holly. a 1592 Greene Mamillia ii. Wks. (Grosart) II. 288 Resembling the sea huluer leafe. |
| 1966 Oxf. Bk. Flowerless Plants p. viii/1 ‘*Sea Ivory’..grows abundantly wherever there are rocks exposed at high-water mark. |
| 1588 Greene Pandosto (1607) C 4 b, To see if perchance the sheepe was browzing on the *Sea Iuie. |
| 1889 Century Dict. s.v. Kemp, *Sea-kemp, Plantago maritima, the sea-plantain. |
| 1820 T. Green Univ. Herbal II. 875 *Sea Laurel. Phyllanthus. |
| 1696 Plukenet Almagestum Wks. 1769 II. 182 Heliotropium Gnaphaloides litoreum fruticescens Americanum, *Sea-Lavender Barbadensibus dictum. 1865 Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 31 Enormous tufts of the common thrift or Sea-lavender. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal iii. clix. 1377 *Sea Lungwoort or Oister greene. 1797 J. E. Smith Eng. Bot. VI. 368 (heading) Sea lungwort. 1960 Sea lungwort [see oyster-plant s.v. oyster 7 d]. |
| 1840 Paxton Bot. Dict., *Sea matgrass, Psamma arenaria. |
| 1843 Baxter Brit. Phænog. Bot. VI. 408 Ammophila Arundinacea. *Sea Mat-weed. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 16 Arthemisia is of three sortes, the fyrst is the herbe that I cal *sea Mugworte. |
| 1883 G. O. Shields Rustlings in Rockies xxi. 195 Within the space of this five acres may be found..sea myrtle, grape vine and ivy of several varieties. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling xxiii. 279 The October blooming of dog-fennel and *sea-myrtle had turned to a feathery fluff. |
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort., May (1679) 17 Flowers in Prime, or yet lasting,..Peonies,..*Sea-Narcissus [etc.]. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxliv. 426 The *sea Nauell is of a diureticke qualitie. 1728 Bradley Dict. Bot. II. s.v. Pennywort, Sea-Pennywort is the Sea-Navel. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxliv. 426 *Sea Nauel woort prouoketh vrine. |
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xliii. (1495) 628 Cepe caninum..is founde by the see syde therfore Plato callyth it Sepe marina as it were a see oyneon.] 1526 Grete Herball ccccxiii. (1529) Y iv, A squyll or *see onyon. 1548, etc. [see onion n. 2 c]. |
| 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. 151 The genus Atriplex, (*sea-orache). |
| 1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 213 Borrichia... *Sea Ox-eye. |
| 1843 Baxter Brit. Phænog. Bot. VI. 472 Ligusticum scoticum. Scotch Lovage. Scotch Parsley. *Sea Parsley. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxliv. 425 Of *Sea Pennywoort. |
| Ibid. xciv. 343 The *sea Plantaine hath small and narrow leaues. |
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 77 It may be named in Englishe horned poppy or *see poppy, or yelow poppy. |
| 1706 J. Stevens Span. Dict., Salgada, the Plant call'd *Sea-pot-herb. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 25 Cepaea Plinij groweth by the sea syde, and because it is very lyke Purcellayne, it maye be called in englishe *sea Purcellayne. 1578 [see purslane 2]. |
| 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. Arrangem. 26 Atriplex Halimus, *sea-purslane tree. |
| 1847 Babington Brit. Bot. (ed. 2) 32 Raphanus maritimus,..*Sea Radish. |
| 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 374 Buphthalmums, Sea Holly, *Sea Ragwort. 1852 G. W. Johnson Gard. Dict., Cineraria maritima (sea Ragwort). |
| 1575 Laneham Let. Pref. (1871) 160 Mercurius that playit on ane *sey reid. 1717 Parnell Homer's Battle Frogs & Mice ii. 77 Tap'ring Sea-Reeds for the polish'd Spear. 1861 S. Thomson Wild Flowers iii. (ed. 4) 213 The sea-reed, or Ammophila arundinacea, deserves our attention. |
| 1777 *Sea reed-grass [see reed-grass 1]. 1866 *Sea rosemary [see sea-blite above]. |
| 1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. (1860) 548 Calamagrostis arenaria (*Sea Sand-Reed). |
| 1850 Miss Pratt Comm. Things of Sea-side i. 35 The *sea sandwort (Arenaria peploides)..is very common. 1882 Thomson in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. iii. 449 The Sea Sandwort (Honkeneja peploides). |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. xvi. 17 *Sea Spike grasse hath many small leaues. |
| 1850 Miss Pratt Comm. Things of Sea-side i. 88 The *sea spleenwort (Asplenium marinum). 1859 J. C. Atkinson Walks & Talks (1892) 337 A habitat of the sea-spleenwort. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxxii. 401 The first kinde of *Sea Spurge riseth foorth of the sands. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 9 Euphorbia Paralias (Sea Spurge). 1762 W. Hudson Flora Anglica 169 Arenaria..marina... Sea Spurrey. 1853 Miss Pratt Wild Fl. II. 95 Sea Spurrey Sandwort, Arenaria marina. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. lxxxviii. 334 Tripolium,..is called..in English *Sea Star⁓wort. 1861 S. Thomson Wild Flowers iii. (ed. 4) 248 The sea-star-wort, or Michaelmas daisy. |
| 1849 M. Arnold Forsaken Merman 69 The sandy down Where the *sea-stocks bloom. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. ii. viii. 177 The purple flowers of the great sea stock (Matthiola sinuata). |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxv. 374 The *Sea Stocke Gilloflower hath a small wooddie roote very threddie. |
| 1850 Miss Pratt Comm. Things of Sea-side i. 67 The *Sea Sulphur-weed (Peucedanum officinale) is a much more rare plant of the salt marsh. |
| 1807 Smith & Sowerby Eng. Bot. XXV. 1767 Peucedanum officinale. *Sea Sulphur-wort. |
| 1706 London & Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. 311 *Sea-Thrift, [is vivacious] by its Tufts. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. i. v. 112 A flower of the sea-thrift. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 40 Glaux..may be called in englishe *sea Trifoly. 1601 R. Chester Love's Mart. (1878) 82 Blessed thistle and Sea Trifoly. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 60 Peplis..may be called in english *sea wartwurt. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxxii. 407. |
| 1839 M. Howitt Marien's Pilgr. viii. xi, Where only the dry *sea-wheat grew. |
| 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 173 Triticum... *Sea Wheatgrass. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxciii. 690 Soldanella..in English *Sea With-winde. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 8 *Sea wormwod is hote in the seconde degree and dry in the fyrste, frenche wormwod is weaker then Sea wormwod is. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 117 The Tops of Sea Wormwood. 1855 New Cycl. Bot. II. 461 Artemisia maritima. Sea Wormwood. |
▸
sea channel n. a strait, a comparatively narrow area of sea; a coastal inlet;
cf. channel n.1 4.
| 1644 W. Castell Short Discov. Coasts & Continent Amer. ii. 42 Neither yet is the *Sea channell here adjoyning so deepe and free from sands, as is safe for ships of any great burden to saile in. 1756 T. Nugent Grand Tour iii. 141 The Spanish troops..passed on foot..through the sea channels that divide the isle of Schowen from that of Duveland, where they were often obliged to wade up to the shoulders in water. 1946 J. W. Day Harvest Adventure x. 159 This old, reedy Halvergate Fleet, once a deep sea-channel, still holds a touch of ancient mystery. 2001 National Geographic Mar. 80/2 Nearly half of all maritime shipping on the planet passes through Indonesia's narrow sea channels. |
▪ II. sea, v. nonce-wd. (
siː)
[f. sea n.] intr. To go
along as a part of the sea.
| 1839 Bailey Festus xxi, To ride upon the broad-backed billow, Seaing along and plunging on his precipitous path. |
▪ III. sea obs. form of
say n.1;
so.