▪ I. † sere, n.1 Obs.
Also 7 seere, serre, sear(e.
[a. OF. serre, vbl. n. f. serre-r to hold fast, shut:—pop.L. serrāre, altered form of late L. serāre, f. sera bolt, bar. Cf. sear n.1]
A claw, talon.
| 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. i. Tropheis 136 A paire of busie chattering Pies, Seeing some hardie Tercell from the skies To stoop with rav'nous seres, feel a chill fear. 1618 Chapman Hesiod's Georg. i. 318 The Hauke once, hauing trust vp in his Seres, The sweet-tun'd Nightingale. 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1799/4 Lost near Cadnam.., a thorough mewed Falcon, the Feet and Sear very yellow. 1864 Lowell McClellan's Rep. Wks. 1890 V. 94 Every excuse was invented..except the true one, that our chicken was no eagle after all. He was hardening his seres, he was waiting for his wings to grow [etc.]. |
▪ II. sere, n.2 Ecol.
(sɪə(r))
[f. L. serĕ-re to join in a series.]
A series of plant communities, each naturally succeeding the previous one.
| 1916 F. E. Clements Plant Succession i. 4 A sere is a unit succession. It comprises the development of a formation from the appearance of the first pioneers through the final or climax stage. 1940 Geogr. Jrnl. XCVI. 8 The seres which follow the destruction of climax vegetation in the alpine region [of the Himalayas] vary. 1960 N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xi. 323 Such is succession, the developmental series of communities constituting a sere and leading up to a state of relative stability and permanence known as the climax. |
▪ III. sere, sear, a.1
(sɪə(r))
Forms: 1 séar, s{iacu}ere, 4–7 seare, seere, 4–8 seer, 5 seyr, 6 seyre, 7 seir(e, 7–9 (dial.) sare, 4– sere, 6– sear.
[OE. séar corresponds to MLG. sôr (LG. soor), Du. zoor:—OTeut. *sauzo-:—Indogermanic *sausó-, whence Lith. sa{utilde}sas, OSl. suχŭ, Gr. αὖος dry, Skr. {cced}ōsha drying up, withering.
OE. seems to have had also a synonymous derivative s{iacu}ere (:—*sauzjo-), which in later Eng. would be represented by the same form as séar.]
1. a. Dry, withered. Now poet. or rhetorical.
| 824 Grant in Birch Cartul. Sax. I. 515 Hit stent on þam sieran boc haᵹan. a 1000 Gloss. Prudent. in Germania (1878) XI. 402 Steriles, seare. 13.. K. Alis. 4425 (Bodl. MS.) Þe spere crakeþ also þicke So on hegge sere stykke. c 1425 Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 28 Seyr and drye membyrs. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 47 b, And that appereth in the tree of nature whiche..in wynter..semeth seyre, drye, & in maner as deed. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. ii. 19 He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere. 1620 Quarles Feast for Wormes C 4, Will greene wood burne, when so vnapt's the seire? 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Thatching, When they [Withs] are grown Sear they will fly and break. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude i. 84 Now here, now there, an acorn, from its cup Dislodged, through sere leaves rustled. 1901 H. Trench Deirdre Wed 12 Aghast, the woman Fumbled at her sere breast, and wept. |
b. transf. and fig., and in fig. context.
| 1530 Tindale Gen. xlvii. 21 marg. To sucke out y⊇ iuce of them with their poetrye, till all be seer bowes and no thinge greene save their awne comenwelth. 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Ep. 93 b, Receyue me to thy carelesse couch in sere and silent night. 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. iii. 25, I haue liu'd long enough, my way of life Is falne into the Seare, the yellow Leafe. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Pet. ii. 13 The house that grows sere, needs supporters. 1795 Coleridge Sonnet to Southey, Till sickly Passion's drooping Myrtles sear Blossom anew. 1837 Card. Wiseman St. Eliz. of Hungary in Ess. (1853) III. 226 The rude materialities of life in this sear generation. 1880 O. W. Holmes Shadows 18 Some locks had got silvered, some lives had grown sere. |
c. absol. (Cf. quot. 1605 in 1 b.)
| 1791 W. Taylor tr. Lessing's Nathan iv. (1886) 133 In my sear of life An Assad blossoms for me. 1890 J. Watson Conf. Poacher (1893) 74 By the third week of October, the yellow and sere of the year has come. |
† 2. Of textile fabrics: Thin, worn. Obs.
| 1523 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 35 An Olde Seer dyapur Towell. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Ra{cced}a de panno, the place where cloth is seere or thinne. a 1631 Donne Elegies i. Poems (1633) 44 If swolne with poyson, hee lay in his last bed, His body with a sere-barke covered. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.) 45 My coat is very sare. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. v, A roaring wind..shook the sails That were so thin and sere. |
3. Comb. a. Forming parasynthetic adjectives, as sere-coloured, sere-leaved, † sere-souled. Also † sere-dried pa. pple., dried to excess.
| 1901 Westm. Gaz. 29 May 2/1 The background of *sere-coloured autumn foliage suggests the passing of a glorious summer day. |
| 1657 G. Starkey Helmont's Vind. 62 Hay, which if *sear-dryed in the Sun, is half in half damnified. |
| 1870 D. Lindsay in Poets Ayrsh. (1910) 254 *Sear leaved decay does o'er the woodland steal. |
| 1659 H. M. Pair Spectacles for Nation 4 Tell us you *Sear-soul'd men that will swear pro and con, tell me what an oath is? |
† b. in syntactical combinations formerly often hyphened or written as single words: sere tree, sere wood; also sere month, a name for August. Obs.
| 1686–7 Aubrey Rem. Gentilisme (1881) 123 Proverbs... Item, Good to cut Briars in the *Sere month (i) August. |
| ? a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Wit without Money iii. i, Old age like *Seer-trees, is seldom seen affected. |
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad i. 449 The Priest, with small *sere wood Did sacrifice. 1700 Dryden Flower & Leaf 414 The Lawrel-Champions..Sere⁓wood from the rotten Hedges took. 1784 Cullum Hist. Hawsted 173 The wood-stealers always tell you they never take any but sear wood. |
c. sereward adv., towards decay (rare—1).
| 1902 T. Hardy Poems of Past & Present 142 The sun and shadows wheel, Season and season sereward steal. |
▪ IV. † sere, adv. and a.2 Obs. (? exc. dial.).
Forms: 3–5 ser, 3–6 seir, 3–6, 8 (dial.) sere, 4 seyre, schere, 4, 7, 9 (dial.) seer, 5–6 seyr, 5, 7 seere, 6 seare.
[a. ON. sér, orig. dative of the refl. pron. (accus. sik, gen. s{iacu}n); the sense ‘for oneself’ gave rise in ON. to the advb. meaning ‘separately, apart’ (also in compounds, e.g. sérdeilis partly, sérligr particular); the further development into an adj. is peculiar to English. Cf. Da. sær singular, Da. især, Sw. sär particularly.]
A. adv. Separately, severally. sere twice, on two separate occasions.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 4231 His oþer suns com ilkan sere For to mend þair fader chere. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1522, I haf seten by your-self here sere twyes, Ȝet herde I neuer of your hed helde no wordez Þat euer longed to luf. c 1440 York Myst. ii. 20 Þe water I will be set to flowe bothe fare and nere, And þan þe firmament, in mydis to set þame sere. |
b. ? ‘All told’, in all.
| ? a 1600 Flodden F. iii. (1664) 30 The number did but mount To six and twenty thousand seere. |
B. adj.
1. Separate, distinct; each in particular, single.
| c 1200 Ormin 18653 Forr ser iss Sune, & Faderr ser, & ser iss þeȝȝre baþre Allmahhtiȝ Gast. a 1300 Cursor M. 5461 His suns blessed he on rau, He gaue ilkan seir benissun. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 5894 Men sal alswa yhelde rekkenynges sere Of al gudes þat God has gefen þam here. a 1400 Rel. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. v. 64 Jhesu, joyne þi lufe in my thoghte, Swa þat þay neuer be sere. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 107 Instrumentes for euery sere archer to brynge with him, proper for his own vse. 1565 J. Calfhill Answ. Martiall v. 130 b, Traditions in euery age with euery sere byshop [haue] varied. |
2. Divers, various, sundry.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2 And romans red on maneres sere. Ibid. 6840 Your land yee sal sau seuen yeir, And scer þar-of your corns seir. a 1340 Hampole Ps. cl. 4 Orgyns þat is made as a toure of sere whistils. c 1375 Lay Folks Mass-bk. (MS.B.) 70, I have synned largely, In mony synnes sere. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 262 in Babees Bk., Þe boke hym calles a chorle of chere, That vylany spekes be wemen sere. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 18 That your vertewis singuler and seir May wholly all in them be also found. 1691 Ray N.C. Words (E.D.S.). 1703 Thoresby Let. to Ray s.v. 1829 Brockett N.C. Gloss. (ed. 2) 261. |
3. Comb., as sere-coloured, parti-coloured; (on) sere-wise adv., in divers ways.
| c 1425 St. Mary of Oignies ii. i. in Anglia VIII. 151/5 A cote *sere-colerd comynge to þe helys. |
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3261 Þus sal þai on *sere-wyse pyned be, Sum many wynter for þair syn. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxviii. (Margaret) 515, & hyre prayere quhen scho had ser-wyse to god deuotely mad, a licht of hewine rathly schane. |
▪ V. sere
var. cere n. and v., sear v.; obs. f. sir n.