semblable, a. (and n.)
(ˈsɛmbləb(ə)l)
Also 5 semlable, (semalable), sembleabil, semblabyll, 6 -yl, -il, -ell, sembleable, simblable. See also semnable, similable.
[a. F. semblable (13th c.), f. sembler to seem, appear: see semble v. and -able. Cf. seemable.]
A. adj.
† 1. a. Like, similar. Const. to. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. v. (1868) 48 Ȝe men þat ben semblable to god by ȝoure resonable þouȝt. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 98, I finde hem all so semblable that I can not knowe one from the other. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 17 If so be my discredit, and want of honestie, had been equal or semblable to theirs. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. i. 72 It is a wonderfull thing to see the semblable Coherence of his mens spirits, and his. 1609 G. Benson Serm. 7 May 60 Semblable vnto Ephraim are many, who know too much and too little. 1658 Osborne Tradit. Mem. Jas. I, §17. 55 He owning a Countenance not in the least regard semblable to any my eyes ever met with. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. i. 125 God who has made Light to move for thousands of Miles in an instant, by a streight Line, may make it move a semblable space through a Circle, if the use of the World requires it. 1840 Fraser's Mag. XXI. 214 Semblable to this is the story of the mad waggery, by which [etc.]. |
b. Resembling something already mentioned or implied; the like, such-like. Also the semblable, such semblable. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 256, I seye the same, or elles thing semblable. a 1470 Tiptoft Cæsar x. (1530) 11 These and such semblable things. 1544 tr. Littleton's Tenures 50 b, To yelde to his lorde yerely at suche a feaste a horse, or a hauke, or such thynge semblable. 1571 Fortescue Forest 164 b, The fallyng evill also with others many the semblable and like infirmities. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. iv. 3 That and thousands more Of semblable import. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxxviii. 151 As is the custom in semblable occasions. |
c. in semblable manner, semblable wise, semblable sort, in like manner; semblablewise, likewise. Also in semblable case(s, in case(s semblable. Obs.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 63 And riht so in semblable cas This vice hath ek his officers Among these othre seculers. c 1410 Lydg. Reas. & Sens. 157 And thus in semblable wise The erthe did him self disgise. 1511–2 Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 23 §7 As thei have doon..in cases semblable. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Eph. iv. 14–16 And in semblable wyse vnto this, there is a lyke procedyng in the ordre of godlinesse. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass 10 The heavenly soule of man..semblablewise, doth feele..the ill affected crasis of the body. 1624 Bp. R. Montagu Immed. Addr. 79 We may therefore Call vnto Holy Saints as well, and in semblable sort. |
† 2. a. Corresponding, proportional, accordant, suitable. Obs.
| 1513 Life Hen. V (1911) 19 And that hath bin..the vtter impouerishinge and vndooeinge not of a fewe men w{supt}{suph}in this Realme, w{supc}{suph} haue not bin able to make semblable intercessors and aduocates to theire Prince. Ibid. 145 The Kinge continewed by treatie trustinge to finde the way of peace, w{supc}{suph} was semblable enoughe had not the Dolphine [etc.]. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ii. 52 Their..legges [were] of a great growth, not semblable to their age, being but sixe and thirty dayes old. 1681 Wittie Surv. Heav. 44 Whether it be not most suitable..to the Wisdom, and Power of God.., and semblable to the plain course of his Providence. 1817 J. F. Pennie Roy. Minstr. ii. 504 But who can paint In language semblable, the blissful scene. |
† b. Seemly, becoming. Obs.
| 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lx. 188 Neither could Monarchy, Aristocracy, nor Democracy, attaine any semblable condition in any place so long as the Church held its designe apart. |
3. Apparent, seeming, not real. † Of treason: Presumptive, constructive. rare.
| 1627 W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 264 Imitation implies three things: 1 Factum, semblable, or rather reall acting of what we pretend to imitate. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 244 Here is no actuall, but an appearing and semblable concurrence. 1660 Trial Regic. 124 That there shall be no semblable Treasons made by presumptions or straines of wit, but those Treasons specified there. 1696 Phillips, Semblable, seeming, likely or probable. 1874 Farrar Christ (1894) 122 What is gained..by supposing..the miracle was only semblable, not real? |
† 4. quasi-adv. = semblably adv. Obs.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xv. 54 For to make semblable [orig. semblablement] his aunsuers duryng the syx monethes of the somer. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 817 Semblable my Cosin the Erle of Richmonde,..will surely attempt..to pierce me on the other syde. |
B. n.
† 1. absol. and quasi-n. (occas. pl. semblables): Something that is like or similar. the semblable = the like (see like C. 3); as, to do the semblable (= F. faire le semblable). Obs.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 6759 In al this caas, and in semblables, If that ther ben mo resonables, He may begge, as I telle you here. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 115 He that doeth shewe loue and curtoisie ought to be thankyd by semblable. 1521 Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 283 Who..herin geueth vnto you herty thanks, like as I do the semblable. 1528 Instruct. P. Vannes in Burnet Hist. Ref. (1679) I. ii. Rec. 48 Studying how they may acquite this your Ingratitude..with the semblable. 1560 in J. Scott Berwick-upon-Tweed (1888) 448 Yf any soldiers of the garrison be appointed to keep scourage or any such semblables as their course shall come about. 1627 Hakewill Apol. iv. vi. §4. 343 Long before their time, Clodius..practised the semblable in pearles of great price. |
2. With qualifying possessive: (One's) like, (one's) fellow. (So F. son semblable.) (Revived in 20th cent. use.)
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 4855 For he shulde setten al his wil To geten a likly thing him til, And to sustene, if he might, And kepe forth, by kindes right, His owne lyknesse and semblable. ? a 1412 Lydg. Two Merch. 83 Vnto his semblable thus euery thyng can drawe. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 6 b, Every natural complexion delyteth in his semblable. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 124 (1604 Qo.) To make true dixion of him, his semblable is his mirrour. 1607 ― Timon iv. iii. 22 His semblable, yea himselfe Timon disdaines. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 377 It behoves every most just citizen to become the exhortator and admonisher of his semblables. [1923 T. S. Eliot Waste Land i. 8 You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!] 1941 V. Woolf Between Acts 242 There was Dodge, the lip-reader, her semblable, her conspirator. 1979 Dædalus Summer 30 These thoughts picture Othello as, in various ways, a semblable of yours. |
† 3. A similitude or parable. Obs.
| 1547 Baldwin Mor. Philos. i. iv. (1550) A vj, Parrables, Semblables & examples, (though differing in sumwhat) drawe al to one ende. |