▪ I. cere, n. Ornith.
(sɪə(r))
Also 5, 7, 9 sere, 9 sear.
[a. F. cire wax, cere:—L. cēra wax; also in med.L. in this sense.]
The naked wax-like membrane at the base of the beak in certain birds, in which the nostrils are pierced. It is supposed to be an organ of touch.
| [c 1230 Fridericus II, De Falconibus ii. (Du Cange), Pars illa corii..ubi sunt nares, quam vocamus ceram.] 1486 Bk. St. Albans A viij a, The skynne abowt your hawkys leggis & her fete is callyd the Serys of her leggis & here fete. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xx. (1660) 223 The Yollow between the Beak and the Eys [of a Hawk] is called the Sere. 1767 G. White Selborne 9 Sept., With regard to the falco..its cere and feet were yellow. 1852 Burton Falconry Indus viii. 76 A splendid goshawk..with..bright yellow sear. 1875 Blake Zool. 98 The nostrils are placed at the anterior margin of the cere. |
▪ II. cere, v.
(sɪə(r))
Forms: 5–7 sere, 6 ceare, ceere, (cerre), 6–7 sear, 7 seare, 4– cere.
[a. F. cirer:—L. cērāre to wax, f. cēra wax.]
† 1. trans. To smear or cover with wax, to wax.
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon vii. 173 Mawgys..toke a threde of sylke and cered it well. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Bougier, to ceare veluet, or any silk cloth. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 425 If the vessells be sered with wax. |
2. a. To wrap in a cerecloth. † b. To anoint with spices, etc.; also (app.) to embalm (obs.).
| c 1465 Eng. Chron. (1856) 21 He leet close and sere him in lynne cloth alle save the visage. 1494 Fabyan 160 Y⊇ corps..to be seryd and enoynted with ryche and precyous bawmys. 1555 Fardle Facions i. v. 78 Then do thei ceare it [the bodye] ouer with mirrhe and cinamome. 1557 K. Arthur (W. Copland) v. viii, Ceere them in thre score folde of ceered cloth. c 1580 J. Hooker Sir P. Carew in Archæol. XXVIII. 144 His body beinge unbowelled and throughtlye seared, he was then chested. 1608 Tourneur Rev. Trag. i. ii, The bowel'd Corps May be seared in. 1790 Pennant Tour Scotl. III. 284 The body..was embalmed, cered and wrapped in lead. |
† c. To shut up (a corpse in a coffin); to seal up (in lead, or the like). Obs.
| 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. ccxxxvi[xxii]. 706 His body was enbaumed and seared in lead and couered. |
d. fig.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. i. 116 Seare vp my embracements from a next, With bonds of death. 1818 Shelley Julian & Mad. 437 Let the silent years Be closed and cered over their memory. |
▪ III. cere
obs. form of sere.