seasoned, ppl. a.
(ˈsiːz(ə)nd)
[f. season v. + -ed1.]
† 1. Seasonable, opportune, suitable. Obs. rare.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 67/2 Cesonyd, yn tyme.., tempestus, tempestivus. 1634 Heywood Maidenhead lost iii. F 4, It shall goe hard with mine affaires But Ile find season'd houres to visit them. |
2. Flavoured, spiced.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 454/1 Seasonyd, as mete, temperatus. 1709 Addison Tatler No. 148 ¶3, I have seen a young Lady swallow all the Instigations of high Soups, seasoned Sauces, and forced Meats. |
b. fig.
| 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 270 The company by this means had but a bad seasoned supper. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 837 Joys season'd high, and tasting strong of guilt. 1864 Kirk Chas. the Bold I. iv. 217 Serving as a text for the highly seasoned discourses of the itinerant friars. |
3. Fitted for use, matured, brought to a state of perfection. Of timber: Dried and hardened by keeping.
| 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (1904) 84 A stele muste be well seasoned for Castinge, and it must be made as the grayne lieth, & as it groweth or els it wyl neuer flye clene. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Vertue 14 Onely a sweet and vertuous soul Like seasoned timber, never gives. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 163 Season'd Plank or Timber; such as is thoroughly dry, and will not be apt to shrink. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xxii. 346 Two pieces of seasoned box-wood. 1881 C. A. Edwards Organs 40 Well seasoned wood is sapless. |
b. fig. and in figurative context.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. D j b, These be well seasoned reasons, and substantiall asseuerations in deed. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. iii. 64 We charge you, that you haue contriu'd to take From Rome all season'd Office. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet i. xii, I, who am now as seasoned as a port⁓wine cask. |
c. Of persons or animals: Fortified by habit; acclimatized; familiarized with a certain mode of life or occupation; † trained, disciplined.
| a 1643 Cartwright Siedge i. iv, I would not Venture my self with a stale Virgin, or A season'd Widow for a Kingdom. 1690 Lond. Gaz. No. 2526/4 Pair of Black season'd Stone-horses for a Coach. 1703 Marlborough Lett & Disp. (1845) I. 169 The difficulty..of replacing a seasoned regiment in this country. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §294 New hands..would act with more courage, by having seasoned men amongst them. 1821 Scott Kenilw. ii, The wine had made some impression even on the seasoned brain of mine host. 1869 ‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O.V.H. xviii, The welter race, contested mainly by seasoned hunters, had less refusals. 1884 Nonconf. & Indep. 4 Sept. 865/1 A flying column of 4000 seasoned troops. |
† 4. Of soil: Manured. Obs.
| 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. i. 204 The rough and barren earth is as a substance and nutriment for mettalls; and that which is fertile and better seasoned [Sp. de mas sazon] a nourishment for plants. |
† 5. Embalmed. Also fig. Obs.
| 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 35 We should be wary there⁓fore..how we spill that season'd life of man preserv'd and stor'd up in Books. 1673 Cave Prim. Chr. iii. ii. 274 The seasoned and embalm'd bones and heads of Martyrs. |