SEEK-SORROW (or -TROUBLE), subs. phr. (old).—A whining malcontent.
1580. SIDNEY, Arcadia, i. Afield they go, where many lookers be, And thou SEEK-SORROW Claius them among.
1902. DAUDET, Sapho [Farmer], xi. She was a SEEK-SORROW, a sappy mopester, a poor gutless doll.
SEELY'S PIGS, subs. phr. (nautical).—Pig
iron in Government
dockyards. [Some of the yards
were half paved with pigs, which
waste was brought to public
notice by Mr. Seeley, M. P. for
Lincoln.]
SEE-SAW, subs. phr. (gaming).—A
double RUFF (q.v.); a SAW (q.v.):
at whist.
SEGGON, subs. (old colloquial).—A
term of contempt: spec. a poor
labourer. Also SEG-HEAD = a
blockhead; SEG-KITE = an overgrown
and greedy person [HALLIWELL].
1557. TUSSER, Husbandrie, 174. Poore SEGGONS halfe staured worke faintly and dull.
SELL, subs. (common).—A successful
hoax; a swindle: see GAMMON.
As verb. = to betray; to impose
on; to swindle; see BARGAIN.
WHENCE TO SELL A PUP
= to fool; TO BE SOLD LIKE
A BULLOCK IN SMITHFIELD
(GROSE) = 'to fall badly by
treachery'; SOLD AGAIN! =
DONE! (q.v.),
1597. SHAKESPEARE, Rich. III. v. 3. Jockey of Norfolk, be not so bold, For Dickon thy master is BOUGHT AND SOLD.
1605. DRAYTON, Mortimeriados. Is this the kindness that thou offerest me? And in thy country am I BOUGHT AND SOLD.
1605. JONSON, Volpone, Argument. New tricks for safety are sought; they thrive: when bold, each tempts the other again, and all are SOLD.
1850. SMEDLEY, Frank Fairlegh, 145. He called it . . . 'no end of a something or other'"SELL," suggested Freddy. Ibid. (1851), Lewis Arundel, xxiv. You're not going to try and cut out Bellefield . . . are you? I wish you would, it would SELL Bell so beautifully.
1856. (Tales from Blackwood) Dreep-*daily Burghs, 2. I had been idiot enough to make my debut in the sporting world . . . and as a matter of course, was remorselessly sold by my advisers.
1864. Glasgow Citizen, 10 Dec. People pretend to have read Spenser and Chaucer, and it is rude . . . to SELL the affable pretender by getting him to remember non-existent passages and minor poems.
1874. Mrs. H. WOOD, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., xxvi., 465. It's an awful sell . . . no hunting, and no shooting, and no nothing.
1883. D. News, 18 Ap. 5, 4. Lord Randolph Churchill has been making Mr. Gladstone the victim of what, in . . . Addison's time, would have been called a BITE, and what in . . . our own time is called a SELL.
1888. BOLDREWOOD, Robbery Under Arms, x. Some day he'll SELL us all, I really do believe.
1891. Lic. Vict. Gas. 16 Jan. But suppose that he should take our money and SELL us.
SEMI-BEJAN. See BEJAN.
SEMINARY, subs. (venery).—The
pudendum: see MONOSYLLABLE.
[With a pun on semen = the
liquor seminale.]
SEMPER, adj. (Winchester).—See
quot.
c. 1840. MANSFIELD, School Life (1866), 233. A very common prefix; e.g., a boy was said to be SEMPER continent, tardy, or extrumps if he was often at Sick House, or late for Chapel, or habitually went up to Books without having looked at his lessons. An official who was always at the College meetings went by the name of SEMPER Testis.
