SCIROCCO

Pl. -ō'mata,

scirocco. See SIROCCO. scission. Pron. sí'shn, not sï'zhn. Sclav(onic) &c. See SLAV. scleroma, sclerosis. -ō'ses (-ēz); see LATIN PLURALS 2. sconce, vb, makes -ceable; -ABLE 1. scon(e). The spelling scone, & the pronunciation skōn, are given preference by the OED; but the sound skon is perhaps oftener heard.

scope. For synonyms see FIELD. score n. (= 20). See COLLECTIVES 3. score, vb, makes-rable; see MUTE E. scoria is a singular noun, pl. -iae ; but, as the meaning of the singular & of the plural is much the same (cf. ash & ashes, clinker & clinkers), it is no wonder that the singular is sometimes wrongly followed by a plural verb (The scoria were still hot &c.), or that a false singular scorium is on record.

scot. See TAX.

scotch. This verb owes its currency entirely to the sentence in Macbeth- We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it'. The contrast between scotching (or disabling) & killing is expressly drawn in five quotations given in the OED for the correct use, & is understood to be implied even when it is not expressed. S., then, can say in six letters & in one syllable' put temporarily out of action but not destroy -a treasure, surely, that will be jealously guarded by the custodians of the language, viz those who write. But no; it is the nature of extreme self-lovers as they will set a house on fire and it were but to roast their eggs'; & the journalist self-lover is too much delighted as finding in s. an uncommon substitute for such poor common words as kill or destroy to remember that, if he & his like have their way, the value of a precious word will be not merely scotched, but killed & destroyed, or, as he would put it, finally scotched'. Finally or entirely with s. should be, in view of the history of s., an impossibility; but it is now to be

met with daily in the newspapers; &, after all, a writer who, like the author of the first extract below, does not know the difference between a rumour & the contradiction of a rumour, can hardly be expected to recognize so supersubtle a distinction as that between wounding & killing :-The contradiction of a rumour affecting any particular company, although it may have a certain effect upon the price of shares at the time, is seldom entirely scotched by directorial statements./It is well that this legend should be finally scotched./ The idea is so preposterous that by the time this is in print it may be definitely scotched./We hope the proposal for a Government news service for the Colonies is finally scotched by the debate.

Scotch, Scots, Scottish. 1 (as adjj.). The third represents most closely the original form, the first and second being the contractions of it usual in England & Scotland respectively. Scottish is still both good English (especially in formal contexts) & good Scotch. The English form Scotch had (OED) before the end of the 18th c. been adopted into the northern vernacular; it is used regularly by Burns, & subsequently by Scott... Within the last half century there has been in Scotland a growing tendency to discard this form altogether, Scottish, or less frequently Scots, being substituted'. 2 (as nn.). For the name of the Scotch dialect, the noun Scottish is little used; Scotch is the English noun, & Scots the usual Scotch

SCOTTISH

scotticè see LATINE. Scotticize makes -zable; see MUTE E.

Scottish. See SCOTCH, SCOTS. scoundrel has -elism, -elly; -LL-, -L-. scout, gyp, skip. College servants at Oxford, Cambridge, & T.C.D., respectively.

scrannel. One of the words depending on a single passage (Lycidas 124).

scream, screech, shriek. The first is the dominant word' for a cry uttered, under emotion, at a higher pitch than that which is normal with the utterer. Those who wish to intensify the pitch & the emotion substitute shriek; those who wish either to add the notion of uncanny effect, or to make fun of the matter, substitute screech.

screw your courage to the stickingplace (not point); MISQUOTATION. scrimmage, scru-. The form with -u- is preferred in Rugby football, that with -i- in more general uses. scrinium, scriptorium. Pl. -ia. scrummage. See SCRIMMAGE. scrumptious. See FACETIOUS FOR

MATIONS.

scrupulous should have its claims considered before the gallicism METICULOUS is substituted for it.

scrutin d'arrondissement, de liste. See FRENCH words.

scrutinize makes -zable; see MUTE E. scudo. Pl. -di (-ē).

scull, skull. The single-handed oar has sc-, the cranium sk-. The notion that the words are ultimately the same is discountenanced by the OED. sculptress. See FEMININE DESIG

NATIONS.

scurry. For inflexions see VERBS IN -IE &c., 6.

scutum. Pl. -ta.

scyphus. Pl. -phi (-i).

scythe, vb, makes -thable; MUTE E. sea. 1. S. change. 2. Hyphen in compounds.

1. S. change. Suffer a s. c. is one of the most importunate & intrusive of IRRELEVANT ALLUSIONS, & HACKNEYED PHRASES. We hope that the Prime Minister will on this occasion stick to his guns, & see that his policy

does not for the third or fourth time suffer a sea change when its execution falls into the hands of his colleagues.

2. Hyphened compounds. Owing to the vast number of phrases or compounds of which sea forms the first part, the word provides a good test of the rules laid down in HyPHENS 3 B. Whether a phrase beginning with sea used attributively should be hyphened or not depends on whether sea or the second word bears the accent; in the latter case no hyphen should be used. Everyone says sea' fight, sea' god, sea' gull. sea' horse, sea' mark, sea' nymph, sea' piece, sea' room, sea' serpent; & these words should therefore (if they are not made into single words -seafight &c.) be given the hyphen-sea-fight, sea-god, sea-gull, sea-horse, sea-mark, sea-nymph, seapiece, sea-room, sea-serpent. On the other hand, nearly everyone says sea air', sea anemone, sea ba'thing, sea cha'nge, sea coa'st, sea fro'nt, sea law'yer, sea level, sea mile, sea mo'nster, sea pay', sea ro'ver, sea shore', sea si'de; these, then, should either be made into single words (as seaside) or kept separate & unhyphened. It is true that not all· compounds of sea are thus provided for; there are many in which the accent is not undisputed, but variable, as sea breeze, sea captain, sea kale, sea legs, sea pink, sea salt; & there are others in which sea is not used attributively, but is in some other relation to the second word, as sea-born, sea-borne, seafaring, seagirt, sea-going, seasick, seaworthy. But the object of this article is merely to point out that many sea phrases are given hyphens to which they have no right.

seagreen incorruptible. See SOBRI

QUETS.

seal. For some synonyms, see SIGN. seamstress, semps-. The OED treats the first as the word, & the second as the variant. séance. See FRENCH Words. sear, sere. Sear for the nouns (part

SEASONABLE

of gunlock, mark of burn), & for the verb (burn); sere for the adjective (withered).

seasonable. See -ABLE 4.

seasonal belongs to the class of words discussed in HYBRID DERIVATIVES under the name of spurious hybrids. But it does differ from some specimens (see COASTAL) in being less easily done without.

seclude makes -dable; see MUTE E. second. 1. S. chamber. 2. S. floor. 3. S. (-)hand. 4. S. intention. 5. S. sight. 6. S., vb (mil.).

1. S. chamber, in a Parliament, is the upper house, as concerned chiefly with rejection, confirmation, & revision.

2. For s. floor & s. storey, see FLOOR. 3. S. (-)hand. The second-hand of a watch is so written. The adjective meaning not new or original, & the adverb meaning not for or in first use, are best written as one word (secondhand clothing or information; always buys secondhand); & the phrase (heard only at second hand) should be two words unhyphened. 4. For s. intention, see INTENTION. 5. Second sight. Two words unhyphened; see HYPHENS 3 B.

6. The verb s. in its technical military sense, is pronounced siko'nd or sigōō'nd.

secondary education is that which comes after the primary or elementary but before that of the universities (ages 14–19).

secundum quid. See SIMPLICITER. secrete makes table; see MUTE E. secretive (pronunciation). The OED gives only sikre'tiv; but sē kritiv is often heard, & for expletive, perhaps the closest parallel, the OED gives ĕ'ksplitiv before iksplē'tiv. Probably those who conceive the meaning as fond of secrets say sẽ kritiv, & those who conceive it as given to secreting say sikrē ́tiv. sect is a word whose sense is to some extent affected by its user's notion of its etymology. The OED favours Latin sequor (follow) as the

origin, so hat s. would mean a following, i. e. a company of followers; but the more generally known derivation is from Latin seco (cut). & this is naturally interpreted as giving a part cut away from a Church &c., & so a company of schismatics. According to the first, & probably correct, derivation, the Church of England, or the RomanCatholic Church, may be called a s. without offence to its members; according to the second it will not. secular. For s. clergy, see REGULAR. secure. The adjective makes -er, -est; see -ER & -EST 1 c. The verb makes -rable; see MUTE E.

sedate makes -er, -est; see -ER & -EST 1 c.

sedge makes sedgy; see -EY & -Y. sedilia. Pron. sidi'lya. A plural noun, rarely used in singular (sedile, pr. sidi'li).

seduce makes cible; see -ABLE 2. see, bishopric, diocese. A bishopric is the rank belonging to a bishop; a diocese is the district administered by a bishop; a see is (the chair that symbolizes) a bishop's authority over a particular diocese. A b. is conferred on, a d. is committed to, a s. is filled by, such & such a man. My predecessors in the see; All the clergy of the diocese; Scheming for a bishopric.

seek. For two abuses to which the word is liable, see FORMAL WORDS, & DOUBLE PASSIVES.

seem. 1. Pleonasms with s. 2.

Seem(ed) to (have) be(en). 3. To my &c. seeming. 4. As seem(s) to be the

case.

1. Pleonasms. These conclusions, it seems to me, appear to be reached naturally. Such absurdities are not uncommon with s.; see PLEONASM 4, & HAZINESS.

2. For confusion between seem(s) to have been & seemed to be, very common, see PERFECT INFINITIVE 3. An example is : Lady Austen's fashionable friends occasioned no embarrassment; they seemed to have preferred some more fashionable

SEEMLY

place for summering in, for they are not again spoken of; here are shows that seemed is wrong.

3. To my &c. seeming. From wherever he may start, he is sure to bring us out very presently into the road along which, to his seeming, our primitive ancestors must have travelled. To my &c. seeming has been good English in its time; its modern representative is to my &c. thinking, & to his seeming will pass only in archaic writing. That the author of the extract is an archaizer is plain independently, from the phrase very presently'; but he has no business to be archaizing in a sentence made unsuitable for it by the essentially unarchaic primitive ancestors'.

4. As seem(s) to be the case. How can the Labour Ministry acquire proper authority if it has powers so limited as seem to be the case? As seem to be the case is always impossible, because the relative pronoun as, for which see as 5, never represents an expressed plural noun (such as powers here), but always a singular notion like fact or state of affairs, & that not expressed, but extracted out of other words. As seems to be the case is, then, the only right form of the phrase; but even that will not do here, because it involves the doubling of two parts by as, that of relative adverb, indispensable after the preceding so, & that of the relative pronoun required by the otherwise subjectless verb What has happened is this. writer wanted to say if it has powers so limited as its powers seem to be. He shied at the repetition of powers, & felt about for as seems to be the case as a substitute, though he forgot to alter seem to seems. But, since so makes the relative pronoun as impossible, the true solution was to let the as be a relative adverb, writing if its powers are so limited as they seem to be.

seems.

The

seemly. For the adverb, see -LILY. seer has double pronunciation &

meaning: se'er beholder, & ser prophet &c.

segregate. Verb -āt, adj. -It or -at; see PARTICIPLES 5 C.

Seidlitz. Pronounce sěd-. seigneur &c. Spellings recognized in the OED as current: seigneur, seignior; seigneuress; seigneury, seigneurie, seign(i)orage, seign(i)ory; seigneurial, seign(i)or(i)al. The pronunciation in all begins with san followed by the y sound. Differences in meaning or use between alternative forms (as seigneur & seignior, seigneury & seigniorage) cannot be detailed here, but exist & are sometimes of importance.

seise, seisin. Pronounce sēz, sēʼzin. The words are sometimes but less often spelt -ze, -zin, & belong etymologically to the ordinary verb seize ; but in the legal phrases to s. a person of, i. e. put him in possession of, & to be -ed of, i. e. to possess, the -sspelling is usual.

seize makes -zable; see MUTE E. For the spelling seise, see above. seldom can be compared with -er, -est; see -ER & -EST 3.

select, vb, makes -tor; see -OR. Seleucid. Pl. -ids or -idae.

self. As both self & wife were fond of seeing life, we decided that..../ He ruined himself & family by his continued experiments. Correct the first to both I & my wife, & the second to himself & his family. Such uses of s. are said by the OED to be jocular or colloquial' extensions of a commercial' idiom; &, unless the jocular intent is unmistakable, they are best avoided.

self-. Self- compounds are sometimes used when the self- adds nothing to the meaning. Agricultural depression & the rural exodus had made village life self-despondent & anaemic./Hence it is self-evident that economic changes in the agricultural system must greatly affect the general well-being. There is perhaps never any difference of meaning between despondent & self-despondent. Self-evident, on the other hand,

SELF-POSSESSEDLY

sometimes means evident without proof, or intuitively certain, which is a valuable sense, & sometimes no more than evident, not implying that proof is needless or has not been given (cf. hence in the extract), & therefore tending to confusion. Other words resembling self-despondent in being never preferable to the simple form without self are selfcollected (calm &c.), self-conceit(ed), self-consistent, self-diffidence, selfopinionated. And others resembling self-evident in having a real sense of their own but being often used when that sense is not in place are selfassurance, self-complacent, self-confidence, self-consequence. But these are samples only; there are scores that a writer should not use without first asking himself whether the self- is pulling its weight. It is not to be supposed that the otiose use of self- is a modern trick; on the contrary, the modern tendency is to abandon many such compounds formerly prevalent, & the object of this article is merely to help on that sensible tendency.

semé(e). See FRENCH WORDS. semi-. Compounds are innumerable, & restrictions little called for: but the claims of half-, which is often better, should at least be considered: This would be an immense gain over the existing fashion of a multitude of churches ill-manned & semi-filled.

semicolon. See STOPS. Semite. See HEBREW.

semivowel. See TECHNICAL TERMS. semplice, sempre. Pronounce se'mplecha, se'mprā; ITALIAN SOUNDS. sempstress. See SEAMSTREss.

SENSE

senarius. See TECHNICAL TERMS. senatus. Pl., if required, -tuses or -tūs, not -ti; see -Us.

senhor (Portuguese title). Pronounce sanyor'.

senior. For the s. service, see SOBRIQUETS.

sennight. So written; but the word is now almost out of use. It might have been, but will now hardly be, utilized as a substitute for week in the formula on Monday &c. week when the reckoning was to be backwards: We start tomorrow week, but It happened yesterday sennight.

señor, señora, señorita, Spanish titles. Pronounce senyor', senyor ́a, senyorĕ'ta.

sense, n. S. of humour, properly the power of finding entertainment in people's doings, more especially in such of them as are not designed to entertain. But the phrase has in the last half-century received an extension, or perhaps rather a limitation, that bids fair to supersede the original meaning. When we say nowadays that a person ' has no s. o. h.', or 'lacks humour', mean less that he is not alive to the entertainment provided by others' doings than that he is unaware of elements in his own conduct or character likely to stir the s. o. h. in others has not, in fact, the power of seeing himself as others see him even in the degree in which it is possessed by the average man.

we

sense, vb. We sense the tragedy of Anna Wolsky as she steps lightheartedly into Sylvia Bailey's life./ The water rail. is somewhat unwieldy in flight, & senses so much, for it seems to prefer to run. The verb has been used for some three centuries in philosophic writing as a comprehensive form of see or/& hear or/& smell or/& taste or/& feel by touch', i. e. of have senseperception of '. From that the use illustrated above is distinct, meaning according to the OED definition 'to perceive, become aware of,