Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SEED-TIME, n. [seed and time.]

The season proper for sowing. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. Gen. viii.

SEED-VES-SEL, n.

In botany, the pericarp which contains the seeds.

SEED-Y, a. [from seed.]

1. Abounding with seeds. Dict.
2. Having a peculiar flavor, supposed to be derived from the weeds growing among the vines; applied to French brandy. Encyc.

SEE'ING, ppr. [from see.]

Perceiving by the eye; knowing; understanding; observing; beholding. Note. This participle appears to be used indefinitely, or without direct reference to a person or persons. “Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me?” Gen. xxvi. That is, since, or the fact being that or thus; because that. In this form of phraseology, that is understood or implied after seeing; why come ye to me, seeing that, ye hate me? The resolution of the phrase or sentence is, ye hate me; that fact being seen or known by you, why come ye to me or, why come ye to me, ye seeing [knowing] that fact which follows, viz. ye hate me. In this case, seeing retains its participial character, although its relation to the pronoun is somewhat obscured. Originally, seeing, in this use, had direct relation to the speaker or to some other person. “Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou bast not withheld thy son.” Gen. xxii. Here seeing refers to I, or according to the language of syntax, agrees or accords with I. I know thou fearest God, for I see thou hast not withheld thine only son; I know thou fearest God by seeing, in consequence of seeing this fact, thou hast not withheld thine only son. But the use of seeing is extended to cases in which it can not be referred to a specific person or persons, in which cases it expresses the notoriety or admission of a fact in general, and is left, like the French on, in the phrases on dit, on voit, without application to any particular person.

SEEK, v.i.

1. To make search or inquiry; to endeavor to make discovery. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read. – Is. xxxiv.
2. To endeavor. Ask not what pains, nor further seek to know / Their process, or the forms of law below. – Dryden. To seek after, to make pursuit; to attempt to find or take. [See No. 3, supra.] To seek for, to endeavor to find. – Knolles. To seek to, to apply to; to resort to. – 1 Kings x. To seek, at a loss; without knowledge, measures or experience. Unpractic'd, unprepar'd and still to seek. – Milton. [This phrase, I believe, is wholly obsolete.]

SEEK, v.t. [pret. and pp. sought, pronounced sawt; Sax. secan, sæcan, to seek, to come to; asecan, to require; gesecan, to seek, to come to; forsacan, forsæcan, to forsake; G. suchen, to seek; absuchen, to pick off; besuchen, to visit, to see; gesuch, suit, petition; gesuche, a continued seeking; versuchen, to try, prove, tempt, essay, strive; versuch, trial, essay; D. zoeken, to seek, to look for, to try or endeavor; bezoeken, to visit, to try; gezoek, a seeking; opzoeken, to seek; verzoeken, to request, desire, invite, try, tempt, to visit; Dan. söger, to seek, to endeavor; besöger, to visit; forsöger, to try, to essay, to experiment, to tempt; opsöger, to seek or search after; Sw. söka, to seek, to sue, to court; söka en lagligen, to sue one at law; besöka, to visit; försöka, to try, to essay, to tempt. The words all accord with L. sequor, Ir. seichim, to follow; for to seek is to go after, and the primary sense is to advance, to press, to drive forward, as in the L. peto. See Essay, from the same, root, through the Italian and French. Now in Sax. forsacan, forsæcan, is to forsake; sacan is to strive, contend, whence English sake, and sæcan, secan, is to seek. But in Swedish, försaka, to forsake, to renounce, is from sak, thing, cause, suit, Sax. saca, English sake; in Danish, forsager, to renounce, is from siger, to say; sag, a thing, cause, matter, suit; sagd; a saying; G. versagen, to deny, to renounce, from sagen, to say, to tell; D. verzaaken, to deny, to forsake, to revoke, from zaak, thing, cause, and zeggen is to say or tell, which is the Sax. secgan, to say. These close affinities prove that seek, essay, say, and L. sequor, are all from one radix; coinciding with Ch. עסק, to seek, to strive. Class Sg, No. 46, and see No. 30, Ar. The English verb see seems to be from the same root.]

1. To go in search or quest of; to look for; to search for by going from place to place. The man asked him, saying, what seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren. – Gen. xxxvii.
2. To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to endeavor to find or gain by any means. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. – Ps. civ. He found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. – Heb. xii. Others tempting him, sought of him a sign. – Luke xi.
3. Seek is followed sometimes by out or after. To seek out, properly implies to look for a specific thing among a number. But in general, the use of out and after with seek, is unnecessary and inelegant. To seek God, his name, or his face, in Scripture, to ask for his favor, direction and assistance. – Ps. lxiii. lxxxiii. God seeks men, when he fixes his love on them, and by his word and Spirit, and the righteousness of Christ, reclaims and recovers them from their miserable condition as sinners. – Ezek. xxxiv. Ps. cxix. Luke xv. To seek after the life, or soul, or to attempt by arts or machinations; or to attempt to destroy or ruin. – Ps. xxxv. To seek peace, or judgment, to endeavor to promote it; or to practice it. – Ps. xxxiv. Is. i. To seek an altar, temple, or habitation, to frequent it; to resort to it often. – 2 Chron. i. Amos v. To seek out God's works, to endeavor to understand them. – Ps. cxi.

SEEK-ER, n.

1. One that seeks; an inquirer; as, a seeker of truth.
2. One of a sect that profess no determinate religion. – Johnson.

SEEK-ING, n.

Act of attempting to find or procure. – Baxter.

SEEK-SOR-ROW, n. [seek and sorrow.]

One that contrives to give himself vexation. [Little used.] – Sidney.

SEEL, n. [Sax. sæl.]

Time; opportunity; season. [Obs.] – Ray.

SEEL, or SEELING, n.

The rolling or agitation of a ship in a storm. [Obs.] – Ainsworth.

SEEL, v.i. [Sax. sylan, to give. See Sell.]

To lean; to incline to one side. [Obs.] – Bacon.

SEEL, v.t. [Fr. sceller, to seal.]

To close the eyes; a term of falconry, from the practice of closing the eyes of a wild hawk. – Bacon.

SEEL-I-LY, adv.

In a silly manner. [Obs.]

SEEL-Y, a. [from seel.]

1. Lucky; fortunate. [Obs.] – Spenser.
2. Silly; foolish; simple. [Obs.] [See Silly.] – Tusser.

SEEM, v.i. [G. ziemen, to become, to be fit or suitable; geziemen, to become, to beseem, to be meet, decent, seemly. In D. zweemen is to be like, to resemble, and taamen is to fit or suit, to become. In Dan. söm is a seam, and sömmer, signifies to hem, and also to become, to beseem, to be suitable, decent or seemly. This is certainly the G. ziemen; hence we see that seam and seem are radically the some word; It. sembrare, to seem; sembiante, like, similar, resembling; rassembrare, to resemble; Sp. semejar, to be like; Fr. sembler, to seem, to appear. These words seem to be of one family, having for their radical sense, to extend to, to meet, to unite, to come together, or to press together. If so, the Dutch taamen leads us to the oriental roots, Heb. Ch. and Syr. דמה, damah, to be like; Eth. አደመ adam, to please, to suit; Ar. أَدَمَ adama, to add, to unite, to agree, to suit, to conciliate, to confirm concord. Class Dm, No. 5, and 7. These verbs are radically one, and in these we find the primary sense of Adam; likeness, or form.]

1. To appear; to make or have a show or semblance. Thou art not what thou seem'st. – Shak. All seem'd well pleas'd; all seem'd, but were not all. Milton.
2. To have the appearance of truth or fact; to be understood as true. It seems that the Turkish power is on the decline. A prince of Italy, it seems, entertained his mistress on a great lake. – Addison.

SEEM, v.t.

To become; to befit. [Obs.] – Spenser.

SEEM-ED, pp.

Appeared; befitted.

SEEM-ER, n.

One that carries an appearance or semblance. Hence we shall see, / If power change purpose, what our seemers be. – Shak.

SEEM-ING, n.

1. Appearance; show; semblance.
2. Fair appearance. These keep / Seeming and savor all the winter long. – Shak.
3. Opinion or liking; favorable opinion. Nothing more clear to their seeming. – Hooker. His persuasive words impregn'd / With reason to her seeming. [Obs.] – Milton.

SEEM-ING, ppr.

1. Appearing; having the appearance or semblance, whether real or not.
2. adj. Specious.

SEEM-ING-LY, adv.

In appearance; in show; in semblance. This the father seemingly complied with. – Addison. They depend often on remote and seemingly disproportioned causes. – Atterbury.

SEEM-ING-NESS, n.

Fair appearance; plausibility. – Digby.

SEEM-LESS, a.

Unseemly; unfit; indecorous. [Obs.] – Spenser.

SEEM-LI-NESS, n. [from seemly.]

Comeliness; grace; fitness; propriety; decency; decorum. When seemliness combines with portliness. – Camden.