Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SIN, prep. [or adv. for Since. (Scot. syne.) obsolete or vulgar.]

SIN, v.i. [Sax. singian, syngian.]

1. To depart voluntarily from the path of duty prescribed by God to man; to violate the divine law in any particular, by actual transgression or by the neglect or non-observance of its injunctions; to violate any known rule of duty. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. – Rom. iii. It is followed by against. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. – Ps. li.
2. To offend against right, against men or society; to trespass. I am a man / More sinn'd against than sinning. – Shak. And who but wishes to invert the laws / Of order, sins against th' eternal cause. – Pope.

SI-NA-IT'IC, a. [from Sinai, the mountain.]

Pertaining to Mount Sinai; given or made at Sinai. – Macknight.

SIN'A-PIS-IN, n.

A principle extracted from mustard seed, Sinapis alba. It is white, crystalizable, inodorous, and bitter.

SIN'A-PISM, n. [L. sinapis, sinape, mustard, G. senf, Sax. senep.]

In pharmacy, a cataplasm composed of mustard seed pulverized, with some other ingredients, and used as an eternal application. It is a powerful irritant. – Encyc.

SIN'BORN, a.

Derived from sin.

SINCE, prep. [or adv. Sw. sedan; Dan. siden; D. sint; supposed to be contracted from Sax. siththan, which is from sithian, to pass, to go; and siththan may be the participle, and denote past, gone, and hence after, afterward. Sith in Saxon, has a like sense. Our early writers used sith, sithen, sithence; the latter is evidently a corruption of siththan. It may be doubted whether Sw. sen, Dan. seen, slow, late, is a contraction of this word; more probably it is not.]

1. After; from the time that. The proper signification of since is after, and its appropriate sense includes the whole period between an event and the present time. I have not seen my brother since January. The Lord hath blessed thee, since my coming. – Gen. xxx. Holy prophets, who have been since the world began. – Luke i. John ix. Since then denotes, during the whole time after an event; or at any particular time during that period.
2. Ago; past; before this. “About two years since, an event happened,” that is, two years having passed.
3. Because that; this being the fact that. Since truth and constancy are vain, / Since neither love nor sense of pain / Nor force of reason can persuade, / Then let example be obey'd. – Glanville. Since, when it precedes a noun, is called a preposition, but when it precedes a sentence it is called an adverb. The truth is, the character of the word is the same in both cases. It is probably an obsolete participle, and according to the usual classification of words, may be properly ranked with the prepositions. In strictness, the last clause of the passage above cited is the case absolute. “The Lord hath blessed thee, since my coming,” that is, my arrival being past. So, since the world began, is strictly, past the world began, the beginning of the world being past. In the first case, since, considered as a preposition, has coming, a noun, for its object, and in the latter case, the clause of a sentence. So we say, against your arrival, or against you come.

SIN-CERE', a. [Fr. from L. sincerus, which is said to be composed of sine, without, and cera, wax; as if applied originally to pure honey.]

1. Pure; unmixed. As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word. – 1 Pet. ii. A joy which never was sincere till now. – Dryden. There is no sincere acid in any animal juice. – Arbuthnot. I would have all gallicisms avoided, that our tongue may be sincere. – Felton. [This sense is for the most part obsolete. We use the phrases, sincere joy, sincere pleasure, but we mean by them, unfeigned, real joy or pleasure.]
2. Unhurt; uninjured. The inviolable body stood sincere. [Obs.] – Dryden.
3. Being in reality what it appears to be; not feigned; not simulated; not assumed or said for the sake of appearance; real; not hypocritical or pretended. This is the present use of the word. Let your intentions be pure and your declarations sincere. Let love and friendship be sincere. Not prayer can avail with a heart-searching God, unless it is sincere.

SIN-CERE'LY, adv.

Honestly; with real purity of heart; without simulation or disguise; unfeignedly; as, to speak one's mind sincerely; to love virtue sincerely.

SIN-CERE'NESS, n.

Sincerity.

SIN-CER'I-TY, n. [Fr. sincerité; L. sinceritas.]

1. Honesty of mind or intention; freedom from simulation or hypocrisy. We may question a man's prudence, when we can not question his sincerity.
2. Freedom from hypocrisy, disguise or false pretense; as, the sincerity of a declaration of love.

SIN'CI-PUT, n. [L.]

The fore part of the head from the forehead to the coronal suture. – Encyc.

SIN'DON, n. [L. fine linen.]

A wrapper. [Not in use.] – Bacon.

SINE, n. [L. sinus.]

In geometry, the right sine of an arch or arc, is a line drawn from one end of that arch, perpendicular to the radius drawn through the other end, and is always equal to half the chord of double the arch. – Harris.

SI'NE-CURE, n. [L. sine, without, and cura, cure, care.]

An office which has revenue without employment; in church affairs, a benefice without cure of souls. [This is the original and proper sense of the word.]

SI'NE-CUR-IST, n.

One who has a sinecure.

SINE-DIE, a. [or adv. Sine die; L. without day.]

An adjournment sine die is an adjournment without fixing the time of resuming business. When a defendant is suffered to go sine die, he is dismissed the court.

SIN'E-PITE, n. [L. sinape, mustard.]

Something resembling mustard-seed. – De Costa.

SINE-QUA-NON, a. [Sine qua non.]

Without which a thing can not be; hence, an indispensable condition.

SIN'EW, n. [Sax. sinu, sinw, sinwe; G. sehne; D. zenuw; Sw. sena; Dan. sene or seene. The primary sense is stretched, strained, whence the sense of strong; G. sehnen, to long; Ir. sinnim, to strain.]

1. In anatomy, a tendon; that which unites a muscle to a bone.
2. In the plural, strength; or rather that which supplies strength. Money is the sinews of war. – Dryden.
3. Muscle; nerve. – Davies.

SIN'EW, v.t.

To knit as by sinews. – Shak.

SIN'EW-ED, a.

1. Furnished with sinews; as, a strong-sinewed youth.
2. Strong; firm; vigorous. When he sees / Ourselves well sinewed to our defense. – Shak.

SIN'EW-LESS, a.

Having no strength or vigor.

SIN'EW-SHRUNK, a.

Gaunt-bellied; having the sinews under the belly shrunk by excess of fatigue, as a horse. – Far. Dict.

SIN'EW-Y, a.

1. Consisting of a sinew or nerve. The sinewy thread my brain lets fall. Donne.
2. Nervous; strong; well braced with sinews; vigorous; firm; as, the sinewy Ajax. – Shak. The northern people are large, fair complexioned, strong, sinewy and courageous. Hale.