518 Mr. Pickering on the present state of the English lanai ve 
SERIOUS. “ Serious, has [in New England] the cant acceptatioa of religious.” 
Kendall’s Trav. vol. i. p. 323, not. 
SEWENT:: See Suant, 
SHEW for SHEWED or SHOWED ; pret. ofto show. Ex. “I shew itto him 
yesterday.” 
Several years ago this corrupt preterite was very common in New Eng- 
land, but it isnow much less used than formerly. 
SHOTE; a young hog. Mew England. This is a provincial word in England. 
Ray in his South and East Country words, under the word Sheat says“ A 
Sheat ayoung hog: Suffolk. In Essex they call ita Shote; both from 
Shoot.” 
SIR. The words Sir and Ma’am are used in some parts of New England for Fa- 
ther and Mother, and for Master and Mistress. But they are not so com- 
mon now as they were some yearsago. At our colleges also, the Bach- 
elors of Arts have the appellation of Sir, as in England they have that of 
Dominus. 
SIRS; z/. of SIR. One or two attempts have lately been made in this country to 
revive this antiquated pAb. but they have been unsuccessful, 
i 7 pasasinm 20 a doors | shat 5 is, £9 abat it with 
ek, 
Sees 
The common use of this low word is.a subject of rematk with English- 
men. Itisnot, however, peculiar to this country ;_ but in England, (accord- 
‘ing to Grose) it is a a pfrrovincialism. I do not find this use of it in any of the 
dictionaries, except sh is, Barclay’ Sy Perry’ s and. Entick’s; and Ash, in 
his Supplement, does not note it as Joca/, or provincial, but only as“a a col- 
Joquial word.”” Mr. Webster adopts Entick’s explanation of it. English 
writers sometimes put it into the mouths of low characters in plays and 
SLANG-WHANGER. The Monthly Reviewers, in their account of he Eng- 
lish edition of the well known American work called Salmagundi, have the, 
following remarks on this term : 
“ When, for instance, he [the editor] tells us that ¢ Caucus’ (an assem- 
bly) is the only ¢merican word that he has found in these volumes, he evi- 
