sampan 
Java, corresponding to the skiff of Europe and 
America, and propelled with either sculls or a 
sail. It is sometimes provided with a fore-and- 
aft roofing of mats, 
affording shelter and 
habitation for a family, 
sampf en-wood (samp'- 
fen-wud), n. Same as 
xapan-n'oorl. 
samphire (sam 'fir or 
sam'fer), n. [A corrup- 
tion (appar. simulating 
campliirc for camphor) 
of early mod. E. sam- 
pire, sampere, sampler, 
< OF. mint pierre (i. e. 
herbe lie Saint Pierre, St. 
Peter's herb), < L. saur- 
Ins, holy (see saint), + 
LL. Fetrus, < Gr. Ilerpo? , 
Peter, < irtrpof, a stone, 
vtrpa, a rock: see saint 
andjner.] A succulent 
umbelliferous herb, 
( 'ritli m inn maritimtim, 
growing in clefts of 
rocks close to the sea 
5325 
Samydaceae 
of any two members of the Committee on Lard, upon proof 
of such notice and failure, without fees, to appoint a sam- 
pler to sample the Lard for delivery on that notice, and 
his inspection shall be final on that delivery. 
New York Produce Exchange Report, 1888-9, p. 172. 
sample-room (sam'pl-rom), . 1. A room where 
samples are kept and shown. 2. A place where 
liquor is sold by the glass ; a bar-room ; a grog- 
shop. [Vulgar euphemism, U. S.] 
[CtewT g ^7rrwitranother-o'f"eTghteen m enmis. sample-Scale (sam'pl-skal), n. Avery accurate- 
carrying by the fall of a tower. ly balanced lever-scale, weighing correctly to 
'"--- " "* ten-thousandths of a pound, it is used to weigh 
small proportional quantities of articles, in order to de- 
termine their weight in bulk. 
sample-spigot (sara'pl-spig^t), . A small fau- 
cet inserted through a cask-head. 
You being both so excellent, 'twere pity 
If such rare piece* should not be conferr'd 
And sampled together. 
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 1. 
She would have had you to have sampled you 
With one within, that they ure now a teaching, 
And does pretend to your rank. 
B. Jonion, Devil is an Ass, v. 1. 
Lest this should be wholly attributed to Pilate's cruelty, 
without due respect had of the omnipotent justice, he 
Upper Part of Stem with the In- 
florescence of Samphire (Critft- 
er ; *, the fruit ; c, transverse 
in western Europe and 
through the Mediterra- 
nean region. The young leaves are highly esteemed sample-card (sam pi-Kara; 
for making pickles. Various other maritime plants are tern-card, 1. 
named from it. In America Salicornia is sometimes so sam pl e -cutter (sam 'pl-kut " er), H. 
called. i _ -a 3 j; 
Sometimes for change they [the people of Lesbos] will 
scale the rocks for Sampler, and search the bottome of the 
Ilev. T. Adams, Works, II. 16. 
2. To match ; imitate ; follow the pattern or 
method of. 
Shew me but one hair of his head or beard, 
That Im "iStoi 'and Demer, Roaring OlrLiv. 2. sampling-tube (sam'pling-tub), H. A drpp- 
Walla by chance was in a meadow by, tube, pipette, or liquor-thief used for drawing 
Learning to sample earth's embroidery. out small quantities of liquor. Also called rare- 
IP. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 3. vil ^ fhjff.tube, relinche, or wine-taster. 
3. To select, or take at random, a sample or Sampssean (samp-se'an), n. [< Gr. 2a//Voio', 
specimen of ; hence, to try or test by examin- Sampsseans, < Heb. shemesh, the sun.] One of 
ing or using a specimen or sample : as, to sample an early school of Jewish Christians, often iden- 
tified with the Elcesaites. 
And in worshipping of the Sunne, whereof they were 
called Sampsseara, or Sunner, Sunmen, as Epiphanius in- 
terpreteth that name. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 148. 
Lowell, study Windows, p. 281. Sam p 80 n-post (samp'sou-post), n. Same as saw- 
It is difficult to compel the hydrochloric acid maker to S0n .p 0fl t. 
sampsuchinet, . [< L. sampsuchmus (< Gr. 
oiutWttMf), of marjoram, < sampsuchum, samp- 
siiclms, sampsucum (> Sp. xampswco = OF. samp- 
sue), < Gr. ad/i^n>x ov t aa/nl>ovxav, ad/^l>vx(< a f r - 
eign name of marjoram.] Sweet marjoram. 
I savour no sampsuchine in it. 
' 
ing or using a specimen or sample : 
sugar or grain ; to sample wine. 
Chaucer never shows any signs of effort, and it is a 
main proof of his excellence that he can be so inadequate- 
ly sampled by detached passages. 
sample this water in the ordinary way. 
Spans' Encye. Manuf., I. 146. 
. Same as pat- 
lesse deep seas for a little fish shaped like a burre. 
Sandys, Travailes, p. 14. the goods. 
Rotary 
shears in the form of a^sharp-edged disk rolling 
on a table against a fixed edge. It cuts from a 
roll of cloth narrow strips to form samples of 
flowers and thick stems, resembling and said to have been 
used like samphire. See Imda,. Jamaica samphire. 
(a) Batis maritima, a chenopodiaceous salt weed of the 
West Indian and Florida coasts. (6) BorriMa arbtirescens, 
a maritime shrub of the West Indies. Longwood sam- 
phire. See Pkarnaceum. Rock-samphire, the com- 
mon samphire. (See also marsh-samphire.) 
sampi (sam'pi), n. [<Gr. aa/tm, < adv, san, + m, 
pi.] A character, 9>, representing a Phenician 
sibilant in early Dorian (Greek) use, and called 
MII, but retained later only as a numeral sign, 
with pi added to its name, because of the re- 
semblance of the character in form to a Greek 
TT (pi). Its value as a numeral was 900. 
samplaryt, . [ME. saumplarie, by apheresis 
from "eaawmplarie, later examplary, exemplary: 
see exemplary, n., and cf. sampler.'] An exem- 
plar; a pattern. 
Thanh men maden bokes God was here maister. 
And seynte spirit the saumplarv. and seide what men 
sholde wryte. Piers Plowman (C), xv. 47. 
sample (sam'pi), . [< ME. sample, saumple, by 
apheresis from anaumple, esaumple, < OF. essam- 
plf,, example, also ensample, example: see ex- 
ample, ensample, of which sample is a doublet.] 
If. Anything selected as a model for imita- 
tion; a pattern; an example; an instance. 
A sample to the youngest, to the more mature 
A glass that feated them. Shak., Cymbeline, i. 1. 48. 
Thus he concludes : and ev'ry hardy knight 
His sample followed. Fair/ax. 
2. A part of anything taken at random out of a 
large quantity and presented for inspection or 
intended to be shown as evidence of the qual- 
ity of the whole ; a representative specimen : 
as, a sample of cloth, of wheat, of spirits, of 
wines, etc. Samples of textile fabrics are used exten- 
sively in retail as well as wholesale business, and in the 
large cities there are business houses most of whose deal- 
ings are with out-of-town customers by means of samples. 
Such samples are oblong, about twice as long as wide, 
and are generally stitched or pinned into little packages 
like books. Samples for wholesale trade are usually pasted 
or glued upon pattern-cards or pattern-books. See pattern- 
card, pattern-book. 
A sample is better than a description. 
Jefferson, To John Jay (Correspondence, II. 419). 
Though sickly samples of the exuberant whole. 
Coieper, Task, iv. 761. 
In courtship everything is regarded as provisional and 
preliminary, and the smallest sample of virtue or accom- 
plishment is taken to guarantee delightful stores whicli 
the broad leisure of marriage will reveal. 
George Eliot, Middlemarch, I. xx. 
The quality of Oils shall be subject to specific contracts 
as per sample, and shall be sold by gauge or weight. 
New York Produce Krchamje Report, 188S-9, p. 294. 
= Syn. 2. Specimen, Sample. See specimen. 
sample (sam'pi), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sampli-d, 
ppr. .tiimpliiiii. [< xii HI pic, H. Cl. example. r.\ 
If. To place side by side with something else 
closely similar, for the purpose of comparison 
or illustration. 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 2. 
samshoo, samshu (sam'sho), . [Chin., lit. 
'thrice fired or distilled'; < san, sam, three, + 
shao, fire, boil.] An ardent spirit resembling 
Batavia arrack, distilled by the Chinese from 
rice or from large millet. The name is also ap- 
plied in China to all spirituous liquors, such as 
gin, whisky, and brandy. See rice-wine. 
2. A piece of embroidery, worsted-work, or the 
like. Originally, such a piece of work done to fix and 
retain a pattern considered of value ; or, in some cases, 
a large piece of cloth or canvas upon which many pat- 
terns were worked side by side ; more recently, a similar 
sampler (sam'pler), n, [< ME. saumpler, sam- 
plerc, a sampler, by apheresis for "esampler, 
exampleir : see exampler and exemplar, of which 
sampler is a doublet. Cf. also samplary, exem- 
plary, .] If. An exemplar; a pattern. 
Sundry precedents and samplers of indiscretion and 8 r m ' so 'QJnogt7 s "am ; ^on"post), n. [So called in 
"a"" 688 - Ford " Line of Llfe ' Pref ' allusion to Samson the strong man, the cham- 
pion of the Hebrews (Judges xiv.-xvi.).] 1. 
Nant.: (a) A notched stanchion used in the 
hold of a merchant ship for fixing purchases 
or screws in stowing cargo, (b) A stanchion 
fixed between the decks of a man-of-war as 
an attachment for a purchase-block or leading- 
block, (c) In whaling, a heavy upright timber, 
firmly secured in the deck, and extending about 
two feet above it, to which the fluke-chain or 
fluke-rope was formerly made fast when the 
whale was towed in to be cut. Most whale- 
men now make the rope fast to the bitts. C. 
M. Seammon, Marine Mammals, p. 311. 2. 
The upright post supporting the walking-beam 
in the rope-drilling apparatus used in the Penn- 
sylvania oil-region. See cut under oil-derrick. 
' Also written sampson-post. 
samurai (sam'g-ri), sing, and pi. [Jap.] The 
military class of Japan during the continuance 
of the feudal system there, including both 
daimios, or territorial nobles, and their vassals 
or military retainers, but more particularly the 
latter, or one of them; a military retainer of a 
daimio; a two-sworded man, or two-sworded 
men collectively. The samurai were both the 
soldiers and the scholars of Japan. 
Below the classes already mentioned were the great 
bulk of the samurai, the two-sworded military retainers, 
who were supported by their lords. . . . They were reck- 
less idle fellows, acknowledging no obeisance but to their 
lord. F. 0. Adams, Hist, of Japan, I. 76. 
Among all the privileges which the samurai enjoyed 
over the common man, there was none that he prized 
more highly than the right, indeed the duty, of carrying a 
sword. . . . The samurai never went without his sword, 
and even a boy going to school had one buckled on. 
J. J. Rein, Japan, p. 827. 
Samyda (sam'i-da), H. [NL. (LinnsBus, 1753), 
< Gr. arifivia, supposed to be the birch-tree.] A 
genus of shrubs, type of the order tiami/daceee, 
Sampler 
piece of needlework intended merely to exhibit the skill 
of a beginner, and often framed and hung up for show. 
Samplers of this sort often included Bible texts, verses, 
and the like. 
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, 
Have with our needles created both one flower, 
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion. 
Shak., M. N. D., Hi. 2.205. 
In Niles cleer Crystall shee doth lordan see ; 
In Memphis, Salem ; and vn-warily 
Her hand (vnbidden) in her Sampler sets 
The King of luda's Name and Counterfets. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Magnificence. 
Come, bring your sampler, and with art 
Draw in 't a wounded heart. 
Herrick, The Wounded Heart. 
The best room 
. . . bookless, pictureless 
Save the inevitable sampler hung 
Over the fireplace. 
Whittier, Among the Hills, Prel. 
3. One who samples; one who makes up and 
exhibits samples for the inspection of mer- 
chants, etc. 
The modern practice of buying and selling ore through 
men known as public samplers is constantly growing in 
favor. Harper's 3laa., LXXVI. 950. 
If buyer fails to attend to the same [notice to attend to 
inspection) within u iv:is,>n;iblc time, it shall be the duty 
belonging to the tribe Cascaritse. It is character- 
ized by a colored and bell-shaped calyx-tube bearing four 
to six unequal lobes, by the absence of petals and stami- 
nodes by its eight to thirteen monadelphous stamens and 
its free ovary with very numerous ovules on three to five 
parietal placenta;, the style single with a capitate stigma. 
The 2 species, natives of the West Indies, are shrubs bear- 
ing two-ranked alternate oblong leaves, which are covered 
with pellucid dots. The large white, rose-colored, orgreen- 
ish flowers are home singly or few in the axils, and followed 
by a hard roundish fruit with numerous angled seeds each 
with a fleshy aril. See clown-berry. 
Samydaceae (sam-i-da'se-e), . pi. [NL. (Lmd- 
ley. 1845), < Siimyila + -accee.] An order of 
polypetalous plants of the scries Calyciflorir :\w\ 
cohort PaSftflbralet. It is characterized by similarity 
of the petals and the sepals, or by their absence, and by 
the usually undivided style and stigma a sessile one-cHlcd 
