sea-leopard 
Sea-leopard (Lfftonyitiotes wdAIH . 
Stenorhi/nchime ; but, this generic name being preoccu- 
pied in entomology, it was changed by Peters in 1875 to 
O : iinorhinm. The other genus, commonly known as Lep- 
toni/x, is in like case, being preoccupied in ornithology, 
and was changed by Gill in 1872 to Leptonychotes. 
sealer 1 (se'ler), . [<*e7 1 , >., + -e/' 1 .] A man 
or a ship engaged in the seal-fishery. 
A fleet of sealers in Bering Sea. 
Fur-seal Fisheries of Alaska, p. 141. 
sealer'-* (se'ler), n. [< seal?, v., + -er 1 .] 1. 
One who seals ; one who stamps with a seal. 
On the right, at the table, is the sealer pressing down 
the matrix of the great seal with a roller on the wax. 
Arclueoloffia, XXXIX 358. (Vavies.) 
In 1414 the indenture for Somersetshire states that the 
sealers made the election " ex assensu totius comnmnita- 
tis," a form borrowed no doubt from the ancient return by 
the sheriff. Stubbs, Const. Hist., 421. 
2. In the United States, an officer appointed 
to examine and test weights and measures, and 
set a stamp upon such as are true to the stan- 
dard ; also, an officer who inspects and stamps 
leather; also, one who inspects brick-molds, 
sealing such as are of proper size. 
sealery (se'ler-i), n. ; pi. sealeries (-iz). [< seal 1 
+ -ery."\ A place in which seals abound, or in 
which they are caught ; a seal-fishing establish- 
ment or station. 
sea-letter (se'let"6r), . A document formerly 
issued by the civil authorities of a port in which 
a vessel is fitted out. It certified her nationality, and 
specified the kind, quantity, ownership, and destination 
of her cargo. Also called sea-brief. Ilamersly. 
sea-lettuce (se'lef'is), n. See lettuce. 
sea-level (se'lev'el), n. The surface of the sea, 
supposed to be level : commonly used as equiva- 
lent to mean sea-level, the level surface half-way 
between mean high and low water. The word 
assumes that the surface of the sea is level, which is 
not true where strong currents exist, nor where the 
trade-winds blow the water into partially closed seas. 
The sea-level must be considered as bulging out under 
the continents and wherever gravity is in excess (after 
due allowance for latitude); otherwise, very large cor- 
rections would have to be applied to the results of level- 
ing operations. 
seal-fishery (sel'fish"er-i), . The art or in- 
dustry of taking seals ; also, the place where 
seals are taken ; a sealery. 
seal-flower (sel'flou"er), n. A name of the 
bleeding-heart, Dicentra spectabilis. 
sealgh (selch), re. [Also selch, silch; < ME. 
*seolg,<. AS. scolh, a seal: see seal 1 .'] A seal 
or sea-calf. [Scotch.] 
Ye needna turn away your head sae sourly, like a sealgh 
when he leaves the shore. Scott, Pirate, ix. 
seal-hook (sel'huk), . An iron hook inserted in 
the hasp of a railway freight-car door, fastened 
with a wire, and sealed, to secure the door. 
sea-light (se'lit), n. A light to guide mariners 
during the night. See lighthouse, harbor-light. 
sea-lily (se'lil"i), . A living crinoid; a lily- 
star ; a feather-star. The fossil encrinites are 
commonly distinguished as stone-lilies. 
sea-line (se'lin),w. 1. The horizon atsea; the 
line where sea and sky seem to meet. 
Her face was evermore unseen 
And flxt upon the far sea-line. 
Tennyson, The Voyage. 
A strange sight, and a beautiful, to see the fleet put 
silently out against a rising moon, the sea-line rough as a 
wood with sails. R. L.Stevenson, Education of an Engineer. 
2. pi. Long lines used for fishing in deep water. 
At first there was a talk of getting sea lines and going 
after the bream. W. Black, In Far Lochaber, xiii. 
sealing 1 (se'ling), . [Verbal n. of seall, .] 
The operation of catching seals, curing their 
skins, and obtaining the oil. 
It was the height of the sealing season. 
C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, p. 90. 
sealing 2 (se'ling). n. [Verbal n. of seal?, v.] 
The act of impressing with a seal; confirmation 
by a seal. 
sealing-wax (se'ling-waks), n. and a. I. n. 
Shellac and rosin melted with turpentine, col- 
ored with suitable coloring matters, usually 
vermilion, and run into molds: used for mak- 
ing seals. 
5443 
II. a. Eesembling red sealing-wax: specifi- 
cally said of the peculiar tips of the feathers of 
the waxwings. See inij-iriiifi, Ampelia Seal- 
ing-wax varnish, a varnish made of red sealing-wax 
aim shellac dissolved in alcohol : used especially to coat 
parts of electrical machines. 
sea-lintie (se'lin'ti), n. The sea-titling or sea- 
lark, Antliiifi nhxrurus. Also rock-Untie. See 
>-u<-l:-/ii/>ii. [Local, Scotland.] 
sea-lion (s6'li"gn), . 1. One of several large 
eared seals, or otaries. (a) Evmetopias OMm, the 
largest otary of the North Pacific, the male attaining a 
length of 11 to IS feet, a girth of H to 10 feet, and a weight 
of about 1,200 pounds. It is a hair-seal, not a fur-seal. 
See cut under tiuinetopias. (b) A species of Zalophus, as 
Z. lobatits of Australasian waters, anil Z. californianus, a 
quite distinct species of the Pacific coast of North America 
and thence to Japan. The latter is the sea-lion which 
attracts much attention on the rocks off San Francisco, 
and which barks so loudly and Incessantly in traveling 
menageries. See cut under Zalophvs. (c) Cook's otary, 
J^IBSVV'W* 
v " '' v% -' v 
" > A '*. " 
Sea-lion ( Otariajttbata.). 
Otaria jubata, of the antarctic seas : more fully called 
Patayonian sea-lion. It is related to the sea-bear figured 
under otary, but Is larger. 
2. In her., a bearing representing a creature 
having a head like that of a lion, but sometimes 
without the mane, two paws with long claws, 
and fish-like body. Also called lion-poisson and 
morse. 
sea-liquort, n. [ME. see-licoure; < sea 1 + liquor. ~\ 
Sea-water; brine. 
Weshe hem in see licoure whenne thai be clene, 
Or water salt, and white thai longe endure. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. B6. 
sea-lizard (se'liz"ilrd), TO. 1. A nudibranchiate 
gastropod of the genus Glaucus. See cut un- 
der Crlaucus. 2. An enaliosaur; a fossil reptile 
of the group Enaliosauria. 3. A mosasaurian ; 
any member of the Mosasauridie. 
seal-lance (sel'lans), n. A lance designed or 
used for killing seals. 
seal-lock (sel'lok), n. 1. See tocfc 1 . 2. Aform 
of permutation-lock. 
sea-loach (se'loch), n. A gadoid fish, Onos tri- 
cirratus or Motella vulgarw, also called whistle- 
fish, three-bearded rockling, three-bearded cod, 
three-bearded gade. See Motella. 
sea-longwonn(8e'16ng"werm),n. Anemertean 
worm of the family Lineidse. 
sea-louse (se'lous), n. 1. One of various para- 
sitic isopod crusta- 
ceans, as those of the 
family Cymothoidse. 
2. The Molucca 
crab, or horseshoe- 
crab of the East In- 
dies, Limulus moluc- 
censis: translating an 
old book-name, ''pc- 
diculus marinus.'' 
rs. 
sea-luce (se'lus), n. 
The hake, Merlucius 
riilgirrin. Dai/. 
seal-pipe (sel'pip), . 
A pipe so arranged 
that the open end dips 
beneath the surface 
of a fluid so as to pre- 
vent reflux of gases, 
etc.; a dip-pipe. 
seal-press (sel'pres), 
n. A press or stamp 
bearing dies on its 
jaws, or a die and a 
bed, for imprinting 
or embossing any de- 
vice upon paper or a plastic material, as lead. 
It is much used to form the seals of seal-locks, 
and may be a kind of heavy pincers. 
Seal-press. 
a and a', dies ; b (dotted outline 1 , 
bar sliding in guide c ; d (dotted out- 
line), abutment for coiled spring e ; 
f, lever with cam g at the bottom. 
The lever moved in the direction in- 
dicated by the arrow forces a down 
seam 
seal-ring (sel'ring), n. A finger-ring in which 
a seal is inserted as the chaton or bezel ; hence, 
by extension, a ring in which is set a piece of 
hard stone upon which a seal may be engraved. 
I have lost a seal-ring of my grandfather's, worth forty 
mark. Shot., 1 Hen. IV., UL 8. 94. 
seal-rookery (serrAk'er-i), n. A place where 
many seals breed together; a sealery. 
sealskin (sel'skin), . [< ME. scelskin = Icel. 
.ii'lukiiiii. x/'liiskiiiH = Dan. sastskind ; as seal 1 + 
skin.] The skin of a seal, tanned or otherwise 
dressed as material for clothing (as boots, 
shoes, and caps), and for many other uses; es- 
pecially, the prepared fur of the fur-seal, used 
for women's jackets or sacks ; by extension, a 
garment made of this fur Sealskin cloth, a cloth 
made of mohair with a nap, and dyed to resemble the fur 
of the seal : used by women for outdoor garments. 
sea-lungs (se'lungz), . A comb-jelly; a cte- 
nophoran or comb-bearer : so called from the 
alternate contraction and expansion, as if 
breathing. See cuts under Saccatee. 
sea-lungwort (se'lung"wert), n. SeeMertensia. 
seal-waxt (sel'waks), n. Same as sealing-wax. 
Your organs are not so dull that I should inform you 
'tis an inch, Sir, of red seal wax. 
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, IL 2. 
sealwort (sel'wert), . The Solomon's-seal. 
I'olyi/oiiatum multiflorum, and perhaps other 
species. 
seam 1 (sem), . [< ME. seem, seme, < AS. seam = 
OFries. sam = D. zoom = MLG. soni, LG. soom 
= OHG. MHG. soitm, saum = Icel. saumr = 
Sw. Dan. som, a seam; with formative -m, < AS. 
siwian, etc. (^ sit), sew: seesew 1 .] 1. Theline 
formed by joining two edges; especially, the 
joining line formed by sewing or stitching toge- 
ther two different pieces of cloth, leather, or 
the like, or two edges of the same piece ; a line 
of union. 
At Costantynoble is the Cros of our Lord Jesu Crist, 
and his Cote withouten Semes. Mandeville, Travels, p. 9. 
The coat was without seam, woven from the top through- 
out. John xix. 23. 
2. A piece of plain sewing; that on which 
sewing is being or is to be done ; sewing. 
Lady Margaret sits in her bower door, 
Sewing at her silken seam. 
Young Akin (Child's Ballads, I. 179). 
Gae mind your seam. Burns, To a Tailor. 
He asked her to put down her seam, and come for a 
walk. Harper's Mag., LXV. 117. 
3 . A line of separation, as between two strata, or 
two planks or the like when fastened together; 
also, the fissure or gap formed by the imper- 
fect union of two bodies laid or fastened to- 
gether: as, to calk the seams of a ship. 4. A 
fissure; a cleft; a groove. 5. The ridge in a 
casting which marks the place where two parts 
of the mold have been in contact, as in a plas- 
ter cast or a molded piece of earthenware. 6. 
A cicatrix or scar. 7. A bed or stratum: so 
used especially in speaking of coal : as, a seam 
of coal (a bed or continuous layer of coal). 
8. pi. See the quotation. 
The rags known technically as seams, being the clip- 
pings which fall from woolen rags under the scissors of 
the sorters, who prepare them for the machine by which 
they are torn into "rag- wool." These pieces are cut off 
and withheld from the tearing machine, precisely because 
they have a sewing thread running along them, or por- 
tions of cotton lining adherent, or other vegetal admix- 
ture. Ure, Diet., II. 360. 
9. In ana?., a suture; a raphe. 
If any thought by flight to escape, he made his head to 
fly in pieces by the lambdoidal commissure, which is a 
seam in the hinder part of the skull. 
Uryuhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 27. 
Bight seam (naut.\ a seam formed by doubling over the 
canvas in the middle of a cloth, and stitching it down. 
False seam, (a) A ridge produced on castings where the 
mold is joined. F. Campin, Mech. Engineering, Gloss., p. 
406. (b) In sail-maHny, a seam run in the middle of a cloth 
longitudinally, by overlaying a fold of the canvas on it- 
self, so as to give the appearance of a regular seam as 
between two separate cloths. This is done for appear- 
ance in yacht-sails, and to make the sail stand flatter. 
Overhead seam. See overhead. Round seam (wmt.\ 
a seam formed by sewing the edges of canvas together 
without lapping. This method is used in the United 
States with only the lightest kind of canvas. To toe a 
seam, to stand on deck with the toes touching one of the 
seams. Such standing is imposed as a punishment for 
slight offenses. White seam, underclothing in the pro- 
cess of making. [Scotch.] 
Miss Becky was invited ; . . . and, accordingly, with 
... a large work-bag well stuffed with white-seam, she 
took her place at the appointed hour. 
Mies Ftrritr, Marriage, xiv. 
seam 1 (sem), v. [= Sw. somnia = Dan. som- 
me; from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To join 
with a seam; unite by sewing. 2. In knitting, 
to make an apparent seam in with a certain 
