seeker 
seeker after truth. 2f. One who applies or re- 
sorts: with to. 
Cato is represented as a seeker to oracles. Dentleii. 
3. A searcher. 
So the bisynesse of the sekere was scorned. 
Wyclif, Gen. xxxi. 35. 
4. [cap.'] One of a sect in the time of Cromwell 
which professed no determinate religion, but 
claimed to be in search of the true church, 
ministry, sacraments, and Scriptures. 
Others, held very good men, are at a dead stand, not 
knowing what to doe or say ; and are therefore called 
Seekers, looking for new Nuntio's from Christ, toassoile 
these benighted questions. H. Ward, Simple Cooler, p. 19. 
These peopl ewerecalled Seekers by some, and the Family 
of Love by others : because, as they came to the know- 
ledge of one another, they sometimes met together, not 
formally to pray or preach at appointed times or places, 
in their own wills, as in times past they were accustomed 
to do ; but waited together in silence, and, as any thing 
rose in any one of then* minds that they thought favoured 
of a divine spring, they sometimes spoke. 
Penn, lUse and Progress of Quakers, i. 
5. In anat., same as tracer. 
Insert & seeker into it [the pedal gland of the common 
snail ] it can be readily introduced for a distance of more 
than an inch. 
Huxley and Hartin, Elementary Biology, p. 281. 
seekingt (se'king), p. a. Investigating; search- 
ing for the truth. 
A student . . . informed us of a sober and seeking man 
of great note in the city of Dnysburgh ; to him we gave 
some books. There was one more who was tender and 
inquiring, to whom also we gave some books. 
Penn, Travels in Holland, Works, III. 402. 
seek-no-further (sek'no-t'er'THfer), . A red- 
dish winter apple, with a subacid flavor. Also 
yo-tio-further. [U. S.] 
seek-sbrrowt (sek'sor'6). . [< seek, v., + obj. 
sorrow.'] One who contrives to give himself 
vexation; a self-tormentor. 
Afield they go, where many lookers be, 
And tin >n seek-sorrmv Claius them among. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
seel 1 !, a. [ME. sel, < AS. sel, sail, good, fortu- 
nate, happy, = OHG. 'sal (in MHG. sdlliche) = 
Icel. ssell = Sw. sail = Dan. seel = Goth, sets, 
good, useful; prob. = L. sollm, whole, entire, 
solus (prob. orig. identical with sollm), alone 
(see sole 1 ), salvos, salvos, orig. *solvos, whole, 
sound, well, safe (see safe), = Gr. 6/of, dial. 
oi'Aof, whole, = Skt. sarva, whole, all. Hence 
seen, n., and, by extension from seel 1 , a., seely 
(which only partly depends on the noun seel) 
(cf. holy, similarly extended from hole, now 
spelled irhole), and from that the mod. silly.] 
Good; fortunate; opportune: happy. Laya- 
mon, 1. 1234. 
seel 1 (sel), n. [< ME. sele, cele, sel, gal, < AS. 
sal, time, season, happiness, < sxl, sel, fortunate, 
opportune : see see ft, a.] 1. Good fortune ; hap- 
piness ; bliss. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] 
I is tliyn awen clerk, swa have I seel I v;ir. hele]. 
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 319. 
Take droppyng of capone rostyd wele 
With wyne and mustarde, as have thou cele, 
With onyons smalle schrad, and sothun [sodden] in grece, 
Meng alle in fere, and forthe hit messe. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 288. 
2. Opportunity; time; season: as, the seel of 
the day : used frequently as the second element 
in a compound: as, h&y-seel (hay-time), barley- 
seel, etc. [Prov. Eng.] 
seel 2 (sel), v. t. [Also ceel; early mod. E. also 
seele, seal, cele; < OF. siller, ciller, sew up the 
eyelids of, hoodwink, wink, F. ciller, open and 
shut the eyes, wink, < cil, eyelid, < L. cilitim, an 
eyelid, eyelash: see eilium.'] 1. To close, or 
close the eyes of, with a thread. The eyelids of a 
newly taken hawk were thus sealed in falconry, to keep 
them together, and aid in making it tractable. 
She brought a seeled dove, who, the blinder she was, the 
higher she strove. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
He shall for this time only be seel'd up. 
With a feather through his nose, that he may only 
See heaven, and think whither he is going. 
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, v. 4. 
So have I seen a harmless dove made dark with an ar- 
tificial night, and her eyes sealed and locked up with a lit- 
tle quill. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835X I. 860. 
Hence 2. To close, as a person's eyes ; blind: 
hoodwink. 
She that, so young, could give out such a seeming, 
To seel her father's eyes up close as oak. 
Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 210. 
Cold death . . . his sable eyes did seel. Chapman. 
seel s (sel), v. i. [Prob. < F. siller, run ahead, 
make headway, < OF. sigler, singler, F. cingler, 
sail, make sail (= Sp. similar), sail, < Icel. sigla, 
sail: see sail 1 , sinf/le'*, .] To lean; incline to 
one side ; heel; roll, as a ship in a storm. 
5406 
When a ship seek or rolls in foul weather, the breaking 
loose of ordnance is a thing very dangerous. Raleigh. 
seel 3 (sel), n. [< gecl 3 , j\] A roll or pitch, as of 
a ship in a storm. 
All aboard, at every geele, 
Like drunkards on the hatches reele. 
Sandys, Paraphrase of the Psalms (ed. 1036), p. 181. 
In a mighty stonne, a lustie yonge man (called John 
Howland), coming upon some occasion above \ grattings, 
was with a seele of y shipe throwne into [yj sea. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 76. 
see! 4 t, . and r. A Middle English form of seal 2 . 
seelilyt (se'li-li), rfc. In a seely or silly man- 
ner. 
seelinesst, . The character of being seely; 
happiness; blissfulness. 
Worldly selyiiesse, 
Which clerkes calleu fals felicite, 
Ymedled is with many a bitternesse. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 813. 
seelyt, [Early mod. E., also seeley ; < ME. 
licit, selich = OHG. salig, MHG. sielec, fortu- 
nate, blessed, happy, G. selig, blessed, = Icel. 
aeelligr, happy, wealthy, blissful, = Sw. Da_n. 
inlii/, blessed) ; extended, with adj. suffix, < *-ff/, 
sel, fortunate, happy: see seeft, a. Hence in 
later use silly, in a restricted sense: see silly.] 
1. Happy; lucky; fortunate. 
For sely is that deth, soth for to seyne, 
That oft ycleped cometh and endeth peyne. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 603. 
O noble prince, that god shall blesse so farre as to be 
the onely meane of bringing this seely frozen Island 
into such everlasting honnour that all the nations of the 
World shall knowe and say, when the face of an English 
gentleman appeareth, that he is eyther a Sowldiour, a 
philosopher, or a gallant Cowrtler. 
Boolre / Precedence (E. E. T. 8., extra ser.), i. 11. 
To get some seeley home I had desire. Fairfax. 
2. Good. 
Seli child is sone ilered [tanght|. 
1. if:- of Beket (ed. Black), p. 158. (Strattnann.) 
For sely child wol alday sone lere. 
Chaucer, ITioress's Tale, 1. 60. 
3. Simple; artless ; innocent; harmless; silly. 
See silly. 
O sely womman, fill of innocence, 
Kill of pitee, of truthe and Conscience, 
What niaked yow to men to trusten so? 
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1254. 
I, then, whose burden 'd breast but thus aspires 
of shepherds two the seely cause to show. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
A face like modest Pallas when she blush'd ; 
A seely shepherd should be beauty's judge. 
Greene, Description of Silvestro's Lady. 
Honest foole duke, . . . seely novice Ferneze ! 
I do laugh at yee. 
Sfarston and Webster, Malcontent, i. 7. 
4. Poor; trifling. 
And for to apparaylle with oure Bodyes, wee usen a 
sely litylle Clout, for to wrappen in oure Careynes. 
Mandemlte, Travels, p. 293. 
seem (sem), v. [< ME. semen; not from the AS. 
seman, geseman, satisfy, conciliate, reconcile, 
but from the related Scand. verbs, Icel. sxma 
(for *scema), honor, bear with, conform to, soma, 
befit, beseem, become (=Dan. si>mme,\>e becom- 
ing, be proper, be decent) ; cf . ssemr, fit, becom- 
ing, < sama, beseem, befit, become, conform to 
(=Goth. sanyan, please), < samr = Goth, sama, 
the same: see same, and cf. seemly, beseem.] I. 
intrans. If. To be fit or suitable. 
To the tempull full tyte toke he the gate. 
I 1 full mylde on his maner meuit within. 
On a syde he hym set, as semyt for a straungior. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2879. 
2. To appear; have or present an appearance 
of being ; appear to be ; look or look like ; in 
a restricted .sense, be in appearance or as re- 
gards appearance only. 
And I have on of tho precyouse Thornes, that semethe 
licke a white Thorn, and that was zoven to me for gret 
Specyaltee. Mandeville, Travels, p. 13. 
This is to seeme, and not to bee. 
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 29. 
She seemd a woman of great bountihed. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 41. 
So shall the day seem night. 
ShaJr., Venus and Adonis, 1. 122. 
Some truths seem almost falsehoods, and some false- 
hoods almost truths. Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., ii. 3. 
In every exercise of all admired, 
He seemed, nor only seemed, but was inspired. 
Dryden, Cym. and Iph., 1. 221. 
3. To appear; be seen; show one's self or itself; 
hence, to assume an air; pretend. 
For loue made I this worlde alone, 
Therfore my loue shalle in it seme. 
York Play*, p. 16. 
seeming 
As we Keine best we shall shewe our entent. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1768. 
There did seem in him a kind of joy 
To hear of it. Shalt., Hamlet, iii. 1. 18. 
4. In an impersonal reflexive use, to appear: 
with the person in the dative, later apparently 
in the nominative as the quasi-subject of seem 
in the sense of 'think, consider': as, me <</. 
Iii in xt'i'iiitd. tlici/ seemed, the people sccnicil, it 
seems to me, it seemed to him, them, or the 
people (meseems being often written as a single 
word). 
The peple com to the gate, and saugh apertly the Duke, 
as hem semed. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 77. 
"Sir," sais syr Sextenour, "saye what the lykez, 
And we salle suffyre the, als us beste seines." 
Morte Arthur (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1701. 
It was of fairye, as the peple seined. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 193. 
Me seemeth good that, with some little train, 
Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd 
Hither to London, to be crown'd our king. 
S/iak., Rich. III., ii. 2. 120. 
5. To appear to one's self; imagine; feel as if: 
as, I still seem to hear his voice ; he still seemed 
to feel the motion of the vessel. 
Gazing I seem to see 
Thought folded over thought ... in thy large eyes. 
Tennyson, Eleanore, vi. 
It is habitual with the New-Englander to put this verb 
to strange uses, as. " I can't seem to be suited," " I couldn't 
seem to know him." Lou-ell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., Int. 
It seems, it appears : often used parenthetically, and 
nearly equivalent to ' as the story goes, as is said, as we 
are told. Often used sarcastically or ironically : as, this, 
it xeems, is the man you call good ! 
1 am abus'd, betray'd ! I am laugh'd at, scorn'd, 
Baffled, and bor'd, it seems ! 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, Iv. 5. 
// seems to me that the true reason why we have so few 
versions which are tolerable is because there are so few 
who have all the talents requisite for translation. 
firyden. 
The river here is about a quarter of a mile broad, or 
something more. It sltmdd seem it was the Angyrorum 
Civitas of Ptolemy. Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 80. 
It seems a countryman had wounded himself with his 
scythe. Steele, Tatler, No. 248. 
= Syn. 2. Seem, Look, Appear. Look differs from seem 
only in more vividly suggesting the use of the eye, literally 
or figuratively: a.8, it looks (or seems) right. Appear is some- 
what stronger, having sometimes the sense of coming into 
view or coming to seem. Each may stand for that which 
is probably true, or in opposition to that which Is true : 
not to seem, but to be ; the seeming and the real. Should 
see-in and would seem are equally correct, but differ in 
strength. To say that a thing should seem to be true is 
to say that it ought to seem so or almost necessarily 
seems so ; to say that it would seem true is to say that, 
while there are reasons for holding an opposite view, the 
preponderance of evidence is on the side of its being true. 
fi.t trans. To become ; beseem ; befit ; be 
fit, suitable, or proper for. 
Amongst the rest a good old woman was, 
Hight Mother Hubberd, who did farre surpas 
The rest in honest mirth, that seem'd her well. 
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 35. 
seemer (se'mer), . One who seems; one who 
makes a show of something ; one who carries 
an appearance or semblance. 
Hence shall we see, 
If power change purpose, what our seemers be. 
Shak., M. for M., i. 3. 54. 
seeming (se'ming), ?i. [Verbal n. of seem, .] 
1 . Appearance ; show ; outward appearance 
or looks; semblance; especially, a false ap- 
pearance. 
And to raze out 
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down 
After my seeming. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 2. 129. 
He concludes with a sentence faire in seeming, but fal- 
lacious. Milton, Eikouoklastes, vi. 
2f. Fair appearance. 
These keep 
Seeming and savour all the winter long. 
5Ao*., W. T., Iv. 4. 75. 
3t. Opinion; judgment; way of thinking; es- 
timate; apprehension. 
Nothing more clear unto their seeming than that, a 
new Jerusalem being often spoken of in scripture, they 
undoubtedly were themselves that new Jerusalem. 
Hooker. 
His persuasive words impregn'd 
With reason, to her seemiivj, and with truth. 
Milton, P. L., ta. 737. 
seeming (se'ming), p. a. [< ME. semyng; ppr. 
of seem, v.] If. Becoming; befitting; proper; 
seemly. 
As hym thought it were right wele semyng 
Ffor to do hym seruice as in that case, 
And rather ther thanne in a stranger place. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), L S27. 
It wer fair more seeming that they shoulde wt the, by 
(rood liuing, begin to be men. then thou ehouldest with 
them, by the leauing of thy good purpose, shamefully be- 
gin to bee a beast. Sir T. .Wore, Works, p. 12. 
