self-importance 
Our self-impirrtance ruins its own scheme. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 368. 
Self-important (self-im-por'tant), (I. Impor- 
tant in one's own esteem ; pompous. 
self-imposed (self-im-pozd'), a. Imposed or 
taken voluntarily on one's self: as, a self-im- 
posrrl task. 
self-impotent (self-im'po-tent), a. In bot., un- 
able to fertilize itself with'its own pollen : said 
of a flower or a plant. 
self-induction (self-in-duk'shon), n. See in- 
duction. 
self-inductive (self-in-duk'tiv), a. Of or per- 
taining to self-induction. 
The self-inductive capacity of non-magnetic wires of 
different metals. Science, VII. 442. 
self-indulgence (self-in-dul'jens), n. The habit 
of undue gratification of one's own passions, 
desires, or tastes, with little or no thought of 
the cost to others. 
self-indulgent (self-in-dul'jent), a. Given to 
the undue indulgence or gratification of one's 
own passions, desires, or the like. 
self-infection (self-in-fek'shon), n. Infection 
of the entire organism or of a second part of 
it by absorption of virus from a local lesion. 
self-inflicted (self-in-flik'ted), a. Inflicted by 
or on one's self: as, a self-inflicted punishment; 
self-inflicted wounds. 
self-interest (self-in'ter-est), ii. 1. Private in- 
terest; the interest or advantage of one's self, 
without regard to altruistic gratification. 2. 
Selfishness; pursuit of egotistical interests ex- 
clusively, without regard to conscience. 
From mean self-interest and ambition clear. 
Cowper, Expostulation, 1. 438. 
self-interested (self-in'ter-es-ted), a. Having 
self-interest; particularly concerned for one's 
self; selfish. Addition, Freeholder, No. 7. 
Self-involution (self-in-vo-lu'shon), . Involu- 
tion in one's self ; hence, mental abstraction ; 
reverie. 
Heraclitus, as well as psychologists of recent times, 
seemed to appreciate the dangers of self involution. 
Amer. Jour. Psychol., I. 630. 
self-involved (self-in-volvd'), Wrapped up 
in one's self or in one's thoughts. 
The pensive mind 
Which, all too dearly self-involved, 
Yet sleeps a dreamless sleep to me. 
Tennyson, Day-Dream, I/Envoi. 
Selfish (sel'fish), a. [= G. selbstisch = Sw. sjelfv- 
isk = Dan. selvisk; as self + -t's/t 1 .] 1. Caring 
only for self; influenced solely or chiefly by 
motives of personal or private pleasure or ad- 
vantage : as, a selfish person. 
What could the most aspiring or the most selfish man 
desire more, were he to form the notion of a being to whom 
he would recommend himself, than such a knowledge as 
can discover the least appearance of perfection in him? 
Addison, .Spectator, No. 257. 
Were we not selfish, legislative restraint would be un- 
necessary. U. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 243. 
2. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of one 
who cares solely or chiefly for his own personal 
or private pleasure, interest, or advantage; 
proceeding from love of self : as, selfish motives. 
His book 
Well chosen, and not sullenly perus'd 
In selfish silence, but imparted oft. 
Cowper, Task, iii. 394. 
The extinction of all selfish feeling is impossible for an 
individual, and if it were general it would result in the 
dissolution of society. Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 103. 
Selfish theory of morals, the theory that man is capa- 
ble of acting only from calculation of what will give him 
the greatest pleasure. = Syn. Mean, illiberal, self-seeking, 
selfishly (sel'fish-li), adv. In a selfish manner ; 
with regard to private interest only or chiefly. 
Who can your merit selfishly approve, 
And show the sense of it without the love. 
Pope, Prol. to Satires, 1. 293. 
selfishness (sel'fish-nes), n. Selfish character, 
disposition, or conduct; exclusive or chief re- 
gard for one's own interest or happiness. =Syn. 
Selfishness, Self-love. See the quotations. 
Not only is the phrase self-love used as synonymous with 
the desire of happiness, but it is often confounded . . 
with the word selfishness, which certainly, in strict propri- 
ety, denotes a very different disposition of mind 
D. Stewart, Philos. of Active and Moral Powers, ii. 1. 
The mention of Selfishness leads me to remind you not 
to confound that with Self-love, which is quite a different 
thing. Self-love is ... a rational, deliberate desire for 
our own welfare, and for anything we consider likely to 
promote it. Selfishness, on the other hand, consists not in 
the indulging of this or that particular propensity, but 
in disregarding, for the sake of any kind of personal grati- 
fication or advantage, the rights or the feelings of other 
men. Whately, Morals and Chr. Evidences, xvi. 3. 
selflsm (sel'fizm), n. [< self + -ism.'] Devot- 
edness to self ; selfishness. [Bare.] 
5478 
This habit [of egotism] invites men to humor it, and, by 
treating the patient tenderly, to shuthim upinanarrower 
selfism. Emerson, Culture. 
selfist (sel'fist), n. [< self + -ist.~\ One de- 
voted to self; a selfish person. [Bare.] 
The prompting of generous feeling, or of what the cold 
selfist calls quixotism. Jer. Taylor. 
self-justification (self- jus ^ti-fi-ka'shon), ii. 
Justification of one's self. 
self-kindled (self-kiii'dld), a. Kindled of itself , 
or without extraneous aid or power. Dryden. 
self-knowing (self -no'ing), a. 1. Knowing of 
one's self, or without communication from an- 
other. 2. Possessed of self-consciousness as 
an attribute of man. 
A creature who, not prone 
And brute as other creatures, but indued 
With sanctity of reason, might erect 
His stature, and upright with front serene 
Govern the rest, self-knowing. 
JUitton, P. L., vil. 510. 
self-knowledge (self-nol'ej), n. The know- 
ledge of one^s own real character, abilities, 
worth, or demerit. 
self-left (self-left'), a. Left to one's self or to 
itself. [Bare.] 
His heart I know how variable and vain, 
Self left. Milton, P. L., xi. 93. 
selfless (self'les), a. [< self + -less.} Having 
no regard to self ; unselfish. 
Lo, now, what hearts have men ! they never mount 
As high as woman in her selfiess mood. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
selflessness (self'les-nes), . Freedom from 
selfishness. 
self-life (self-lit'), . Life in one's self ; a living 
solely for one's own gratification or advantage, 
self-liket (self 'Ilk), a. [< self + like*, a. Cf. 
selfly.] Exactly similar ; corresponding. 
Till Strephon's plaining voice him nearer drew. 
Where by his words his self-like case hee knew. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, L 
self-limited (self-lim'i-ted), a. Limited by it- 
self only; in pathol., tending to spontaneous 
recovery after a certain course : applied to cer- 
tain diseases, as smallpox and many other 
acute diseases. 
self-love (self-luv'), n. That instinct by virtue 
of which man's actions are directed to the pro- 
motion of his own welfare. Properly speaking, it 
is not a kind of love ; since A is said to love B when B's 
gratification affords gratification to A. In this sense, love 
of self would be a meaningless phrase. 
Selfe-loue is better than any guildingto make that seeme 
gorgious wherein our selues are parties. 
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie. 
Self-love is, in almost all men, such an ovei weight that 
they are incredulous of a man's habitual preference of the 
general good to his own ; but when they see it proved by 
sacrifices of ease, wealth, rank, and of life itself, there is 
no limit to their admiration. Emerson, Courage. 
Self-love is not despicable, but laudable, since duties to 
self, if self-perfecting as true duties to self are must 
needs be duties to others. 
Mauddey, Body and Will, p. 166. 
Self-love, as understood by Butler and other English 
moralists after him, is ... an impulse towards pleasure 
generally, however obtained. 
a. Sidgwiek, Methods of Ethics, p. 77. 
We see no reason to suppose that self-love is primarily 
or secondarily or ever love for one's mere principle of con- 
scious identity. It is always love for something which, 
as compared with that principle, is superficial, transient, 
liable to be taken up or dropped at will. 
W. James, Psychology, x. 
= Syn. Selfishness, Self-love. See selfishness. 
self-loving (self-luv'ing), a. Having egotisti- 
cal impulses, with deficiency of altruistic im- 
pulses or love of others. 
With a joyful willingness these self-loving reformers 
took possession of all vacant preferments, and with re- 
luctance others parted with their beloved colleges and 
subsistence. /. Walton. 
self-luminous (self-lu'mi-nus), a. Luminous 
of itself; possessing in itself the property of 
emitting light : thus, the sun, fixed stars, flames 
of all kinds, bodies which shine in consequence 
of being heated or rubbed, are self-luminous. 
selfly (self'li), adv. [Cf. AS. selJKc, selfish, < 
self, self, + -lie, E. -?yi.] In or by one's self or 
itself. [Bare.] 
So doth the glorious lustre 
Of radiant Titan, with his beams, embright 
Thy gloomy Front, that selfly hath no light. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 4. 
self-made (self 'mad), a. 1. Made by one's self 
or itself. 
How sweet was all ! how easy it should be 
Amid such life one's self-made woes to bear ! 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, n. 171. 
Hence 2. Having attained success in life with- 
out extraneous advantages, especially without 
self-perception 
material aid from one's family : as, a self-made 
man. 
The proud Roman nobility had selected a self-made law- 
yer as their representative. Froude, Caesar, p. 136. 
self-mastery '(self-mas'ter-i), 11. Mastery of 
one's self ; selt-command ; self-control. 
self-mettlet (self-met'l), . One's own fiery 
temper or mettle ; inherent courage. 
Anger is like 
A full-hot horse, who being allow'd his way, 
Self-mettle tires him. Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 1. 134. 
self-motion (self-mo'shon), H. Motion or ac- 
tion due to inward power, without external im- 
pulse; spontaneous motion. 
Matter is not endued with self-motion. 
<i Cheyne, Philos. Prin. 
self-moved (self-movd'), a. Moved or brought 
into action by an inward power without exter- 
nal impulse. 
By mighty Jove's command, 
Unwilling have I trod this pleasing land ; 
For who self-mav'd with weary wings would sweep 
Such length of ocean? Pope, Odyssey, v. 123. 
self-moventt (self-mo'vent), o. Same as self- 
moring. 
Body cannot be self-existent, because it is not self- 
movent. N. Grew. 
self-moving (self-mo'ving), a. Moving or act- 
ing by inherent power without extraneous in- 
fluence. 
self-murder (self-mer'der), n. [Cf. AS. sylf- 
ntyrtlira, a self-murderer, sylf-myrthniiiff, sui- 
cide ; D. zelf-moord = G. selbst-mord = Sw. sjalf- 
mord = Dan. selv-mord, self-murder : see self and 
murder.'] The killing of one's self; suicide. 
By all human laws, as well as divine, self-murder has 
ever been agreed on as the greatest crime. 
Sir W. Temple. 
self-murderer (self-mer'der-er), . One who 
voluntarily destroys his own life; a suicide. 
Paley. 
self-neglecting (self-neg-lek'ting), n. A neg- 
lecting of one's self. 
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin 
As self-neglecting. Shak., Hen. V., ii. 4. 76. 
selfness (self'nes), . [< self + -ness.'] 1. Ego- 
tism; the usurpation of undue predominance 
by sentiments relating to one's self. 
Who indeed infelt affection bears, 
So captives to his saint both soul and sense ; 
That, wholly hers, all selfness he forbears. 
Sir P. Sidney (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 583). 
2. Personality. 
The analogical attribution to things of selfness, efficien- 
cy, and design. J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 81. 
In that religious relation the relation ceases ; the self 
loses sight of its private selfness, and gives itself up, to 
find itself and more than itself. 
F. H. JSradley, Ethical Studies, p. 19. 
self-offense (self-o-fens'), n. One's own offense. 
Grace to stand, and virtue go ; 
More nor less to others paying 
Than by sell '-a fences weighing. 
Shak., M. forM., iii. 2. 280. 
self-opiniatedt (self-o-pin'i-a-ted), a. Same as 
self-opinionated. 
self-opinion (self-o-pin'yon), . 1. One's own 
opinion. 2. The tendency to form one's own 
opinion without considering that of others to 
be worth much consideration. 
There are some who can mix all ... together, joyning 
a Jewish obstinacy, with the pride and self-opinion of the 
Greeks, to a Roman unconcernedness about the matters 
of another lile. Stillingfieet, Sermons, I. iii. 
self-opinionated (self - o - pin ' yon - a - ted), a. 
Holding to one's own views and opinions, with 
more or less contempt for those of others. 
For there never was a nation more self-opinionated as to 
their wisdom, goodness, and interest with God than the 
Jews were when they began their war. 
Stillingfieet, Sermons, I. viii. 
self-opinioned (self-o-pin'yond), a. Same as 
self-opinionated. 
When he intends to bereave the world of an illustrious 
person, he may cast him upon a bold self opinioned physi- 
cian, worse than his distemper, who shall make a shift to 
cure him into his grave. South. 
self-originating (self-o-rij'i-na-ting), (i. Ori- 
ginating in, produced by, beginning with, or 
springing from one's self or itself. 
self-partiality (self-par-shi-al'i-ti), . That 
partiality by which a man overrates his own 
worth when compared with others. Lord 
Kamfs. 
self-perception fself-per-sep' shon), n. The fac- 
ulty of immediate introspection, or perception 
of the soul by itself. Such a faculty is not univer- 
sally admitted, and few psychologists would now hold 
that the soul in itself can be perceived. 
