sexual 
deer, the train oJ the peacock or any other difference in 
the plumage of a bird between the male and the female, 
the scent-glands of any male, the claspers of a fish, and 
many other features are regarded as secondary sexual 
characters, and are concerned in sexual selection. Sex- 
ual affinity, (a) The unconscious or instinctive attrac- 
tion of one sex for the other, as exhibited by the prefer- 
ence or choice of any one individual, rather than of any 
other, of the opposite sex, as a matter of sexual selection. 
In man such selection is often called elective affinity (after 
Goethe). (6) Such degree of affinity between the sexes of 
different species as enables these species to interbreed 
or hybridize. Sexual dimorphism, difference of form 
or of other zoological character in the members of either 
sex, but not of both sexes, of any animal. Thus, a species 
of ciiTipeds which has two kinds of males, or a species of 
butterflies whose females are of two soils, exhibits sexual 
dimorphism. The term properly attaches to the adults 
of perfectly sexed animals, and not to the many instances 
of dimorphism among sexless or sexually immature or- 
ganisms. Thus, the honey-bee is not a case of sexual 
dimorphism, as there is only one sort of perfect males 
(the drones) and one of perfect females (the queen), 
though the hive consists mostly of a third sort of bees 
(workers or undeveloped females). Sexual dimorphism 
is common among invertebrates, rare in the higher ani- 
mals Sexual method, in bnt., same as sexual system 
(b). Sexual organs, organs immediately concerned in 
sexual intercourse or reproduction ; the sexual system. 
Sexual reproduction, reproduction in which both 
sexes concur; gamogenesis. Sexual selection. See se- 
lection. Sexual system. (") In zoiH. and mini . the 
reproductive system ; the sexual organs, collectively con- 
sidered, (b) In but., a system of classification founded 
on the distinction of sexes in plants, as male and female. 
Also called sexualmethod, artificial system, Linnean system. 
See Linnean. 
sexualisation, sexualise. See sexualization, 
sexualize. 
sexualist (sek'su-al-ist), n. [< sexual + -ist."] 
One who maintains the doctrine of sexes in 
plants ; one who classifies plants by the sexual 
system. 
sexuality (sek-su-al'i-ti), n. [< sexual + -ity.~] 
1. The character of sex; the state of being 
sexual or sexed or having sex ; the distinction 
between the sexes; sex in the abstract. 
It was known even before the time of Unnrcus that cer- 
tain plants produced two kinds of flowers, ordinary open, 
and minute closed ones ; and this fact formerly gave rise 
to warm controversies about the sexuality of plants. 
Darwin, Different Forms of Mowers, p. 310. 
Sex is a terra employed with two significances, which 
are often confused, but which it is indispensable to dis- 
tinguish accurately. Originally sex was applied to the or- 
ganism as a whole, in recognition of the differentiation of 
the reproductive function. Secondarily, sex, together 
with the adjectives male and female, has been applied to 
the essential reproductive elements, ovum and spermato- 
zoon, which it is the function of the sexual organisms (or 
organs) to produce. According to a strict biological defi- 
nition sexuality is the characteristic of the male and fe- 
male reproductive elements (genoblasts), and sex of the 
individuals in which the reproductive elements arise. A 
man has sex, a spermatozoon sexuality. 
Bmk's Handbook of Med. Sciences, VI. 438. 
2. Recognition of sexual relations. [Rare.] 
You may . . . say again, as I have heard you say ere now, 
that the popular Christian paradise and hell are but a 
Pagan Olympus and Tartarus, as grossly material as Ma- 
homet's, without the honest thoroughgoing sexuality 
which, you thought, made his notion logical and consis- 
tent. Kimjsley, Yeast, viii. (Danes.) 
sexualization (sek"su-al-i-za'shon), w. [< sex- 
ualize + -ntzow.] The attribution of sex or of 
sexuality to (a person or thing). Also spelled 
sexualisation. [Rare.] 
We are inclined to doubt Pott's confident assumption 
that sexunlization is a necessary consequence of personifi- 
cation. Classical Rev., III. 391. 
sexualize (sek'su-al-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. 
sexualized, ppr. sexualizing. [< sexual + -i:e.~] 
To separate by sex, or distinguish as sexed; 
confer the distinction of sex upon, as a word 
or a thought ; give sex or gender to, as male or 
female. Also spelled sexualise. 
Sexualiziny, as it were, all objects of thought 
Whitney, Lang, and Study of Lang., p. 215. 
sexually (sek'su-al-i), adv. By means of sex ; 
in the sexual relation ; after the manner of the 
sexes : as, to propagate sexually. 
sexus (sek'sus), n. ; pi. sexus. [L.] Sex ; also, 
either sex, male or female. 
sexvalent (seks'va-lent), a. Same as sexiva- 
lent. 
Sey 1 t, *> An obsolete form of say' 1 . 
sey 2 t. A Middle English form of 'the preterit of 
see 1 . 
sey 3 , v. A Scotch form of sie 1 . 
sey 4 t, n. and v. Same as say?, sai/3, 
seyf (sa), n. [Prob. < Icel. segi, siffi, a slice, bit, 
akin to sag, a saw, saga, cut with a saw, etc. : 
see saw 1 . The word spelled scye appears to be 
the same, misspelled to simulate F. scier, cut.] 
Same as scye. [Scotch.] 
seybertite (si'bert-it), n. [Named after H. Seu- 
bert, an American mineralogist (1802 -83).] In 
mineral., same as cliittonite. 
5538 
Seychelles COCOanut. Same as double cocoa- 
nut (which see, under cocou >i n t) . 
seyd, a. Same as nay id. 
seyet, seynt. Middle English past participles 
Ol wel. 
seyghet. A Middle English form of the preterit 
of .vet'l. 
Seymeria (se-me'ri-a), n. [NL. (Pursh, 1814), 
named after Henry Seymer, an English amateur 
naturalist.] A genus of gamopetalous plants 
of the order Scrophularinese, tribe Gerardieee, 
and subtribe Eu/ierardiese. It is characterized by 
bractless flowers with a bell-shaped calyx having narrow 
and slender lobes, a short corolla tube with broad open 
throat and five spreading lobes, four short woolly stamens, 
smooth and equal anther-cells, and a globose capsule with 
a compressed pointed or beaked apex. There are 10 spe- 
cies, of which one is a native of Madagascar and the rest all 
of the United States and Mexico. They are erect branch- 
ing herbs, often turning black in drying, usually clammy- 
hairy, and bearing chiefly opposite and incised leaves, and 
yellow flowers in an interrupted spike or raceme. For 
S. macrophylla, of the Mississippi valley, see mullen fox- 
glove, nnderfoxylove. 
seyndt. A Middle English past participle of 
sengc, singe. 
seyntt, A Middle English spelling of saint 1 . 
seyntuariet, n. A Middle English form of sanc- 
tuttrtj, 
sey-pollack, . The coalfish. [Local, Eng.] 
sf. An abbreviation of sforzando or sforzato. 
sfogato (sfo-ga'to), a. [It., pp. of sfogare, evap- 
orate, exhale, vent.] Exhaled; in music, not- 
ing a passage to be rendered in a light, airy 
manner, as if simply exhaled Soprano sfogato, 
a thin, high soprano. 
'sfoott (sfut), inter). [Also written 'udsfoot, 
'odsfoot; abbr. < God's foot; cf. 'sblood.] A 
minced imprecation. 
'Itfoot, 111 learn to conjure and raise devils. 
Shak., T. and C., ii. 3. 6. 
S/oot, what thing is this? 
Beau, and Ft., Laws of Candy, 11. 1. 
Sforzando (sfor-tsan'do), a. [It., ppr. of sfor- 
:are, force, < L. ex, out, T ML./ortta, force : see 
force 1 .'] In music, forced or pressed ; with sud- 
den, decided energy or emphasis: especially 
applied to a single tone or chord which is to be 
made particularly prominent. Abbreviated sf. 
and xfz., or marked > , A Sforzando pedal See 
pedal. 
sforzato (sfor-tsa'to), a. [It., pp. of sforzare, 
force : see sforzando.] Same as sforzando. 
sfregazzi (sfre-gat'si), n. [It., < sfregare, rub, 
< L. ex, out, + fricare, rub: see friction."] In 
painting, a mode of glazing adopted by Titian 
and other old masters for soft shadows of 
flesh, etc. It consisted in dipping the finger in the 
color and drawing it once, with an even movement, along 
the surface to be painted. Fairhalt. 
sfumato (sfo-ma'to), a. [It., smoked, < L. ex, 
out, +fiimaius, pp.of/uware, smoke: see fume, 
r.] In painting, smoked: noting a style of paint- 
ing wherein the tints are so blended that out- 
lines are scarcely perceptible, the effect of the 
whole being indistinct or misty. 
sfz. An abbreviation of sforzando or sforzato. 
sgraffiato (sgraf-fia'to), n. ; pi. sgrafflati (-ti). 
Same as sgraffito. 
Sgraffito (sgraf-fe'to), n.; pi. sgraffiti (-ti). [It.: 
see graffito."] 1. Same as graffito decoration 
(which see, under graffito). 
Its [the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry's) exterior 
is beautifully adonied by sgraffiti frescoes and majolica 
medallions of celebrated artists and masters. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 571. 
2. (a) Same as graffito ware (which see, under 
graffito), (b) A kind of pottery made in Eng- 
land, in which clays of different colors are laid 
one upon another and the pattern is produced 
by cutting away the outer layers, as in cameos 
and cameo-glass. [The term is improperly applied in 
this case, and is in a sense a trade-mark.] Sgraffito 
painting. See graffito painting, under graffito. 
sh. [ME. sli, gsh, sell, occasionally ch, sg, x, ear- 
lier sc, partly an assibilated form of AS. sc (as 
in most of the following words in sh-, as well, 
of course, medially and terminally, in many 
others), partly when medial representing OP. 
-ss-, as in the verbal termination -igfc* ; the AS. 
sc = OS. sk, sc = OFries. sk = D. sch = MLG. 
LG. sell = OHG. sc, sk, MHG. G. sch = Icel. sk 
= Sw. Dan. sk = Goth. sk. The palatalization, 
so called, of the orig. c or k, which, when the c 
or Jc was not preceded by s, became OF. and 
ME. ch, mod. E. ch (pron. tsh), mod. F. ch (pron. 
sh), led to the change of s, as combined with the 
palatalized c or t, into another sibilant, which 
in the earlier Teut., as well as in L. and Gr., 
was unknown, or was not alphabetically repre- 
sented, and which, at first represented by sc, 
shack 
later commonly by sc/i and occasionally by ch, 
ss, or x, came to be written reg. s/i. The cum- 
brous form sc/(, representing the same sound, is 
still retained in German. (See.S'.) Many words 
exist in E. in both the orig. form sc- or sk- (as 
sc6, sco ft, scrubl, etc. ) and the assibilated form 
in sh- (as shab, shaft, shrubl, etc.).] A digraph 
representing a simple sibilant sound akin to s. 
See S, and the above etymology. 
sh. An abbreviation of sliilliiii/. 
sha(sha), . [Chin.] A very light, thin silken 
material made in China; silk gauze. 
shab (shab), n. [< ME. shab, *scl<ab; an assibi- 
lated form of scnfi, M. Cf. shabby.] If. A scab. 
lie shrapeth on his shabbes. 
Political Songs (ed. Wright), p. 239. 
2. A disease incident to sheep ; a kind of itch 
which makes the wool fall off; scab: same as 
ray & or rubbers. 
shab (shab), v. [An assibilated form of scoft, v. ; 
cf. shab, n.] I. trans. To rub or scratch, as a 
dog or cat scratching itself To shab off, to get 
rid of. 
How eagerly now does my moral friend run to the devil, 
having hopes of profit in the wind ! I have shabbed him 
off purely. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iv. 3. (Davits.) 
II. intrans. To play mean tricks; retreat or 
skulk away meanly or clandestinely. [Old 
cant.] 
shabbedt (shab'ed), a. [< ME. shabbid, shab- 
byd, schabbed; < shab + -ed'A] 1. Scabby; 
mangy. 
All that ben sore and shabbid eke with synne 
Kather with pite thanne with reddour wynne. 
Lydijate. (IlalKwett.) 
Thyne sheep are ner al shabbyd. 
Piers Plowman (C), x. 264. 
2. Mean; shabby. 
They mostly had short hah*, and went in a shabbed con- 
dition, and looked rather like prentices. 
A, Wood, Atheme Oxon., II. 743. (Toad.) 
shabbily (shab'i-li), adv. In a shabby manner, 
in any sense of the word shabby. 
shabbiness (shab'i-nes), n. Shabby character 
or condition. Especially (o) A threadbare or worn- 
out appearance, (b) Meanness or paltriness of conduct. 
shabblet, See shable. 
shabby (shab'i), a. [An assibilated form of 
scabby."] 1. Scabby; mangy. Halliwell. 2. 
Mean; base; scurvy. 
They were very shabby fellows, pitifully mounted, and 
worse armed. Clarendon, Diary, Dec. 7, 1688. 
He 's a shabby body, the laird o' Monkbarns ; . . . hell 
make as muckle about buying a fore quarter o' lamb in 
August as about a back sey o' beef. Scuff, Antiquary, xv. 
3. Of mean appearance; noting clothes and 
other things which are much worn, or evidence 
poverty or decay, or persons wearing such 
clothes; seedy. 
The dean was so shabby, and look'd like a ninny. 
Swift, Hamilton's Baron, an. 1729. (Richardson.) 
The necessity of wearing shabby coats and dirty shirts. 
Macaitlay. 
Her mother felt more and more ashamed of the shabby 
fly in which our young lady was conveyed to and from 
her parties of her shabby fly, and of that shabby cavalier 
who was in waiting sometimes to put Miss Charlotte into 
her carriage. Thackeray, Philip, xxii. 
They leave the office, the cotton-broker keeping up a 
fragmentary conversation with the shabby gentleman. 
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 163. 
shabby-genteel (shab'i-jen-teT), a. Retaining 
in present shabbiness traces of former gentility ; 
aping gentility, but really shabby. 
As ... Mrs. Oann had . . . only 60*. left, she was obliged 
still to continue the lodging-house at Margate, in which 
have occurred the most interesting passages of the shabby 
genteel story. Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, ix. 
shablet (shab'i), n. [Also shabble; a var. of 
sable 2 , itself an obs. var. of sabre, saber: see 
saber.] A saber. [It is denned in 1680 as shorter 
than the sword, but twice as broad, and edged 
on one side only.] 
[He was] mounted upon one of the best horses in the 
kingdom, with a good clashing shable by his side. 
Urqvhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 42. 
He tugged for a second or two at the hilt of his shabble, 
. . . finding it loth to quit the sheath. 
Scott, Rob Roy, xxviii. 
Shabrack (shab'rak), n. [Also schabrack, 
schabraque (< F.); = D. Sw. schabrak = Dan. 
skaberak = F. chabraque, schabraque, < G. sciiab- 
racke, < Pol. csaprak = Russ. chai>raku = Sloven. 
chaprag = Lith. shabrakas = Lett, shabraka = 
Hung, csdbrdr/, < Turk, chaprak.'] A saddle- 
cloth or housing used in modern European 
armies. 
shack 1 (shak), r. /. [A dial. var. of shake."] 1. 
To be shed or fall, as corn at harvest. 2. To 
feed on stubble, or upon the waste corn of the 
