sycophantic 
Sycophantic (sik-o-fan'tik), a. [< Gr. oiwo^av- 
Tindf, like a sycophant, slanderous, < mwo^dm/r, 
a sycophant: see sycophant.] Of or pertaining 
to a sycophant; characteristic of a sycophant; 
obsequiously flattering; parasitic; courting fa- 
vor by mean adulation. 
'Tis well known that in these times the illiberal *v/c<>- 
pkantic manner of devotion was by the wiser sort con- 
temned. Shaflexliitn 
ing some of its properties. Also sienitic Sy- 
enitic granite, granite which contains hornblende. 
Syenitic porphyry, fine-grained syenite containing large 
crystals of feldspar. 
kp ] ii SIT 
e . /'. ucc 
sycophantical (sik-o-fan'ti-kal), a. [< syco- 
pliantic + -nl.] Same as sycophantic. 
They have . . . suffered themselves to be cheated and 
ruined by a sycophantical parasite. 
South, Sermons, VIII. vii. 
Sycophantish (sik'o-t'an-tish), n. [< . 
^^ ^ 
Nor y ! t in ony - sneugh . 
3T/ie Wife of Usher's Wdl (Child's Ballads, I. 215). 
, ,^j o rtw - i.9 P^ ; ,/ i 
* J*^ a f- u T '^ ' Vi 
syke 3 t, ". A Middle English form of sick 1 . 
yk t syk erlyt. Same as sicker, sickerly. 
J A f orm & T> uged be fore components 
beginning with 7 
Au obgolete spelli f .,,, . 
. A variant of .ill*. 
Josephus himself acknowledges that Vespasian was 
shrewd enough from the first to suspect him for the syco- 
phantish knave that he was. De Quincey, Essenes, ii. 
sycophantishly (sik'6-fan-tish-li), adv. Like 
a sycophant. [Rare.] 
Neither proud was Kate, nor sycophantishly and falsely 
humble. De Quincey, Spanish Xun. (Daoies.) 
sycophantism (sik'o-fan-tizm), . [(sycophant 
+ -ism."] Sycophancy. 
The friends of man may therefore hope that panic fears, 
servile sycophantism, and artful bigotry will not long pre- 
vail over cool reason and liberal philanthropy. 
V. Knox, Spirit of Despotism, 9. 
sycophantize (sik'o-fau-tiz), v. i. ; pret. and pp. 
sycophantized, ppr.sycophantieing. [(.sycophant 
+ -ize."] To play the sycophant. Slount, Glos- 
sographia; Bailey, 1731. [Rare.] 
sycophantry (sik'o-fan-tri), n. [< sycophant + 
-ry.] The arts of the sycophant; mean and 
officious tale-bearing or adulation. 
Nor can a gentleman, without industry, uphold his real 
interests against the attempts of envy, of treachery, of 
flattery, of sycophantry, of avarice, to which his condition 
is obnoxious. Barrow, Sermons, III. xxi. 
sycosis (si-ko'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. oinuaic, a 
rough fig-like excrescence on the flesh, < OVKOV, 
a fig.] An eruption on the bearded face caused 
by an inflammation of the sebaceous follicles 
and hair-follicles Non-parasitic sycosis, simple 
inflammation of the hair-follicles of the beard. Also called 
chin-whelk, chin-welk. - Parasitic or tinea sycosis. See 
tinea. Sycosis bacillogena, Tomasoli's name for a form 
of sycosis of the beard in which there was found an ellip- 
tic-shaped bacillus, Sycosiferus fostidus. Sycosis con- 
tagiosa, tinea trichophytina barbre. See tinea. Sycosis 
vulgare. Same as non-parasitic sycosis. 
Sycotypidse (si-ko-tip'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sy- 
cotypus + -idle.] Same as Pyrulidfe. 
Sycotypus (si-kot'i-pus), . [NL., < Gr. OVKOV, 
a fig, -I- Twrof, type.] See Pyrula. 
Sycum (si'kum), TO. [NL.] Same as Sycon, 1. 
Sydenham's chorea. The ordinary mild form 
of chorea. Also called minor chorea. 
Sydenham's disease. Chorea. 
Sydenham's laudanum. Same as wine of 
opium (which see, under wine). 
syderitet, w. An old spelling of siderite. 
syenite (sl'e-mt), . [< L. syenites, sc. lapis, lit. 
' stone of Syeue,' < Syene, < Gr. 2vf/v?i, a locality 
of upper Egypt.] A rock composed of feldspar 
and hornblende, with or without quartz. The 
name syenites was given by Pliny to the red granitoid 
rock extensively quarried at Syene in Egypt. The term 
syenite was introduced into modem geological science 
by Werner, in 1788, but applied by him to a rock (from 
the Plauenscher Grund, near Dresden) not identical in 
composition with the syenites of Pliny, which latter is a 
enite is mainly made up of a mixture of feldspar and horn- 
blende ; hence there has long been more or less confusion 
in regard to the nomenclature of this rock. The English 
and some continental geologists have defined syenite as an 
aggregate of quartz, feldspar, and hornblende ; while the 
Germans have generally regarded the quartz as not being 
an essential constituent of the rock: this latter view is that 
which has been adopted in the most recent English geologi- 
cal and lithological works. Syenite is a rock thoroughly 
crystalline in texture, and in general it much resembles 
granite in its mode of occurrence. The feldspathic ingre- 
dient is chiefly orthoclase, and this usually predominates 
considerably in quantity over the associated minerals- 
there is some triclinic feldspar present, however in most 
syenites, and the same is true in regard to quartz, biotite 
titanite, magnetite, apatite, zircon, and various other ac- 
cessory minerals frequently found in small quantity in the 
granitic rocks. Sometimes the hornblende is replaced by 
augite; this variety is designated mujitf-syenite ; that in 
which mica predominates is known as mica-syenite or mi- 
nette. The range of syenite in geological age is similar to 
that of granite, and the frequent passage of one rock into 
the other shows how closely allied the two are, one result 
of which condition is that the nomenclature of the differ- 
ent varieties is correspondingly difficult. Typical syenite 
is by no means abundant, and in general the granitic rocks 
very considerably surpass the syenitic in economic impor- 
tance. Also sienite. 
syenitic (si-e-nit'ik), a. [< syenite + -ic.] Con- 
taining syenite; resembling syenite, or possess- 
Jean Ingelow, Brothers and a Sermon. 
sylert, syllert, n. Same as celure, 2. 
syllaba anceps (sil'a-ba an'seps). [L. : syl- 
laba, syllable ; anceps, doubtful: see syllable and 
ancipitous.] In anc. pros., a doubtful syllable 
(TO/Ua/3?) a<5id<l>opOf). The final syllable or time of a 
line or period may be either long or short, without regard 
to the metrical scheme. Syllaba anceps is accordingly one 
of the signs of the termination (aird9e<ns) of a period. 
syllabarium (sil-a-ba'ri-um), n. ; pi. syllabaria 
(-a). [NL. : see syllabary.] Same as syllabary. 
syllabary (sil'a-ba-ri), . ; pi. syllabaries (-riz). 
[= F. syttabaire,<.f:fL. syllabarium, < L. syllaba, 
< Gr. av'/.faSjf, a syllable : see syllable.] A cata- 
logue of the syllables of a language ; a list or 
set of syllables, or of characters having a syl- 
labic value. 
It [the Ethiopic alphabet] was converted into a sylla- 
bary, written from right to left, additional letters being 
formed by differentiation, and the letters of the Greek al- 
phabet were employed as numerals. 
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 360. 
The Katakana syllabary is more simple. It was ob- 
tained from the Kyai or "model" type of the Chinese 
character, and comprises only a single sign, written more 
or less cursively, for each of the forty-seven syllabic sounds 
in the Japanese language. 
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 35. 
syllabet, syllabt (sil'ab), . [< F. syllabe, < L. 
syllaba: see syllable.] A syllable. 
Now followes the syllab, quhilk is a ful sound symbol- 
ized with convenient letteres, and consistes of ane or moe. 
A. Hume, Orthographic (E. E. T. S.), p. 16. 
The office of a true critic or censor is not to throw by a 
letter anywhere, or damn an innocent syllabe. 
B. Jonson, Discoveries. 
syllabi, w. Latin plural of syllabus. 
syllabic (si-lab'ik), a. [= F. syllabique = Sp. 
sildbico = Pg. syllabico = It. sillabico, < NL. 
syllabicus, < Gr. av)2a/3iK6f, of or pertaining to 
a syllable, < mWaffi, syllable: see syllable.] 
1. Of or pertaining to or consisting of a syl- 
lable or syllables: as, a syllabic accent; a syl- 
labic augment. 2. Representing syllables in- 
stead of single sounds: said of an alphabetical 
sign, or of an alphabet or mode of writing : also 
used substantively. 
If it [Cypriote syllabary] had not been . . . superseded, 
it would doubtless have gradually lost its st/llabtc charac- 
ter, and have become the definitive alphabet of Greece, 
and therefore of civilized Europe and of the western world. 
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, II. 117. 
The same sign, once attached to a word, . . . could be 
used in writing for the phonetic value of this word, with a 
complete loss of the primitive sense. . . . A determinative 
often indicates to the reader . . . this radical change in 
the use of the sign. In this case the sign is said to be em- 
ployed as a syllabic. Encyc. Brit. , XI. 800. 
3. Pronounced syllable by syllable ; of elabo- 
rate distinctness. 
His English was careful, select, syllabic. 
S. J. Duncan, A Social Departure, xiil. 
>ic melody, song, or tune, in music. See melody, 
syllabical (si-lab'i-kal), a. [< syllabic + -al] 
Same as syllabic. 
syllabically(si-lab'i-kal-i), adv. In a syllabic 
manner; by syllables. 
In Amharic, for instance, which is printed syllabicaUy, 
there are 33 consonantal sounds. 
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 35. 
syllabicate (si-lab'i-kat), v. t.; pret. and pp. 
syllabicated, ppr. syllabicating. [< syllabic + 
-ate%. Cf. Gr. cvU.api(,eiv, join letters to form 
syllables.] To form or divide into syllables. 
syllabication (si-lab-i-ka'shon), n. [< syllabi- 
cate + -ion.] The formation of syllables ; espe- 
cially, the division of a word into "its constituent 
syllabic parts in writing and printing. The divi- 
sion of a word of more than one syllable into separate 
syllables is in great measure an artificial process, since a 
consonant intervening between two vowels is usually (see 
under syllable) to be reckoned as belonging to either one 
of them not less properly than to the other. This is espe- 
cially true of the continuable consonants, the semivowels 
syllable 
and the fricatives (thus, follow, arrow, ever, lesser, ashes, 
etc.) ; a mute, particularly a surd mute (p, t, k), has more 
chiim to go with the following vowel, because a mute is 
much more distinctly audible upon a following than after a 
preceding vowel (in tea than in ate). We tend also to reckon 
such a consonant to the vowel of whose force and pitch it 
seems most to partake ; and, a long vowel being regularly a 
diminuendo utterance, tile strength of impulse falling off 
before it is ended, a following consonant seems naturally 
to belong to the vowel that succeeds (so dai-ly, ei-ther, 
ea-ty, etc.) ; on the other hand, a consonant of any kiml 
after a short accented vowel so shares the latter's mode 
of utterance as to lie naturally and properly combined with 
it: thus, bit-er (bitter), tak-l (tackle), hon-est, etc. When 
two or more actually pronounced consonants come be- 
tween vowels, it makes a difference whether they are or 
are not such as readily in our practice combine as initials 
before a vowel : thus, as we say ply, we divide supply into 
tu-pR, not Kup-li ; but subject only into mb-jekt. As for syl- 
labication in printing (when a word has to be broken at 
the end of a line), that is a different and more difficult mat- 
ter, partly because many silent consonants (especially in 
the case of doubled consonants) have to be dealt with ; 
it also pays much regard to the history of a word, divid- 
ing this generally, so far as possible, into the parts of 
which it is etymologically composed ; and it has some 
arbitrary and indefensible usages, such as the invariable 
separation of -ing, by which we get such offenses against 
true pronunciation as raa-iny, fac-ing, instead of ra-ging, 
fa-cing; and even mixt-ure, junct-ure, instead of mix-ture, 
rune-tyre, owing to the notion that -ure rather than -ture 
is the ending. 
syllabification (si-lab"i-fi-ka'shon), . [< syl- 
labify + -ation.] Same as syllabication. 
syllabify (si-lab'i-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. syllabi- 
fied, ppr. syllabifying. [< L. syllaba, syllable 
(see syllable), + facere, make, do : see -fy.] To 
syllabicate. 
syllabism (sil'a-bizm), . [< L. syllaba, sylla- 
ble, + -ism.] Theory of or concerning sylla- 
bles; also, syllabic character; representation 
of syllables. 
In addition to these vestiges ot a prior syllabism, a few 
ideographic characters are retained, as in the Proto-Medic 
syllabary, to designate certain frequently recurring words, 
such as king, country, son, name, and Persian. 
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, I. 51. 
syllabist (sil'a-bist), . [< L. syllaba, syllable, 
+ -ist.] One who is versed in the dividing of 
words into syllables. 
Syllabize (sil'a-biz), r. t. ; pret. and pp. syl- 
labized, ppr. syllabizing. [< L. syllaba, syllable, 
+ -ize.] To form or divide into syllables ; syl- 
labicate. 
'Tis mankind alone 
Can language frame and syllabize the tone. 
HoweU, Verses prefixed to Parly of Beasts. (Davies.) 
In syllabizing, a totally artificial process, doubling is 
necessary, and very frequently the recoil is used, but it 
never is in speech. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 384. 
syllable (sil'a-bl), n. [Formerly also sillable, 
syllabe, syllab"; < ME. sillable, < OF. syllable, sil- 
lable (with unorig. -le, as in principle, etc.), 
prop, syllabe, sillabe, < OF. syllabe = F. syllabe = 
Sp. silaba = Pg. syllaba = It. sillaba = G. silbe, 
< L. syllaba, ML. also sillaba, < Gr. avMapfi, 
a syllable, several sounds or letters taken or 
joined together, lit. a taking together, < avO.au- 
[idvfiv, take together, put together, < aiv, with, 
together, -f iau^avtiv, Xa/Jriv, take.] 1. The 
smallest separately articulated element in hu- 
man utterance ; a vowel, alone, or accompanied 
by one or more consonants, and separated by 
these or by a pause from a preceding or folio w- 
ing vowel ; one of the successive parts or joints 
into which articulated speech is divided, being 
either a whole word, composed of a single vowel 
(whether simple or compound) with accompa- 
nying consonants, or a part of a word contain- 
ing such a vowel, separated from a preceding or 
following vowel either by a hiatus (that is, an 
instant of silence) or, much more usually, by 
an intervening consonant, or more than one. 
Syllables are the separate successive parts into which the 
ear apprehends the continuous utterances of speech as 
divided, their separateness consisting mainly in the alter- 
nation of opener and closer elements, or vowels and con- 
sonants. A normal syllable is a vowel utterance attend- 
ed with subsidiary consonantal utterances. As to what 
sounds shall have vowel value in syllable-making, differ- 
ent languages differ : English allows, besides those usu- 
ally called vowels, also / and . as in reckon (rek-n), reck- 
oned (rek-nd), riddle (rid-1), riddles (rid-lz). If the vowel 
is attended by both sonant and surd consonants, the so- 
nant are in general nearer it, as in print, flirt; and also, 
as in the same words, the opener sounds are nearer it 
than the closer. But the intricacy of construction of 
English syllables is tolerated by but few languages ; and 
many (as the Polynesian) will bear nothing more than a 
single consonant to a vowel, and that one only before it. 
The assignment of a consonant or of consonants in syl- 
labication to the preceding or the following vowel is in 
great part a matter of convention, depending on no real 
principle : thus, in alley, for example, the Ms a division 
between the two vowels, like a wall between two fields, 
belonging to one no more than to the other. It is on syl- 
labic division that the ' articulate " character of human 
speech depends. (See articulate. Also compare votcel and 
consonant.) In prosody syllables are classed as long, short, 
and common (see these adjectives). See also time. 
