Sea" purse` (s" pûrs`). (Zoöl.) The horny egg case of a skate, and of
certain sharks.
Sea" purs"lane (?). (Bot.) See under Purslane.
Sea" pye` (?). (Zoöl.) See 1st Sea pie.
Sea" py"ot (?). (Zoöl.) See 1st Sea pie.
Sea" quail` (?). (Zoöl.) The turnstone.
Sea"quake` (s"kwk`), n. A quaking of the sea.
{ Sear, Sere (sr) }, a. [OE. seer, AS. seár (assumed) fr. seárian to
wither; akin to D. zoor dry, LG. soor, OHG. sorn to wither, Gr. a"y`ein
to parch, to dry, Skr. çush (for sush) to dry, to wither, Zend hush to
dry. √152. Cf. Austere, Sorrel, a.] Dry; withered; no longer
green; -- applied to leaves. Milton.
I have lived long enough; my way of life Is fall'n into the sear,
the yellow leaf.
Shak.
Sear, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Seared (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Searing.] [OE.
seeren, AS. seárian. See Sear, a.] 1. To wither; to dry up. Shak.
2. To burn (the surface of) to dryness and hardness; to cauterize; to
expose to a degree of heat such as changes the color or the hardness
and texture of the surface; to scorch; to make callous; as, to sear the
skin or flesh. Also used figuratively.
I'm seared with burning steel.
Rowe.
It was in vain that the amiable divine tried to give salutary pain
to that seared conscience.
Macaulay.
The discipline of war, being a discipline in destruction of life,
is a discipline in callousness. Whatever sympathies exist are
seared.
H. Spencer.
Sear is allied to scorch in signification; but it is applied primarily
to animal flesh, and has special reference to the effect of heat in
marking the surface hard. Scorch is applied to flesh, cloth, or any
other substance, and has no reference to the effect of hardness.
To sear up, to close by searing. "Cherish veins of good humor, and sear
up those of ill." Sir W. Temple.
Sear, n. [F. serre a grasp, pressing, fr. L. sera. See Serry.] The
catch in a gunlock by which the hammer is held cocked or half cocked.
Sear spring, the spring which causes the sear to catch in the notches
by which the hammer is held.
Sea" rat` (?). 1. A pirate. [R.] Massinger.