silphium

[Lat.. from Gr.silphion =a plant, juice of which was used for food and medicine. IMG:content-1467.png:[blocks in formation] †sil-lô-grăph, s. [Latin sillographus; Greek sillographos .] A satirist; a writer of satirical herbs from the western part of the United States. poems. "His state of mind is finely described by Timon the sillograph."-Lewes: Hist. Philosophy , i. 43. sil-lon, s. [Fr.] Fort.: A work raised in a ditch to defend it, if too wide. It must be lower than the main works, but higher than the covered way. sil-lý, *sel-ie, *sel-i, *sel-y, *seel-y, adj . [A. S. sælig =happy, prosperous, fortunate, from sæl time, season, happine ; cogn. with Dut. zalig ble ed; Icel. sæll ble ed, happy; sæla =bli ; Sw.säll blest, happy; Ger. selig ; Goth. sels .] *1. Ble ed. "[He] had his head stricken from his shoulders by that silly woman Judith."- Homilies ; Sermon against Gluttony. *2. Happy, fortunate, prosperous. *3. Innocent. "This Miles Forest and John Dighton, about midnight (the silly children lying in their beds) came into the chamber, and suddenly lapped them up among the clothes."- Sir T. More: Hist . Richard III. *4. Harmle , innocent, inoffensive. "Strange it was thought and absurd above the rest, to chase and keep out of the house silly swallows, harmle and gentle creatures."-P. Holland: Plutarch's Morals, p. 776. *5. Plain, simple, rude, rustic. "There was a fourth man in a silly habit." Shakesp.: Cymbeline, v. 3. Silphium lacinia tum is the Compa Plant (q.v.). The tubers of S. lære are eaten by the Indians. silt, *cilte, subst . [From the pa. par. of sile =to drain, strain, filter.] [SILE.] A fine mixture or deposit of clay and sand from running or standing water; fine soil deposited from water; mud, slime, sediment. "Covered by the inundation of the fresh and salt waters, and the silt and moorish earth exaggerated upon them."- Hale : Orig . of Mankind , § 2, ch. vii.