sarset (sars)

and v. See searce. Sarsen (sär's en), n. [Also Sarsin, Sarcen; a contraction of Saracen, q. v.] 11. Same as Saracen (formerly used in a vague sense for foreigner ). -2. The name given in southwestern England to former inhabitants of the region, and especially to former workers of the tin-mines, the ancient piles of attle in Cornwall and Devon being designated as "Jews' pits," "Jews' leavings," "attal-Sarsen" or "-Saracen," "remains of the Sarcens," etc.-3. [l. c.] Same as Sara cen's stone (which see, under Saracen ). How came the stones here? for these sarsens or Druidical sandstones are not found in the neighbourhood. Emerson, Stone henge. sarsenet, sarcenet (särs'net), n. [Also sars net; =D. sarcenet = G. sarsenet, Saracen: see Saracen.] A fine, thin silk stuff, plain or twilled, especially valued for its softne . It appears to have come into use in the thirteenth century, and to have been a favorite material during the eighteenth century and down to 1820 for garments for women, especially as linings. It is now mainly superseded by other materials. Formerly also called sendal or cendal. The roffys [roofs] garnyshed with sarsnettys and buddys of golde. Arnold's Chronicle, 1502, p. li. Loose jerkins of tawny taffety cut and lined with yellow sarsenet. Gold well, quoted in Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 478. His letters of credence brought by his secretary in a scarfe of sarsenett. Evelyn , Diary Aug. 28, 1667. Mi Andrews drank tea with us that evening, and wore her puce-coloured sarsenet . Jane Austen , North anger Abbey, xv. Sarsenet ribbon, ribbon of sarsenet material, plain, and consisting merely of piece sarsenet in narrow widths.