seell (sel)

[ I is thyn awen clerk, swa have I seel [var. hele]. Chaucer , Reeve's Tale, 1. 319. Take droppyng of capone rostyd wele With wyne and mustarde, as have thou cele , With onyons smalle schrad, and sothun [sodden] in grece, Meng alle in fere, and for the hit me e. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 288. 2. Opportunity; time; season: as, the seel of the day: used frequently as the second element in a compound: as, hay- seel (hay-time), barley seel, etc. [Prov. Eng.] seel2 (sēl), v. t. [Also ceel; early mod. E. also seele, seal, cele; together, and aid in making it tractable. She brought a seeled dove, who, the blinder she was, the higher she strove. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. He shall for this time only be seel'd up, With a feather through his nose, that he may only See heaven, and think whither he is going. Beau, and Fl., Phil aster, v. 4. So have I seen a harmle dove made dark with an artificial night, and her eyes sealed and locked up with a little quill. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), Ι. 660. Hence-2. To close, as a person's eyes; blind; hoodwink. She that, so young, could give out such a seeming, To seel her father's eyes up close as oak. Cold death Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 210. Chapman. his sable eyes did seel. seels (sel), r. i. [Prob. See silly . O sely womman, ful of innocence, Ful of pitee, of truthe and Conscience, What maked yow to men to trusten so? Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1254. I, then, whose burden'd breast but thus aspires Of shepherds two the seely cause to show. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. A face like modest Pallas when she blush'd; A seely shepherd should be beauty's judge. Greene, Description of Silvestro's Lady. Honest foole duke,... seely novice Ferneze! I do laugh at yee. Marston and Webster , Malcontent, i. 7. 4. Poor; trifling. And for to apparaylle with oure Bodyes, wee usen a sely litylle Clout, for to wrappen in oure Careynes. Mandeville, Travels, p. 293. only in more vividly suggesting the use of the eye, literally or figuratively: as, it looks (or seems ) right. Appear is somewhat stronger, having sometimes the sense of coming into view or coming to seem. Each may stand for that which is probably true, or in opposition to that which is true: not to seem, but to be; the seeming and the real. Should seem and would seem are equally correct, but differ in strength. To say that a thing should seem to be true is to say that it ought to seem so or almost nece arily seems so; to say that it would seem true is to say that, while there are reasons for holding an opposite view, the preponderance of evidence is on the side of its being true. II.t trans. To become; beseem; befit; be fit, suitable, or proper for. Amongst the rest a good old woman was, Hight Mother Hubberd, who did farre surpas The rest in honest mirth, that seem'd her well. Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 35.