| 释义 |
semi-, prefix
(ˈsɛmɪ, U.S. ˈsɛmaɪ)
Also 4–7 semy-, 5–6 seme-, 6–7 semie-.
[repr. L. sēmi- (whence F., It., Sp., Pg. semi-) = Skr. sāmi-, Gr. ἡµι-, OHG. sâmi-, OS. sâm-, cogn. w. OE. sam- (see sam-):—Indogerm. *sēmi-.]
= half-; cf. demi-, hemi-.
L. sēmi- (occas. shortened to sēm- before a vowel, e.g. sēmanimis) is, esp. in post-classical Latin, compounded freely with adjs. and pples., less commonly with nouns; in med. and still more in mod.L. the prefix is extensively employed in technical terminology. The compounds of earliest date in English are: the adjs. semicircular (1432–50), semi-mature (c 1440), semivif (Piers Plowman) direct from L., and semi-bousy (c 1400); the ns. semicicle (c 1440), semi-cope (Chaucer), semigod (1417), semi-soun (Chaucer). In the 16th–18th c., the number of permanent compounds was increased mainly by the accession of terms more or less technical (many of them adapted or imitated from Latin), such as semibreve, semicircle, semidiameter, semilunar, semi-Pelagian, semivowel. At the same time there was gradual enlargement of the scope of the prefix in the formation of general nonce-compounds, which became very frequent in the 19th c., and of which it is possible to illustrate but a small proportion in the present article (branch I).
I. In general use.
1. a. Compounded with adjs. and pples., with the meaning ‘half, partly, partially, to some extent’. A few are used ellipt. as ns.
From the early part of the 19th c. it has been not uncommon to substitute ‘semi-{ddd}semi-{ddd}’ for ‘half-{ddd}half-{ddd}’ (half adv. 2); hence arise certain quasi-compounds that only occur in correlative pairs, as ‘semi-chemical semi-mechanical’.
1871Bagehot in Fortn. Rev. 1 Aug. 158 A *semi-abstract discussion of practical topics. 1974K. Clark Another Part of Wood ii. 52 From behind the semi-abstract clouds there appeared the same sexy girls.
1816Edin. Rev. XXVII. 464 Nature seems..to have afforded this level space for a *semi-aerial dwelling.
1848Mill Pol. Econ. I. xi. §3 The *Semi-agriculturalised Indians.
1860Tristram Gt. Sahara xxi. 354 It was a magnificent *semi-alpine, semi-tropical scene.
1840Carlyle Heroes iv. (1858) 293 It is a country as yet without a soul: nothing developed in it but what is rude, external, *semi-animal.
Ibid. i. 205 This Odin, in his rude *semi-articulate way, had a word to speak.
1963W. R. Rose in Wyndham Lewis Lett. 558 René Harding, the uncompromising, *semi-autobiographical hero of Self Condemned.
1926J. M. Keynes End of Laissez-Faire iv. 41, I suggest, therefore, that progress lies in the growth and the recognition of *semi-autonomous bodies within the State. 1974tr. Wertheim's Evolution & Revolution 371 This semi-autonomous activity by living beings..is increasingly determining the course of nature on earth.
1828Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. 63 A simpering *semi-bald apothecary.
1822Hood To Celia iv, Once it happ'd that, *semi-blind, He [Love] met thee on a summer day.
1869G. Lawson Dis. Eye (1874) 74 Blows on the eye..with some blunt or *semi-blunt instrument.
1837Dickens Pickw. xxviii, A *semi-cannibalic leer.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vi. v, How thou glitterest with a fallen, rebellious, yet still *semi-celestial light.
1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. viii. 227 A *semi-chemical, semi⁓mechanical origin.
1847Prescott Peru (1850) II. 248 Brought in contact with *semi-civilised man.
1838Dickens Nich. Nick. ii, The second resolution was moved by a grievous gentleman of *semi-clerical appearance.
1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1453/1 His heart brought to Ludlow, and buried..in the *semi-collegiat parish church there.
1952C. P. Blacker Eugenics: Galton & After 178 The countries of Asia are rapidly emerging from their colonial or *semi-colonial status. 1974tr. Wertheim's Evolution & Revolution 67 The colonial or semi-colonial backyards which capitalism..was exploiting in such a way as to provoke strong popular counter-forces.
1721Bailey, *Semi-combust, (semi-combustus, L.) half-burned.
1818Lady Morgan Autobiogr. (1859) 172 He looked semi-tragic, *semi-comic, like a mask with two sides.
1838Dickens O. Twist xliii, A look of *semi-comical woe.
1965Math. in Biol. & Med. (Med. Res. Council) i. 7 A service for the collection and recording of this information is also being made available on a *semi-commercial basis to any hospital in the United States.
1839De Quincey in Tait's Edin. Mag. Sept. 573/2 This..*semi-conscious feeling..taught them to feel the extremity of their danger. 1977J. D. Douglas in Douglas & Johnson Existential Sociol. i. 22 Most of our experiences in everyday life are only semiconscious.
1721Bailey, *Semi-conspicuous, (semiconspicuus, L.) half or partly visible.
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 215 The *semi-coöperative community at Rainbar.
1891Anthony's Photogr. Bull. IV. 130 A short *semi-dark passage between the studio and dark room.
1937Discovery Sept. 277/2 The comfort and interest with which the [television] pictures may be viewed in a *semi-darkened room.
1680T. Browne Let. 6 Sept. (1946) 181 Esquire Mildmay..a melancholy & *semi-delirious person, yet fayre condition'd. 1975M. Amis Dead Babies xiii. 67 His strangled shout had been a semi-delirious reply to Quentin's courtly knock.
1879St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 531 A *semi-demented old epileptic patient.
1864Bowen Logic xi. (1870) 370 This half latent *semi-developed state.
1881Nature XXIII. 382 The coarse and *semi-diagrammatic figures which..occupy a..place in the text-books of histology.
1859Darwin Orig. Spec. i. 25 Some *semi-domestic breeds.
1847W. C. L. Martin Ox 6/2 The *semi-domesticated buffalo.
1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 276 To maintain in the hive throughout the winter a uniform temperature, which will keep the bees in a continuous *semi-dormant state.
1895Pop. Sci. Monthly Aug. 444 The interests of the stage and the *semi-dramatic music-hall.
1942E. Partridge Usage & Abusage 91/2 Conditional clauses have always caused trouble to the *semi-educated and the demi-reflective. 1954Koestler Invisible Writing iv. xxxiv. 371 There is a character in The Magic Mountain, the semi-educated Frau Stoehr, who is always trying to be refined.
1920T. S. Eliot Sacred Wood 49 You see..how completely any *semi-ethical criterion of ‘sublimity’ misses the mark.
1943V. Sackville-West Eagle & Dove ii. ix. 138 A *semi-experimental perception of God, in very varying degrees of intensity and clarity.
1861A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. v. 158 The narthex or *semiexternal vestibule.
1854A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 55 The *semi-fabulous monster of our own times, the celebrated Sea-Serpent.
1938H. Nicolson Diary 22 Aug. (1966) 356 Russia has no sympathy for the *semi-fascist systems established in the Balkans. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1977) III. 299 This semi-fascist reaction has been accompanied by a general lack of credibility in the whole establishment.
1905Westm. Gaz. 30 Sept. 9/1 The 9.13 from London Bridge was a *semi-fast train to Brighton. 1956Railway Mag. Feb. 113/2 When travelling from Cologne to Wiesbaden in a semi-fast, we left Cologne 20 min. late.
1937Koestler Spanish Testament iii. 63 Spain was still, when the People's Front came into power in 1936, a *semi-feudal country, with sharp social contrasts. 1970C. Furtado in I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. ii. 31 As an instrument for domination over a society where some forms of semi-feudal decentralization prevailed, the State emerged in colonial times as a strong bureaucracy.
1897Westm. Gaz. 8 July 3/2 The *semi-fitting coat is more usual than the Eton form. 1930Daily Express 8 Sept. 7/5 (Advt.), Semi-fitting bodice, with belt forming waist-line.
1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 26 Jan. 66/2 Any kind of fixed or *semi-fixed equipment..will be considered.
1872Howells Wedding Journey ix, Some *semi-forbidding commissary of police.
1906E. Johnston Writing & Illuminat. & Lettering xv. 317 The writing approaches the stylographic... It may conveniently be termed *Semi-formal. 1977Stornoway Gaz. 27 Aug. 1/7 The possibility of formal or semi-formal competitions could not be discounted.
1830Edin. Rev. LI. 459 A flighty *semi-Frenchified coquette.
1821Byron Sardan. i. ii, Like my ancestor Semiramis, A sort of *semi-glorious human monster.
1947A. Koestler in Partisan Rev. XIV. 144 The unions become more and more absorbed into *semigovernmental, managerial functions.
1849E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 29 A more miserable race of starved, or *semi⁓human, beings I never beheld.
1950B. Russell Unpopular Essays iv. 64 A rare moment of self-knowledge must have inspired the initial aphorism, which was made bearable to its author by its *semi-humorous form.
1859R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geogr. Soc. XXIX. 54 Study..seems to make these weak-brained races *semi-idiotic.
1860R. D. in Galton's Vac. Tour. (1861) 108 The *semi-independent existence of Montenegro.
1851Mill Logic (ed. 3) II. v. v. 352 As the former is the error of sheer ignorance, so the latter is especially that of *semi-instructed minds. 1955J. Burnaby Christian Words & Christian Meanings iii. 62 The same tendency in modernised form is to be observed in much semi-instructed Christian thinking of our own time.
1841H. Miller Old Red Sandstone x. (1887) 206 Notwithstanding the advantages of its *semi-insular situation, it was suffered to lie as an unclaimed common.
1921F. Scott Fitzgerald Let. 25 Aug. (1964) 148 I'm sick of the flabby *semi-intellectual softness in which I flounder with my generation. 1957J. Kerouac On Road (1958) ii. 176 In Frisco eager crowds of young semi-intellectuals sat at his feet and listened to him.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick III. xl. 230 Most mariners cherish a very superstitious feeling about seals, arising..from..the human look of their round heads and *semi-intelligent faces.
1861Maine Anc. Law iv. (1876) 95 The *semi⁓juridical, semi-popular opinions which were fashionable in France.
1871Morley De Maistre in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 128 There is a certain *semi-latent quality of hardness lying at the bottom of De Maistre's style.
1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment i. viii. 90 Haganah had a kind of *semi-legal status which varied according to the political constellation. 1979Dædalus Winter 157 The strength of the ‘second’ or ‘parallel’ market within the economy—in reality an entire spectrum of legal, semilegal, and illegal markets.
1878Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 71 A *semi-legendary belief that he was still alive.
1909O. Lodge Survival of Man vi. 86 Public performances..often tend to obscure a phenomenon by covering it with *semi-legitimate contempt.
1624Wotton Archit. ii. 121 *Semi-liberall Arts. 1850Blackw. Mag. May 515 The semi-Liberal semi-Tory Governments from 1815 to 1830.
1927Mod. Philol. Nov. 221 Even the *semi-literate speaker actually obtains some of his speech material by linguistic borrowing from written records. 1957E. Partridge English gone Wrong i. 5 The best English of the semi-literate. 1976P. Cave High Flying Birds i. 10 Those who have perused my semi-literate journals masquerading as novels in the past may be familiar with some of my previous exploits.
1656Blount Glossogr., *Semimarine (semimarinus), belonging partly to the Sea, and partly to the Land. 1885Times (weekly ed.) 11 Sept. 9/4, I should be much inclined to envy him his semi-marine residence.
1924W. B. Selbie Psychol. Relig. 269 The persistence of the belief in such a *semi-material ghost soul is a most interesting fact.
1924Econ. Jrnl. XXXIV. 346 Meanwhile I got a good deal interested in the *semi-mathematical side of pure Economics.
1839*Semi-mechanical [see semi-chemical].
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. VI. vi. iii, *Semi-military costume.
1859Darwin Orig. Spec. viii. 275 Varieties often suddenly produced and *semi-monstrous in character.
1902W. James Var. Relig. Exper. iii. 69 Here is the abridged record of another mystical or *semi-mystical experience. 1951S. Ullmann Princ. Semantics iii. 158 The somewhat abstruse and occasionally semi-mystical jargon in which his views are often couched has given rise to a number of misinterpretations.
1962H. R. Loyn Anglo-Saxon England i. 26 The *semi-mythical island of Brittia, to which..the souls of the dead were ferried.
1962Y. Malkiel in Householder & Saporta Probl. Lexicogr. 5 Perspective essentially involves the deliberate or *semi-naïve attitude of the collector toward the chosen slice of material.
1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 255 The *semi-oriental aspect of its costumes.
1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xxiv. 420 In ordinary fear, one may either run, or remain *semi-paralyzed. 1922Joyce Ulysses 302 The semiparalysed doyen of the party..had to be assisted to his seat by the aid of a powerful steam crane.
1895Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 764 The head of the hoactzin is ornamented with a *semi-pendent crest.
1895Outing XXVI. 398/2 *Semi-permanent telegraph lines.
1857Hughes Tom Brown Pref. (1871) p. xvi, A *semi-political semi-sacerdotal fraternity.
1653Gataker Vind. Annot. Jer. 19 An obtrusion upon their Nation of a *Semipopish Book of Common-Prayer.
1860Adler Prov. Poet. viii, The transition from the *semi-popular poetry in monkish Latin to a decidedly popular poetry in the pure Romansh.
1973Morning Star 16 Jan. 5/3 There [is] a much better and wider distribution of shops selling *semi-prepared foods [in Moscow now].
1876Black Madcap Violet ii, The..*semi-private through⁓fare.
1804Edin. Rev. IV. 23 Delicts, according to him [Bentham], are..*Semipublic, or against some class or description of persons. 1875Jevons Money xviii. 217 It may allow private individuals, or semi-public companies..to undertake the work.
1931E. H. Morris Temple of Warriors i. 5 A more than life-size sculpture of a *semireclining human figure.
1864J. H. Newman Apol. i. (1904) 6/1 On subjects *semi-religious and semi-scholastic.
1841Merivale Lect. Coloniz. & Col. I. ii. 50 A singular race, of *semi-republican habits.
a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 742, I am *semi-retired.
1849Westm. Rev. L. 423 The *semi-Romanized Britons.
1834Beckford Italy II. 25 The abode of these *semi-royal sober personages.
1835Dickens Let. (1965) I. 56 You would prefer living in Chambers to remaining in your present *semi-rural tranquility. 1864Realm 23 Mar. 6 The most semi-rural of suburbs.
1930Auden Poems 75 And I, stung by the sun, Think, *semi-satisfied That, 'ere the smile is done, The eye deliberate May qualify the joy.
1954S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 12) vi. 86 (caption) *Semi-schematic diagram showing the correspondence of the structures seen in the normal eye by gonioscopy with those of a microscopic section.
1864Sat. Rev. 31 Dec. 812/1 Scientific or *semi-scientific observations.
1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iv. xii, A *semi-seafaring man.
1955D. W. Maurer in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 4 The language [of criminal subcultures] is usually secret or *semisecret.
1939Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 12/8 (Advt.), Audit clerk, *semi-senior, able to work without supervision. 1951Sport 16–22 Mar. 9/2 Alec Talbot..finished his career with another semi-senior club, Stourbridge. 1976Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) 16 Dec. 5/4 (Advt.), Applicants from ambitious semi-seniors would be welcome.
1840Poe Autobiogr. in Graham's Mag. Nov. 225/1 The design was never more than *semi-serious. 1977J. F. Fixx Compl. Bk. Running xiv. 167, I don't know of a single even semiserious runner who smokes.
1848Mill Pol. Econ. 22 The immediate cultivators of the soil..ceased to be in a servile or *semi-servile state. 1875Poste Gaius ii. (ed. 2) 174 Tenant farmers of a semi-servile condition.
1896T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) 35 Place plants in *semi-shady position outdoors June to Aug.
1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 67 *Semi-shaven, dishcloth hair, duffle-coat, baggy brown Farmer-Giles corduroys.
1873Whitney Or. & Ling. Studies 293 A long and tedious climb upward from a miserable *semi-simious state.
1899Daily News 19 Sept. 6/7 A hilly, cross-country, *semi-single line railway.
1927Carr-Saunders & Jones Soc. Struct. Eng. & Wales v. 50 It is not usual to think of those occupied in retail dealing as divided into skilled, *semi-skilled, and unskilled. 1940W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 166 We have to make a huge expansion of our labour force, and especially of those capable of performing skilled or semi-skilled operations. 1976E. Stewart Launch! (1977) 16 In 810—semiskilled—they were playing Tensor beams across eight-by-five-inch printed circuits.
1780Bentham Princ. Legisl. xi. §18 Where..the motive..is a *semi-social one, the love of reputation. 1925T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. (1926) I. ii. viii. 206 They were in the midst of one of those semi-religious, semi-social and semi-emotional church affairs, the object of which was to raise money for the church.
1620Bp. Hall Hon. Marr. Clergie i. §3 Their Vow is but *semi-solemne.
1922Joyce Ulysses 659 A noggin and a quarter of soured adulterated milk, converted by heat into water, acidulous serum and *semi-solidified curds.
1874G. J. Whyte-Melville Uncle John xiv. II. 95 That *semi-sporting appearance which is attainable by means of scanty trousers [etc.].
1922Joyce Ulysses 680 A series of static, *semistatic and peripatetic intellectual dialogues.
1962J. T. Marsh Self-Smoothing Fabrics xxiii. 382 Variations of the crumpling method have produced a few *semi-subjective tests.
1880Froude Bunyan i. 14 A *semi-supernatural being.
1943List Retail Controlled Prices (Ministry of Food) (ed. 3) 6 Biscuits, sweet or *semi-sweet. 1972Times 15 Nov. (Ital. Wine Suppl.) iv./3 Est! Est!! Est!!!..comes in both dry and semi-sweet.
1954W. K. Hancock Country & Calling viii. 227 There are..many words of technical or *semi-technical origin which have lodged themselves..firmly in everyday speech. 1976Classical Q. XXVI. 216 Both lines, as Nicolaus notes..allude to a semi-technical legal term.
a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 27 It was a reasoned, *semi-theoretical speech and it produced an amazingly good response.
1850*Semi-Tory [see semi-Liberal above].
1884Manch. Exam. 9 July 4/6 The swamping of the agricultural labourers by the *semi⁓urban population.
1780Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 21 June, A *semivegetable diet.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick II. xliii. 294, I am convinced that from the heads of all ponderous profound beings, such as Plato,..Dante, and so on, there always goes up a certain *semi-visible steam, while in the act of thinking deep thoughts.
1749Hartley Observ. Man ii. ii. 140 The automatic and *semivoluntary Exertions of the Organs of Speech.
1847W. C. L. Martin Ox 74/1 A noble *semi-wild race.
b. Compounded with a n. to form an adj. phr.
1899Daily News 26 Aug. 7/5 Some fancy woollen fabric, only too ready to betray its *semi-cotton derivation.
1897Ibid. 24 Apr. 2/5 A posting landau converted into a *semi⁓dress landau.
1906Daily Chron. 5 Oct. 4/5 Her dress..was of *semi-Empire shape.
1896Daily News 28 Oct. 3/2 Five *semi-gala carriages with Royal scarlet liveries.
1955Keepnews & Grauer Pict. Hist. Jazz xi. 117 They made much use of jazz and *semi-jazz conceptions in their dance music.
1938New Statesman & Nation 23 July 143/2 What is needed is an extended application of the Trade Board method over a wide range of growing trades which mass-produce luxury or *semi-luxury goods. 1962H. E. Beecheno Introd. Bus. Stud. xi. 98 The more expensive type of goods..which are not the subject of so much branding and national advertising—the luxury and semi-luxury goods.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. xi, What Un-Patriot or *Semi-Patriot Ministry.
1837Dickens Pickw. xxvii, A *semi⁓rattlesnake sort of eye.
1886Pall Mall Gaz. 10 June 4/2 Since his father's death the Prince of Wales and the Princess have done the *semi-state honours. 1901Scotsman 2 Mar. 9/7 One of the King's semi-State landaus.
1935Discovery Aug. 220/1 Subsistence or *semi-subsistence farming was the rule, the settlers eked out a bare existence from such poor land. 1975Sci. Amer. May 76/3 Most of them work as semi-subsistence farmers and live according to Mayan cultural patterns.
2. Compounded with ns.:
a. with nouns of action or condition, as semi-allegiance = partial, imperfect, or incomplete allegiance;
b. with descriptive ns., as semi-acquaintance = one with whom one is partially acquainted, † semi-body = an imperfect body.
1872Howells Wedding Journey vii, Isabel had found among the passengers her *semi-acquaintances of the hotel parlour.
1689D. Granville Lett. (Surtees No. 37) 117 An universall semi-conformity would end in as universall *semi⁓allegiance.
1948D. Diringer Alphabet ii. iv. 286 Groups of ‘Assyrians’..developed a *semi-autonomy, owing allegiance only to their maliks.
1874J. S. Mill Ess. Relig. 70 An argument for the utility of religion is an appeal..to *semi-believers to make them avert their eyes from what might possibly shake their unstable belief.
1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §14 There is under..these mutilate and *semi-bodies [sc. of beggars], a soule of the same alloy with our owne.
1646― Pseud. Ep. iv. v. 189 One [testicle] sufficeth unto generation, as hath beene observed in *semicastration.
1964L. MacNeice Astrol. vii. 230 The *semi-charlatan who may not subscribe to any code of ethics.
1962E. Snow Other Side of River iv. 36 China's major ocean and river ports fell under foreign control and she became a *semicolony not of one nation but of all the major industrial and naval powers.
1865J. S. Mill Exam. Hamilton's Philos. vii. 104 But such a *semi-concession..cannot save him.
a1631Donne Serm. lvii. (1640) 581 All *Semi-confitents, that confesse them [sc. their sins] to halfs, without purpose of amendment.
1865Bagehot Eng. Const. i. 19 A *semi-connection has grown up between the legislature and the executive.
1929Evening News 18 Nov. 4/5 His weariness was so heavy that it bore him into a state of *semi-consciousness.
1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 72 Such are the blots and spots of our *semi⁓conversions.
1751Smollett Per. Pic. lii, In the transports of his zeal he wrung this *semi-convert's hand.
1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. x. III. 191 [She] was led out of the room in a sort of *semi-convulsion.
1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Charac. iv, That description of *semi-curls usually known as ‘haggerawators’.
1958T. M. Stanwell-Fletcher Clear Lands 89 That cold, beautiful *semidark of the Arctic night.
1849Lever Roland Cashel li, The vast apartment is in *semi-darkness.
1914W. S. Churchill Let. 8 Oct. in M. Gilbert W. S. Churchill (1972) III. Compan. i. 182 We must not be led into frittering away resources by keeping half a dozen anchorages in a state of *semi-defence. 1977Financial Times 7 Oct. 23/3 Mr Wedgwood Benn's silky semi-defence of Government strategy from the platform.
1963Times 7 Feb. 4/4 A Prime Minister with the support of the House of Commons may be in a stronger position than a President who has not got the support of Congress, but he is not the sole executive officer as a President is, or a dictator such as Khrushchev, or a *semidictator such as de Gaulle.
1817Peacock Nightmare Abbey i, Nightmare Abbey..in a highly picturesque state of *semi-dilapidation.
a1835McCulloch Attributes (1837) III. 134 A state of *semidomestication.
1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn) 128 Mrs. Abberly moved in that class of *semi-fashion, which..never exceeds a certain circle.
1907Westm. Gaz. 12 Oct. 13/2 Something between a sac and a *semi-fit.
1871Fair France v. 160 That perpetual state of *semi-fuddle, peculiar to our beer-drinking agricultural labourer.
a1667Cowley Sylva, Poeticall Revenge 10 A *semi-gentleman of th' Innes of Court.
1938New Statesman & Nation 20 Aug. 288/2 They operated in a twilight of *semi-illegality.
1949Koestler Insight & Outlook vi. 84 The comic effects of misspelling in the letters of children or *semi-illiterates.
1850Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ix. (1853) 114 The oratory of the statesman in the senate has been kindled by *semi-intoxication.
1952E. Grierson Reputation for Song vii. 58 She lived with an aunt, a *semi-invalid.
1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 189 A flash of *semi-jealousy.
1974Howard Jrnl. XIV. 78 Sir Cyril Burt defined *semi-literates as those ‘who cannot make effective use of reading or writing’.
1688D. Granville Lett. (Surtees No. 37) 229, I censure my censurers more for their *semi-loyalty.
1920J. M. Keynes Econ. Consequences Peace 95 Germany is threatened with a deluge of luxuries and *semi-luxuries from abroad.
1875Tennyson Q. Mary ii. i, A *semi-mad⁓man..So fancy-ridd'n.
1961tr. Zhou Enlai in Look 31 Jan. 104/2 A considerable period is needed before China can surpass the norm with regard to mechanization and *semimechanization.
1788Phil. Trans. LXXIX. 157 The loins of the *semi-monster.
1884‘H. Collingwood’ Under Meteor Flag 102 The branches met overhead, veiling the path in *semi-obscurity.
1774J. Bryant Mythol. I. 453 In short, till we recollect ourselves, we are *semi-pagans.
1894Daily News 4 Oct. 2/1 The condition of *semi-panic which lasted for some hours.
1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xiii. 169 He smote himself on the breast..leaving the packer in a condition of *semi-paralysis.
1873F. Hall Mod. Eng. Pref., A motley cluster of philologists, *semi-philologists, and entire philologasters.
1713Pope Let. to Caryll 31 Aug., A letter of yours has infinitely more charms to me, than the newest mail to the most ardent *semi-politician.
1958F. Newton in P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz v. 65 Variety songs, effect-catching numbers and calculated *semi-pornography.
a1930D. H. Lawrence Phoenix (1936) v. 597 Some sort of *semi-profession, such as school-teaching.
1626Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xxi. i. 356 Those sparkes of piety which he descryed in this *semi-proselite.
1805–6Wordsw. Prelude (1850) v. 113 This Arab phantom, which my Friend beheld, This *semi-Quixote.
1866Macm. Mag. XIII. 274 The *semi⁓rebellion of the Gallicans against the despotism of the Pope.
1835J. S. Mill in London Rev. II. 272 A last desperate attempt of the Tories to creep back into power as *semi-reformers.
1935Mind XLIV. 524 Retirement (or shall we say *semi-retirement) has given Dr. Schiller increased leisure. 1971D. J. Smith Discovering Railwayana viii. 47 After the grouping..many of the relics were consigned to semi-retirement in backyard and basement.
1653Wither (title) The dark Lantern, containing a dim discoverie, in riddles..parables and *semi-riddles.
1867M. E. Herbert Cradle L. iii. 103 It soon fell into decay, and remained a *semi-ruin.
1878Mrs. H. Wood Pomeroy Ab. ii. xv, That for which Leolin had been working for years in *semi-secrecy.
1952A. G. L. Hellyer Sanders' Encycl. Gardening (ed. 22) 40 Position, *semi-shade or north aspect.
1900W. S. Churchill in Morning Post 20 July 5/7 It was not possible for the conquering army to allow the capital..to be in a state of *semi-siege.
1841Lytton Nt. & Morn. iv. iii, A doleful and doubtful *semi-smile of welcome.
1825J. Black Capillary Circ., etc. 163 *Semi-stagnation may deteriorate into more complete deprivation of the materia vitæ.
1855Thackeray Charac. Sk. Wks. 1898 III. 535 Tolerably cheerful in the midst of his *semi-starvation.
1929New Yorker 12 Oct. 25/3 It is like the *semi-stupor of an habitual intoxication. 1977Proc. R. Soc. Med. LXX. 689/1 High alcohol intake probably meets this need as well as providing them with an intermittent refuge in sedation and semistupor.
1865Knight Passages Work. Life II. 10 In the *semi-thoroughfare of Pall Mall East.
1863J. S. Mill Let. 7 Jan. (1910) I. 273 He has triumphed wonderfully over the difficulty of rendering the thoughts or *semi-thoughts of Plato.
1878Mrs. H. Wood Pomeroy Ab. iii. ii, Something in the very words, in what she undoubtedly knew to be their *semi⁓truth.
1678Norris Misc. (1699) 135 Tho seriousness be generally reckon'd only as a *Semi-Virtue, and by some as no Virtue at all. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. 424 Wasted affection, and rewardless semi-virtue.
1867J. S. Mill Let. 19 Oct. (1910) II. 90 Parliamentary *semi-work or idleness.
3. Compounded with vbs., as semi-castrate = to castrate partially, semi-close = to shut in partly.
1828–32Webster, *Semi-castrate, to deprive of one testicle.
1858Barrow in Merc. Marine Mag. V. 13 The bays which these headlands *semi-close.
1902Monkshood & Gamble Kipling (ed. 3) 240 [In ‘Stalky & Co.’] he chose to *semi-conceal his purposes behind a lattice-work of farce.
1845Jowett in Life & Lett. (1897) I. 120 If you will resign yourself to be *semi-humbugged by a semi-humbug.
1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 102 Kiss and *semi-lick throat and neck.
1962Times 9 Apr. (Suppl.) p. iii/3 The dispensation of powdered lime with oxygen is used to *semi-refine molten iron before final treatment.
4. Compounded with advs., as semi-adjectively = in a function partly adjectival.
1810Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1839) IV. 368 And is not ‘Scripture’ as often used *semi-adjectively?
1945Plastics IX. 143/1 Practical mechanical [safety] devices capable of functioning either fully or *semi-automatically.
1861Maine Ancient Law v. 146 A duty *semi-consciously followed.
5. The prefix used absol. as an advb., in sense ‘partly, to some extent’. colloq.
1979K. M. Peyton Marion's Angels vi. 102 ‘I thought you were on holiday.’ ‘Semi.’
II. In special and technical use.
6. a. With designations of quantity, extent of space or time, and the like, as semi-amplitude, semi-arc, semi-century (= 50), † semi-cotyle, † semi-cubit, † semi-dole (see dolium), semi-drachm, semi-duration, semi-lunation, semi-molecule, semi-phase, semi-revolution, semi-span, semi-tour, semi-vibration; † semi-hore [L. sēmihōra], half an hour; semi-interquartile range Statistics, half of the interquartile range.
1831Brewster Optics x. 94 By exposing the north pole of a needle a foot long, the *semi-amplitude of the last oscillation was 6° more than the first.
1794Attwood in Phil. Trans. LXXXIV. 151 The balance commencing its vibration at the extremity of the arc B, after having passed the *semiarc BO with an accelerated motion. 1858Huxley in Proc. Roy. Soc. (1859) IX. 428 Each distal portion of the hæmal semi-arc.
1650J. Goldolphin (title) The Holy Limbeck, or a *Semi-Century of Spiritual Extraction.
1693tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), *Semicotyle, half a Cotyla.
1623Cockeram i, *Semicubit, halfe a cubit.
1656Blount Glossogr., *Semidole (semidolium), a vessell containing half a Tun, a Pipe.
1827Robinson Archæol. Græca v. xxvi. (ed. 2) 549 A *semi-drachm.
1719Pound in Phil. Trans. XXX. 1032 The *Semi-duration of the Eclipse. 1867G. F. Chambers Astron. i. i. 8 Longer than the semi-duration of the Sun's rotation.
1623Cockeram i, *Semi-hore, halfe an houre.
1911G. U. Yule Introd. Theory Statistics viii. 134 There are three such measures in common use—the standard deviation, the mean deviation, and the quartile deviation or *semi-interquartile range. 1971T. R. Harshbarger Introd. Statistics v. 91 The semi-interquartile range is half the quartile range: Q = ½ (Q3 - Q1). Q is also called the quartile deviation.
1790Phil. Trans. LXXX. 564 Each *semi-lunation is distinguished into fifteen equal portions, or lunar days.
1862Miller Elem. Chem., Org. (ed. 2) iii. §4. 238 Wurtz's double radicles would therefore be merely compounds in which the place of the *semi-molecule of hydrogen, or of the ethyl was supplied by a different hydrocarbon.
1863Intell. Observer IV. 368 In this case the first *semi-phase of the vibration affected her room, and the second semi⁓phase operated more especially below.
1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 131 A *Semi-revolution of the Earth about the Sun. 1884Higgs Magn. Dyn. Electr. Mach. 242 The current changes its direction with every semi-revolution of the spindle.
1772C. Hutton Bridges 62 A circular arc whose..versed sine..= the *semi-span.
1890Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 187 A *semi-tour of the horizon is taken at a single exposure.
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 517 The pendulum, moving down the arch of *semi-vibration.
b. With adjs., advs., and ns. expressing periodical recurrence or duration, semi- denotes that the period is halved (after semi-annual); semi-centenarian, a person of 50 years of age; semi-centenary, the fiftieth anniversary; so semi-centennial a.; semi-daily a. and adv., (occurring) twice daily; semi-horal a., half-hourly; semi-jubilee, a twenty-fifth anniversary; semi-menstrual, -mensual adjs., recurring twice a month; of tides (see quot. 1863); semi-millenary a., lasting 500 years; semi-monthly a. and adv., (occurring, issued, etc.) twice a month; also n. a fortnightly periodical; so semi-weekly.
1828Lights & Shades II. 36 Off the two *semi-centenarians started with a duet.
1870Anderson Missions Amer. Bd. II. xxvii. 235 The *semi-centenary of the mission.
1859(title) Memorials of the *semi-centennial celebration of the founding of the Theological Seminary at Andover.
1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 335 This process of impregnating and depositing in the hatching-house was repeated *semi-daily. 1903Westm. Gaz. 19 Oct. 7/1 Semi⁓daily attacks of epilepsy.
1847–54Webster, *Semi-horal.
1893Miss. Herald (Boston) Mar. 114 *Semi-Jubilee of the Mardin Church. 1901Nature 27 June 210 His semi-jubilee as a doctor of physics.
1842Airy in Encycl. Metrop. V. 382* The observed *semimenstrual irregularities. 1863Harbord Gloss. Navig., Semimenstrual Inequality, an inequality (of the tide) which goes through its changes every half month.
1857Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (ed. 3) II. 195 The laws of a great number of the tidal phenomena—namely, of the *Semi-mensual Inequality of the Heights.
1727Earbery tr. Burnet's St. Dead II. 24 A long millenary or *semi-millenary Life.
1851C. Cist Sk. & Statistics Cincinnati 75 These are *semi-monthlies. 1860Ex. Doc. 36th U.S. Congr. 2 Sess. Senate No. 1. 435 The present contract..provides for an additional monthly trip between New York and San Francisco, making the service tri-monthly instead of semi-monthly as heretofore. 1895Cal. Univ. Nebraska 250 The Hesperian is the pioneer paper of the University, published semi-monthly.
1791T. Jefferson Let. 21 July in A. A. Lipscomb Writings T. Jefferson (1903) XIX. 79 Besides this, Fenno's being the only weekly or *semi-weekly newspaper. 1833A. H. Tracy Let. 10 June in T. W. Barnes Mem. T. Weed (1884) iv. 49 Put Millard Fillmore on your list for the Semi-Weekly. 1843Penny Cycl. XXVI. 14/2, 138 daily, 1141 weekly, and 125 semi- or tri-weekly newspapers. 1851–6(title) Semi-weekly courier and New York enquirer. 1926Jrnl. Biol. Chem. LXIX. 92 The weights of the rats and of their food intake were recorded semiweekly.
c. Music. (a) Designating a note, etc. of half the length, as † semi-crotchet, † semi-minim, † semi-tact; also semibreve, semiquaver, semitone; † (b) = imperfect, diminished 4 a, as semi-diapason, semi-diapente, semi-ditone, etc. (Cf. demi- 9, half- II. g.)[1688Holme Armoury iii. 158/2 Semi, it is not to be taken for the half of such a Note or Interval in Musick, but only imports a dificiency, as wanting something of perfection.] 1598Florio, Semicrome, a *semie crochet in musike.
1609Dowland Ornith. Microl. 21 *Semidiapason Is an imperfect eight. 1694W. Holder Princ. Harmony 172 The greatest [seventh], called Semidiapason, whose Ration is 48 to 25;..wanting Hemitone Minor of Diapason.
1609Dowland Ornith. Microl. 20 *Semidiapente Is an Interuall by an imperfect fift. 1694Phil. Trans. XVIII. 73 The false fifth, or Semidiapente, made of a Fourth and Hemitone major, i.e. 64 to 45. 1730Treat. Harmony 7 The Leaps of the False Relations, viz. of a Tritonus, and of a Semidiapente are absolutely forbidden.
1728Chambers Cycl., *Semi diatessaron, in Music, a defective Fourth, call'd, properly, a false Fourth.
1609Dowland Ornith. Microl. 18 A *Semiditone..is an Interuall of one Voyce from another by an imperfect third.
1598Florio, Semiminima, a *semi⁓minime in musicke. 1795Mason Ch. Mus. iv. 248 The..Semiminim now called Crotchet. 1883Rockstro in Grove Dict. Mus. s.v. Semiminim, Sometimes the head of the greater Semiminim was ‘void’—that is to say, open or white.
1609Dowland Ornith. Microl. 46 Tact is three-fold, the greater, the lesser, and the proportionate... The lesser Tact, is the halfe of the greater, which they call a *Semitact.
d. Astron. † semi-quadrate (? erron. -quadrant), † -quartile, -quintile, -sextile, † -sixth, denoting aspects of planets when they are 45°, 36°, 30°, respectively, distant from one another; semi-square = semi-quadrate.
1721Bailey, *Semi-quadrant, Semi-quartile (in Astronomy), an Object invented by Kepler, when two Planets are distant 45 Degrees from each other.
1647Lilly Chr. Astrol., etc. c. 511 You find in the directions of this Nativity, the *Semisextill, *Semiquintil, *Semiquadrate, Quintill, Sesquiquintill, Byquintill and Sesquiquadrate, mentioned.
1674S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 11 [Aspects.]..*Semiquartil.
1835‘Zadkiel’ Introd. Astrol. 24 Evil aspects are the *semi⁓square, square, sesquiquadrate, and opposition.
1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Semi-Sextile, The *Semi-sixth was added to the ancient Aspects by Kepler.
7. a. Designating a (geometrical) form derived from another by bisection (usually) in a vertical or longitudinal direction, as semi-canal, semi-cone, semi-conic(al adj., semi-conoidal adj., semi-cup, semi-disk, semi-dodecagon, semi-egg, semi-fistular adj., semi-hexagon, semi-hexagonal adj., semi-lens, semi-octagonal adj., † semi-orb [L. sēmiorbis], semi-ovoidal adj., semi-pyramidical adj., semi-rotund adj. (Cf. c, d.)
1836–9Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 390/2 A *semi-canal formed by a fold of the right side of the mantle. 1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. viii. 496 The duct of the ovotestis..incompletely divided into two semicanals.
1899Daily News 14 July 6/4 A silver-gilt chalice..of *semi-cone form.
1756P. Browne Jamaica 84 Sharp *semiconic leaves.
1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 299 The inner surface [of the teeth], which is round, or rather *semiconical.
1865Lubbock Preh. Times 64 The fracture is at first *semi-conoidal or nearly so.
1779Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 28 Edible birds nests... I have taken them from the face of a perpendicular rock, to which they strongly adhered, in rows like *semi⁓cups, the one touching the other.
1784Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXIV. 265 The *semi-disk, which is full, is evidently part of an oblate spheroid.
1849Guardian 733/2 This roof is boarded.., and its section forms a *semidodecagon.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 17 Cavities resembling the form of a *semi-egg when cut longitudinally.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 528 A handsome court-house 100 feet by 50, with a *semi-hexagon at each end.
1843Bloxam Gothic Archit. (ed. 5) 87 A *semihexagonal one [string-course], as at Hampton-in-Arden.
1832Nat. Philos., Optic. Instr. xvii. 57 (U.K.S.) The divided object-glass micrometer is composed of two *semilenses.
1751C. Labelye Westm. Bridge 23 A *Semi-octogonal rusticated Turret.
1615Crooke Body of Man 371 The belly of the partition which is like a *semiorbe stands out into it.
1851Madden Shrines & Sep. I. 229 The interior assumes a *semi-ovoidal shape, or that of which the section will be a parabola.
1843Bloxam Gothic Archit. (ed. 5) 133 A *semi-pyramidical projection.
1652News fr. Low Countr. 2 As an Ecliptick Line doth go, To the Antartick Pole, and frames Two *semi-Rotunds. 1856W. Clark Van der Hoeven's Zool. I. 813 Shell elliptical..with aperture semirotund.
b. Math. Designating a bisected line, arc, area, segment, etc., or the half of a definite quantity, as semi-angle, semi-base, semi-circumference, semi-circumvolution, semi-cycloid, semi-perimeter, † semi-perimetry, semi-periphery, semi-quadrangle, semi-segment; (in conic sections) semi-ordinate, semi-parameter, semi-transverse; also semi-convergent a., applied to a series the sum of whose terms converges while the sum of the moduli of its terms diverges; hence semi-convergence; semi-difference, half the difference between two quantities; semi-infinite a., limited in one direction and extending to infinity in the other; semi-major (-minor) axis, half of the length of the longest (shortest) diameter of an ellipse; semi-quadrantally adv., from 0° to 45°; semi-regular (see quot.); semi-sum, half the sum of two or more quantities; semi-tangent, the tangent of half an arc.
1765Ludlam in Phil. Trans. LV. 213 Let the *semi-angle of the lever be 84°:03′.
1666Collins in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 461 The *semibase of a cylinder. 1796Hutton Math. Dict. s.v. Cycloid, The semi-circumf[erence] DGC = semi-base AC.
1661S. Partridge Double Scale Prop. 80 First get the Semidiameter, which in this example is 3, 5 inches, and also the *Semicircumference, which here is 11. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 83 Such a resistance will stop the wheel, as it is equal to the effort of all the buckets in one semi-circumference filled with water.
1761Brit. Mag. II. 642 Two *semi-circumvolutions, or segments, of this curve.
1902E. T. Whittaker Mod. Anal. 12 Absolute convergence and *semi-convergence.
1872Monthly Notices R. Astron. Soc. XXXII. 262 Most functions are expansible in an ascending (convergent) series of the form A0 + A1x + A2x2 +{ddd}, and a descending (*semi-convergent) series of the form B1/x - B2/x2 + B3/x3 -{ddd} 1959A. Zygmund Trigonometric Series (ed. 2) II. iv. 175 If f is continuous, and S[f] is uniformly semi-convergent to f from below, then S[f] converges uniformly.
1695Wallis in Phil. Trans. XIX. 111 The *Semicycloid Figure. 1796Hutton Math. Dict. s.v. Cycloid, Two equal semicycloids OP, OQ.
1765Ludlam in Phil. Trans. LV. 210, ACK is the semi-sum, and DAI the *semi-difference of the angles CAI, CIA. 1873Rep. Brit. Assoc. i. 23 The semi⁓sum and semidifference of the numbers to be multiplied.
1903Proc. R. Soc. LXXII. 128 A ‘*semi-infinite’ isotropic elastic solid, i.e., a solid bounded only by a plane.
[1850J. Haan Analytical Geom. & Conic Sections v. 45 The equation to the ellipse [is]..y2/b2 + x2/a2 = 1.., a and b being termed respectively the semi-axis major and the semi-axis minor. ]1899Grace & Rosenberg Coordinate Geom. iv. 50 Find the length of the ordinates of each of the curves in Ex. 3 corresponding to the middle points of the *semi-major axis. 1977Whitaker's Almanack 1978 156/1 The squares of the periodic times vary as the cubes of the semi-major axes.
1909C. N. Schmall First Course in Analytical Geom. viii. 191 Prove that the *semi-minor axis is a mean proportional between the parts of tangent cut off. 1962Corson & Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields iv. 175 A charge Q is uniformly distributed throughout the volume of an ellipsoid of revolution whose semi-major axis is a and whose semi-minor axes are b.
1704Harris Lex. Techn. I, Ordinate..a Line in any Conick Section drawn at Right Angles to, and bissected by the Axis, and reaching from one side of the Section to the other; the half of which is properly the *Semi-ordinate. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Parabola, The Squares of the Semi⁓ordinates are to each other as the Abscisses.
1759Sterne Tr. Shandy ii. iii, He found..that the parameter or latus rectum, of the conic section of the said path..and that the *semi-parameter [etc.]. 1816Playfair Nat. Phil. II. 43 The solid contained by the radius of curvature, at any point in an ellipsis, and the square of the semiparameter of the greater axis, is equal to the cube of the normal at the same point.
1819Hutton Course Math. (1828) II. 328 Let p denote the *semiperimeter.
1571Digges Pantom. iv. iii. V j b, From the *Semiperimetry of the triangle deducte euery side.
1610W. Folkingham Art of Survey ii. viii. 61 Multiply the *semiperipherie by the perpendicular. 1770Landen in Phil. Trans. LX. 443 The semi-periphery of the circle.
1789T. Taylor Proclus II. 32 That which has the vertical angle double of each at the base, as a *semiquadrangle.
1873Rep. Brit. Assoc. i. 69 Logarithmic sines, tangents, and secants, *semi-quadrantally arranged, to every minute, to five places.
1867Brande & Cox Dict. Sci., etc. s.v. Polyhedron, The *semi-regular polyhedrons of Archimedes, the corners of which are equal and similar to one another, but formed by regular polygons of different kinds.
1743Emerson Fluxions 226 Distance of the Center of Gravity of the *Semi-segment PADQ from QD.
1765,1873*Semi-sum [see semi-difference above].
1743Emerson Fluxions 203 In the Hyperboloid BM, described by revolving about AP, let the Semi-conjugæ = b, *Semi-transverse AB = a. 1816Playfair Nat. Phil. II. 177 The semi-transverse axes of the orbits.
1823J. Mitchell Dict. Math. s.v. Projection, Any arc EMF of a great circle is projected into the sum of its *semi-tangents.
c. Nat. Hist. With adjs. and ns. descriptive of shape in the contour or marking of natural objects; semi-annular, of the form of a half-ring; semi-collar, -coronet, -fascia (hence semi-fasciated), -ring, a band, etc. roughly semicircular or extending halfway round a part or an organ; semi-coronate(d, having a semicircle of spikes, bristles, etc.
1681Grew Musæum i. ii. 27 Another Boar-Tusk, somewhat slenderer, and of *semiannular Figure. 1844Wilkinson tr. Swedenborg's Anim. Kingd. II. iii. 91 The semiannular cartilages.
1869Ibis (N.S.) V. 409 The throat is a pure white, which is met below by a rufous *semicollar.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 354 *Semicoronate Prolegs.
1843Penny Cycl. XXVI. 446/1 Shell turreted, fusiform, costated, and *semi⁓coronated.
1817Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxi. (1818) II. 253 Several larvæ of butterflies, distinguished at their head by a *semicoronet of strong spines.
1861H. Hagen Synopsis Neuroptera N. Amer. 45 A large, hyaline, oblique *semi⁓fascia about the middle on the anal margin.
1803Shaw Gen. Zool. IV. 472 *Semifasciated Sparus.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Semifistular Flowers, are such, whose upper⁓most part resembles a Pipe, cut off obliquely; as in Aristolochia or Birth-wort.
1841Miller Old Red Sandstone vii. (1887) 134 This huge *semi-ring of fossiliferous clays. 1896Newton Dict. Birds iv. 941 The first and second bronchial semirings.
d. Nat. Hist. Denoting that a part has a certain form or character (a) for half the extent, or along half the length, etc. of an organ, ‘half-way,’ as semi-adherent, semi-adnate, semi-amplexicaul, semi-appressed, semi-bifid, semi-costiferous, semi-equitant, semi-erect, semi-quinquifid, semi-sexfid; semi-anatropal, -ous (see quot. 1839); (b) on one side only, or so as to exhibit the half of a particular figure, as semi-cordate(d, semi-crescentic, semi-hastate, semi-lanceolate, semi-lenticular, semi-orbicular, semi-orbiculate, semi-pectinate(d, semi-penniform, semi-pinnate, semi-reniform, semi-sagittate(d, semi-terete.
Sometimes represented by ½, as ½-hastate, ½-sagittate.
1857A. Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) Gloss., *Semiadherent, as the calyx or ovary of Purslane.
1876Harley Mat. Med. 431 Ovary *semi-adnate.
1753Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Leaf, *Semamplexicaule Leaf, one resembling the amplexicaule, but with its lobes at the base too small to entirely surround the stalk. 1877Hulme Wild Flowers Ser. i. p. xiv, The upper [leaves]..sinuate, semi-amplexicaul.
1846Lindley Veget. Kingd. 368 Ovules..amphitropal or *semi⁓anatropal.
1839― Introd. Bot. i. ii. (ed. 3) 215 There is the amphitropous ovule, whose foraminal and chalazal ends are transverse with respect to the hilum, which is connected with the latter by a short raphe; and the *semianatropous, which is only different from the last, in the ovule being parallel with the funiculus instead of being at right angles with it.
1857T. Moore Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3) 43 Scales..*semi-appressed.
1775J. Jenkinson Brit. Plants Gloss., *Semibifid, half way divided into two.
Ibid., *Semi⁓cordate, half cordate. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxxv. III. 641 The wings..in several of the Heteropterous Hemiptera..may..be termed semicordate or semiovate. 1845Encycl. Metrop. XXIII. 640/2 The posterior pair [of the lamina in Pseudoboa Cœrulea] large, semicordate.
1877Coues Monogr. N. Amer. Rodentia 549 Seventh cervical *semicostiferous, without vertebrarterial canal.
1836–9Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 390/1 A *semi-crescentic membrane.
1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Semiequitant, half-equitant.
1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 221 Chama..unicornaria: sub⁓imbricated, rough, with unequal, *semierect, vaulted squamæ. 1851Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 556 The semi-erect Apes.
1853Royle Mat. Med. (ed. 2) 402 Stipules..*semihastate, spreading, minute.
1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Semilanceolate, half-lanceolate, longitudinally divided.
1794Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 99 A dark blue limestone, of a conchoidal or *semilenticular form.
1775J. Jenkinson Brit. Plants Gloss., *Semiorbicular, half orbicular. 1860L. Reeve Elem. Conchol. I. 185 Aperture semiorbicular.
1816T. Brown Elem. Conchol. 163 *Semi-orbiculate, in the shape of a half globe.
1847Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. v. 228 The 5th [joint]..furnished beneath with three or four pairs of neat *semi-pectinate processes.
1848Ibid. vi. 308 A pair of *semipectinated processes or combs.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xliii. IV. 178 A pair of *semipenniform muscles.
1878Bell tr. Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 338 The right gill is generally developed on one side only, so that it is *semi-pinnate, owing to the disappearance of the second row of lamellæ.
1775J. Jenkinson Brit. Plants Gloss., *Semi⁓quinquifid, half way divided into five.
1866Treas. Bot. 1048 *Semi-reniform, reniform on one side only.
1806J. Galpine Brit. Bot. 329 Stipulæ *semi-sagittate.
1804Shaw Gen. Zool. V. 361 *Semisagittated teeth.
1819Pantalogia, *Semisexfid Calyx, in botany, half-six-cleft.
1857Moore Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3) 186 Stipes..*semiterete.
e. In Building, designating structural forms of half the full width, breadth, or girth, resulting from (usually) vertical or longitudinal bisection, as semi-arch, semi-barrel vault, semi-bay, semi-channel, semi-counter-arch, semi-cross-rib, semi-cupola, semi-groove, semi-roll, semi-rotunda, semi-shaft, semi-transept, semi-vault; semi-basement, a basement sunk only part of its depth below the ground surface; semi-beam = cantilever 2; semi-engaged a., (of a column) attached to a wall so that half its diameter projects; semi-girder = semi-beam; semi-relief, half-relief, mezzo-rilievo; so semi-ball, -urn, a ball, an urn in half-relief.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Builder 295 To determine the centre of gravity of the *semi-arch.
1875Brash Eccl. Archit. 99 A bold label..bearing a line of *semi-balls.
1905Daily Chron. 18 Mar. 3/4 In the *semi-basement are carpenters' shops, laboratory, &c.
a1878Scott Lect. Archit. I. 118 Not, as usual, embracing two bays, but two of these *semi-bays.
1850E. Clark Britannia & Conway Bridges I. 276 The *semi-beam, or cantilever,..has to support half the weight of the beam..suspended from its extremity. 1908J. G. Horner Encycl. Pract. Engin., Semi-Beam.—A beam supported at one end only. A cantilever.
1728R. Morris Ess. Anc. Archit. 52 The two outward, or *Semi-Channels.
1751C. Labelye Westm. Bridge 83 Two *Semicounter Arches butting against the opposite Side of the..Piers.
1835R. Willis Rem. Archit. Mid. Ages vii. 79 The *semi-cross rib.
1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 79 In the transepts are *semi⁓cupolas.
1886Willis & Clark Cambridge II. 533 A hexastyle portico of *semi-engaged columns.
Ibid. I. 273 The *semi-groove or ‘rebate’ which is cut..along the..edge.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 30 Embossments, which resembles ..Beads in *Semi-relief.
a1878Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) II. 80 The rib may be amplified by a central *semi-roll moulding.
1797Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. II. xlii. (ed. 2) 138 It rested on two *semi rotundas.
1853Ruskin Stones Ven. III. 247 Small pilasters with *semi-shafts at their sides.
1783T. Warton Hist. Kiddington (ed. 2) 2 There is a proportionable lateral projection, or southern *semitransept.
a1734North Life Ld. Kpr. North (1742) 84 A Monument of white Marble..being an oblong *Semiurn upon a large Face of a Cube.
1798Hutton Course Math. (1828) II. 176 The centre of gravity of the *semi-vault. a1878Scott Lect. Archit. I. 59 The continuous semi-vault would do away with clerestory windows.
f. Cryst. semi-prismated, -tesseral, -tessular adjs. (see quots.).
1805R. Jameson Char. Min. (1817) 197 A crystal is named *semi-prismated, when only half of the edges on the common basis are obliterated by lateral planes.
1883Heddle in Encycl. Brit. XVI. 355/2 Two *semitesseral forms with parallel faces occur... The two other semitesseral forms, the pentagonal dodecahedron and the pentagonal icositetrahedron, both bounded by irregular pentagons, have not yet been observed in nature.
1858Mayne Expos. Lex., *Semi⁓tessular, term applied to a combination of the tessular system, into which the forms enter with only half the number of their faces.
g. Her. = demi- B. 1, half- II. b; as semi-chevron, semi-saltire.
1864Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. xiv. (ed. 3) 147 The Dexter *semi-chevrons are shown in combination with the sinister *semi-saltire.
1688Holme Armoury iii. 371/2 A *semi-Quadrant, of some called a demi-Quadrant.
h. Printing. † semi-quadratures, crotchets, square brackets; semi-quotes colloq., single quotation-marks (‘ ’).
1764Behmen's Wks. I. Advt., Synonymous Expressions are placed..betwixt two *Semiquadratures [ ] in the Body of the Work.
8. = to the extent of (only) a half, imperfect(ly), incomplete(ly).
a. With adjs. and ns. expressing kinds or degrees of composition, consistency, texture, colour, as semi-coagulated, semi-concrete, semi-digested, semi-ductile, semi-friable, semi-fused, semi-fusion, semi-grainy, semi-liquid, semi-lucent, semi-matt, semi-membranous, semi-moist, semi-opalescent, semi-pasty, semi-pellucid, semi-pellucidity, semi-petrified, semi-plastic, semi-purulent, semi-putrid, semi-resinous, semi-translucent, semi-volatile. (See also d, f, i.)
1833Cycl. Pract. Med. I. 386/1 *Semi-coagulated, in respect to consistence.
1876Gross Dis. Bladder (ed. 3) 154 Nodules, of a *semiconcrete consistence.
1842G. Bird in Urin. Deposits (1853) 254 The vomiting of the meal in a *semi-digested state.
1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 453 A grey *semi-ductil Regulus.
1834J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 157 An opaque, very dry, *semi-friable matter.
1876in Ure's Dict. (1878) IV. 599 By grinding the *semi-fused mass and treating it with water.
1791Macie in Phil. Trans. LXXXI. 372 A *semi-fusion, or softening of the whole mass. 1855J. Phillips Man. Geol. 260 The induration and semifusion of sandstones.
1756P. Browne Jamaica 387 Thin, fleshy, or *semigelatinous lips.
1893Times 13 Dec. 3/5 *Semi-grainy brownish crystallized.
1684T. Burnet Th. Earth i. 125 While the mass was liquid or *semiliquid. 1963D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation x. 193 Some marly deposits still contain 41·3% of water, which results in numerous landslips in this plastic, semi-liquid material.
1818Keats Endym. iv. 385 Smooth *semilucent mist. 1919V. Woolf Night & Day xi. 138 Rodney's windows..were a semilucent red colour.
1967*Semi-matt [see matt a.].
1846Dana Zooph. (1848) 625 Thin, *semi⁓membranous partitions.
1967E. Chambers Photolitho-Offset xvii. 259 The soft, tacky gelatinous Everdamp paper makes for easier working, being *semi-moist and ready for use.
1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 213 This sinter has often a beautiful *semi-opalescent lustre.
1851Art Jrnl. Illustr. Catal. p. iij*, At a temperature but just sufficient to maintain it in a *semi-pasty state.
a1728Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils (1729) I. i. 32 A light grey *Semi⁓pellucid Flint, 'Tis of much the same Complexion with the common Indian Achate. 1867H. Macmillan Bible Teach. xii. (1870) 247 The purest agates..are not perfectly transparent; they are only semi-pellucid.
1828–32Webster, *Semipellucidity, the quality or state of being imperfectly transparent.
1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxvi. (1856) 211 As they strike her, the *semi-plastic mass is impressed with a mould of her side.
1734Burton in Phil. Trans. XLII. 103 By a *semipurulent cancerous Sanies.
1762Lysons ibid. LII. 639 The kidneys, in one of the subjects, are said to have been found putrid, in the other, *semiputrid.
1862Jrnl. Soc. Arts X. 330/2 The *semi-resinous material would..resume..the form it was in prior to solution.
1832Nat. Philos. Thermom. & Pyrom. i. 9 (U.K.S.), It consists of a ball and tube of *semitranslucent porcelain, highly baked.
1738Gentl. Mag. VIII. 140/2 The grateful Bitter is of a middle Nature, *Semivolatile.
b. In designations of heresies, sects, and schools of thought, expressing partial adherence to the tenets or theories connoted by the second element of the compound, as semi-antiministerial, semi-Apollinarism, semi-atheist, semi-Augustinian, semi-catholicism, semi-Christianity, semi-conformist, semi-Darwinian, semi-infidel, semi-Jesuit, semi-Judaizer, semi-Manicheanism, semi-nonconformist, semi-Pythagorean, semi-quietism, semi-quietist, semi-revolutionist, semi-Romanism, semi-Sadducee, semi-Sadduc(e)ism, semi-separatist, semi-socialism, semi-socialist, semi-Socinian, semi-Tychonic, semi-universalist.
1653Gauden Hierasp. 190 These *Semiantiministeriall adversaries.
1855Mozley August. Doctr. Predest. iii. 100 A *semi-Apollinarism in a soul imperfectly connected with the flesh, a semi-Manicheanism in a flesh imperfectly connected with the soul of our Lord.
a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. i. xii. §1 (1622) 123 This is to be, but a *Semi-Atheist.
1879M. Pattison Milton xi. 126 The two first Stuarts, coquetting with *semi-catholicism at home.
1882J. Snodgrass tr. H. Heine's Relig. & Philos. in Germany II. 67 Leibnitz..was well able to defend Christianity in its integrity. I say, in its integrity, for he defended it against *semi-Christianity. 1961C. S. Lewis Let. Feb. (1966) 297 For some people at some moments what I call semi-Christianity may be useful.
1685D. Granville Lett. (Surtees No. 37) 210 A breach..which I do as much dread, as the phanatick and *semi-conformists do our union.
1903(title) Doubts about Darwinism. By a *Semi-Darwinian.
1861J. G. Sheppard Fall of Rome xii. 683 The..*semi-Gnostic notions [of the Templars].
1833J. H. Newman Arians i. v. (1876) 124 The change to the second position, or *semi-humanitarian, may be detected in the Sabellians.
1735–6Gibson in Fraser Berkeley vii. (1871) 244 We have..little trouble from professed infidels, but a great deal from *semi-infidels.
a1631Donne Serm. xii. (1640) 113 A Jesuit, or a *Semi-Jesuit, a practising Papist, or a Sesqui-Jesuit.
1765A. Maclaine tr. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. xvi. ii. iv. §23 This little sect is branded by the Socinian writers, with the ignominious appellation of *Semi-Judaizers.
1855*Semi-Manicheanism [see semi-Apollinarism].
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. xvi. 161 How he interceded to qualifie the Arch-Bishop, for a *Semi-non conformist.
1857Pusey Real Presence iii. (1869) 247 Parker, whom, for his belief in the sacraments, his adversaries called ‘Lutheran or *Semi-Papist’.
1865Grote Plato I. i. 15 note, Alkmæon, a *semi-Pythagorean.
1876Sweeney in Baker's Sancta Sophia (1908) 493 The Quietism of Molinos, and the *semi-Quietism of Madame Guyon.
1882McClintock & Strong Cycl. Bibl. Lit. VIII. 847 (Cassell) Fénelon and Madame Guyon .. are .. usually called *semi-Quietists.
1812Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1836) I. 298 Curio, the quondam patriot, reformer, and *semi-revolutionist.
1847Edin. Rev. Oct. 325 Church architecture has been set up under our own eyes as the banner of a more than *semi-Romanism.
1690Baxter Kingd. Christ (1691) 46 You brand all that dissent from you as *Semi-Sadducees of the Apostacy.
Ibid. 42 He that accuseth others of *Semi-Sadduceism of the Apostasie. 1691Beverley Thousand Years' Kingd. 4 Antichristian Semi-Sadducism.
a1628F. Grevil Disc. Nat. Episc. ii. vi. (1641) 90 The Separist is subdivided too (as they say) into Seperatist, and *Semi-seperatist. 1647E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (ed. 4) 81 There is a sort of Semi-separatists, that will heare our Sermons, but not our Common-prayers.
1886W. Morris in Mackail Life (1899) II. 167, I have a long letter from W. Birchall..about *semi-Socialism. 1930W. K. Hancock Australia xi. 225 The Liberal party still continued to tread..the familiar path of semi-socialism. 1939N. & S. Weyl Reconq. Mexico iv. 110 Mexico's long indoctrination with *semisocialist theory..made leftist political candidates almost a political inevitability. 1976N. O'Sullivan Conservatism i. 30 A great body of conservative thought..has itself tended to move in a semi-socialist or collectivist direction.
1834Tracts for Times No. 22. 4 A *semi-socinian or five-quarter latitudinarian.
1786–7Bonnycastle Astron. iv. 63 He was abandoned by some of his followers, who chose rather to save this immense labour to the spheres, by ascribing a diurnal motion to the earth; on which account they were distinguished by the name of *Semi-Tychonics. 1794G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xxxiii. 2 [Aristotle] speaks of a set of men, who held a system essentially similar to that of the modern Semitychonic.
1765A. Maclaine tr. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. xvii. ii. ii. ii. §12 The Reformed Church was immediately divided into Universalists, *Semi-universalists, Supralapsarians, and Sublapsarians.
c. Gram., as semi-compound (also as n.), semi-grammatical, semi-nasal, semi-phonetic adjs.; semi-consonant = semivowel; semi-deponent, a verb in Latin of which the tenses of the present group have active forms and those of the perfect group passive forms, as gaudeo, gavisus sum; † semi-pause, a slight pause or cæsura; semiphonotypy, printing in a ‘reformed’ spelling intermediate between the traditional and purely phonetic spelling; semi-predicative a., quasi-predicative; forming part of a predicate; semi-rhythm, free-rhythm verse; semi-sentence, a statement or utterance which possesses some of the features of a sentence; † semi-spiritous a., (of a consonant) voiced; semi-telic a., partially final or expressing purpose.
1963F. T. Visser Hist. Syntax I. iv. 389 An older *semi-compound verb of the type overpass. 1964English Studies XLV. 50 Some combinations..can therefore be considered as compounds or semi-compounds.
1820F. Bopp in Ann. Oriental Lit. I. 6 The letter y..in Sanskrit or Gothic words..is always to be considered as a *semi-consonant. 1828Walker Pron. Dict. 17/1 These two letters [w and y] are so far from being simple vowels, that they may more properly be called semi-consonant diphthongs. 1888Kennedy Revised Lat. Primer (1900) §6.
Ibid. §127 Some Verbs have a Perfect of Passive form with a Present of Active form; they are called *semi-deponents.
1964P. Strevens Papers in Lang. & Lang. Teaching (1965) iv. 61 The body of data..includes grammatical, *semi-grammatical and non-grammatical features.
1863A. M. Bell Princ. Speech 178 The Englishman's difficulty in giving the Gallic effect to the French *semi-nasal elements.
1762Kames Elem. Crit. xviii. (1774) II. 127 A *semipause..being short and faint, is not sensibly disagreeable when it divides a word. 1824[see demi-cæsura s.v. demi- 11].
1933L. Bloomfield Language xvii. 290 *Semi-phonetic devices, such as rising combinations of letters for a single phoneme. 1964Language XL. 302 He had to depend mainly on the semiphonetic materials recorded by H. Paasonen.
1914O. Jespersen Mod. Eng. Gram. II. 386 It is used in that sense as a *semi-predicative post-adjunct. 1933L. Bloomfield Language xii. 206 Some numeratives are used also in other syntactic positions, as..all, both as semi-predicative attributes (the boys were both there).
1876Max Müller Sel. Ess. (1881) I. 259 A style of spelling will now be introduced which has received the name of *Semiphonotypy.
1893G. A. Greene Italian Lyrist, Luigi Capuana 54 The exact metre,..is, as might be expected from ‘*semi-rhythms’, somewhat difficult to ascertain.
1954Acta Universitatis Carolinae VII. 35 In the present article, the term ‘*semi-sentence’ constructions covers both participial and infinitive phrases as well as those having neither of these, but which, owing to their binary character, have a distinct predicational form (e.g. If lawful.). 1969Word XXV. 195 A sentence which contains no predicate is a semi-sentence. 1975N. Chomsky Logical Struct. Linguistic Theory viii. 244 We are building a system of phrase structure only for first-order grammatical sentences, a category that presumably excludes such semisentences as ‘sincerity appointed the table’.
1668Wilkins Real Char. 369 By *Semi-spiritous or halfbreathed Consonants, are meant such as are accompanied with some kind of vocal murmure, as B, D, G.
1865Alford Grk. Test. III. 285 When we are speaking of the divine proceedings, the tendency involves the purpose, and there is no need for a *semi-telic force.
d. Nat. Hist. = imperfectly, incompletely, partly (of a certain habit, form, texture, etc.), as semi-aquatic, semi-arborescent, semi-articulate, semi-complete, semi-complicated, semi-connate, semi-coriaceous, semi-corneous, semi-crustaceous, semi-erect, semi-granulate, semi-heterocercal, semi-horny, semi-hyaline, semi-imbricated, semi-immersed, semi-internal, semi-osseous, semi-oviparous, semi-permeable, semi-perspicuous, semi-petaloid, semi-radiate, semi-recondite, semi-retractile, semi-revolute, semi-septate, semi-sessile, semi-social, semi-spiral, semi-staminate, semi-striate, semi-striated, semi-terrestrial, semi-valvate, semi-verticillate; semi-evergreen, normally evergreen but shedding some leaves if conditions become severe.
1833Hooker in J. E. Smith Eng. Flora V. i. 112 Among Sphagnum and other *semi-aquatic mosses. 1910Roosevelt Afr. Game Trails 126 They [buffalo] are semi-aquatic beasts.
1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 236 The vegetation..is of a *semi-arborescent character.
1815Kirby & Sp. Entomol. I. 68 Those of the Linnean order Hemiptera, which resemble the perfect insect, except in having only the rudiments of wings, and to which the name of *semi-complete pupæ was applied by Linnè.
1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 225 Valves *semicomplicated.
1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Semiconnate, applied to such structures as the half-united filaments of certain willows.
1852Th. Ross tr. Humboldt's Trav. II. xxiv. 451 The *semi-coriaceous leaves.
1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 703/1 A brownish and *semi-corneous filament.
1771Encycl. Brit. III. 364/1 The Hemiptera have four wings, the two superior ones being *semicrustaceous, and incumbent.
1894R. B. Lee Hist. & Descr. Mod. Dogs of Gr. Brit. & Ireland (Terriers) xv. 353 Ears..if not cut, to be small V-shaped and carried *semi-erect. 1931A. G. L. Hellyer Sander's Encycl. Gardening (ed. 21) 409 S[milax] herbacea, greenish, bluish-black fruits, twining or semi-erect, N. America.
1952Ibid. (ed. 22) 10 Adenocarpus... Deciduous or *semi-evergreen shrubs or small trees. 1978Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. (Parade Suppl.) 32/2 (Advt.), The lush, semi-evergreen foliage erupts in massive clusters of star-shaped, fiery red blooms.
1815Burrow Elem. Conchol. 185 Shell 8-valved, *semi-granulate.
1787Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXXVII. 404 A *semi-horny substance.
1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 230 Asiraca clavicornis..elytra *semihyaline.
1840tr. Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 280 The scales are square, thick, and *semi-imbricated.
1871W. A. Leighton Lichen-Flora 417 Apothecia large,..*semi-immersed in thalline elevations.
1843Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (ed. 6) I. 289 This insect is a *semi-internal parasite. 1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 191 The ligament internal or semi-internal.
1841H. Miller Old Red Sandstone iv. (1887) 95 The *semi-osseous..icthyolites of the Lower Old Red Sandstone.
1897Pop. Sci. Monthly Nov. 7 The oöticoids or *semi-oviparous mammals.
1900W. Ramsay in Smithsonian Rep. 253 A vessel the walls of which are permeable to the solvent, but not to the dissolved substance (‘*semipermeable membrane’).
1681Grew Musæum iii. iv. 288 Of the colour of yellow Amber, and *semiperspicuous.
1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 86 Cycnia has a *semipetaloid irregular calyx and no petals.
1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Semiradiate, when only a portion of the outer florets of a Composite are radiant and different from those of the disk.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 306 *Semirecondite... When the head is half covered by the shield of the thorax.
1883Flower in Encycl. Brit. XV. 440/2 Claws short, compressed, acute, curved, often *semi⁓retractile.
a1843South in Encycl. Metrop. VII. 289/1 Sometimes, as in the *semi-revolute Shells, the whorls are perfectly distinct from each other.
1866Treas. Bot., *Semi⁓septate, half-partitioned; having a dissepiment which does not project into the cavity to which it belongs sufficiently to cut it off into two separate cells.
1962D. Nichols Echinoderms xii. 156 These facts suggest that the animal remained *semi-sessile on the sea-bottom and searched the surrounding area with its tentacles.
1962Sci. Survey XVII. 285 Numbers of insects are affected [by sounds]..which are related, not to sexual activity, but to social or *semi-social activities.
1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 33 Shell ovate, inflated, *semispiral.
1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Semistaminate, when part of the stamens are changed into petals.
1815Burrow Elem. Conchol. 131 Shell 8-valved, *semistriate.
1932J. S. Huxley Probl. Relative Growth i. 33 Twenty-four grams is a very small weight for many crabs, including forms of *semi-terrestrial and burrowing habits. 1964Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 302 The semi-terrestrial hermit crab, Coenobita perlatus,..varies the frequency with which it visits water of different salinities.
1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Semivalvate, when the valves of a fruit are only partially dehiscent.
1847–54Webster, *Semi⁓verticillate, partially verticillate.
e. Designating an animal or vegetable form, class, species, etc., which has only some of the characteristics of that denoted by the second element, or is intermediate between that and another, as semi-ape (= half-ape, lemur), semi-avocet, semi-burrower, semi-dwarf (also as adj.), semi-egret, semi-lichen, semi-looper (cf. half-looper), semi-parasite (whence semi-parasitic adj., semi-parasitism), semi-pupa (whence semi-pupal adj.), semi-rapacious adj., semi-stilt; similarly in anglicized forms of L. names of zoological groups, etc., as semi-digitigrade, semi-phyllidian, semi-plantigrade = belonging to (or a member of) the groups Semidigitigrada, Semiphyllidiana, Semiplantigrada; semi-nymph [= F. semi-nymphe], a nymph of such insects as undergo only a slight change in passing to the imago state.
1886Kipling General Summary in Departm. Ditties, We are very slightly changed From the *semi-apes who ranged Pre-historic India.
1886Seebohm in Ibis July 227 The four groups of which we are in search are Stilts, Semi-stilts, Avocets, and *Semi-avocets.
1864–5Wood Homes without H. ii. (1868) 76 Among the *semi-burrowers we may rank the Starling..as this bird invariably lays its eggs in a hollow of some kind.
1864Reader 23 Apr. 525/3 They [sc. the Lemurini] are all plantigrade or *semi-digitigrade.
1931*Semi-dwarf [see Peter Pan 2]. 1959Sci. News Let. 22 Aug. 120/3 Stiff-stemmed semidwarf wheat may be the answer for Pacific Northwest growers whose wheat suffers extensively from lodging. 1979Nature 3 May 7/1 In India..rice research has tended to focus on light-yielding semi-dwarfs for irrigated land.
1880Newton in Encycl. Brit. XI. 760/2 The group of *Semi-egrets, containing some nine or ten forms.
1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, *Semilichen, Zukal's term for forms which when destitute of their appropriate Alga can subsist as saprophytes.
1880Libr. Univ. Knowl. I. 706 The larva [of southern army-worm or cotton-worm] is a *semi-looper. 1899D. Sharp Insects vi. 415 When the abdominal legs are reduced in number (Plusia, e.g.) the larvae are said to be Half-loopers, or Semi-loopers, as they assume to some extent the peculiar mode of progression of the Geometrid larvae, which are known as Loopers.
1815Kirby & Sp. Entomol. iii. (1818) I. 68 Those of the Linnean order Hemiptera..to which the name of semi-complete pupæ was applied by Linné, and that of *semi-nymphs by some other authors.
1868Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 354 Green perfect parasites (Viscum), and more or less coloured *semi⁓parasites (Melampyrum arvense).
1878–80Brady (title) Monograph of the Free and *Semi-parasitic Copepoda of the British Islands.
1894Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. XXVI. 338 The head..is without a labrum or epipharynx, a loss due to adaptation to its suctorial habits and *semiparasitism.
1839Penny Cycl. XIV. 322/1 Inferobranchians (Phillidians and *Semi-phillidians).
1870H. A. Nicholson Man. Zool. lxxix. (1875) 634 The second family of the *Semi-plantigrade Carnivores is that of the Viverridæ.
1668Wilkins Real Char. 145 *Semirapacious; feeding commonly either on Carrion, or other things, and more seldome on living Animals. 1886*Semi-stilt [see semi-avocet above].
f. In Anat., chiefly in names (in Latin form, but occas. anglicized) of muscles (a) situated partly in a certain region, as semi-interrosseus, semi-spinalis, or (b) being partly of a certain texture or shape, as semi-membranosus (also semi-membranous), semi-nervosus, semi-orbicularis (also semi-orbicular), semi-tendinosus (also semi-tendinous, semi-tendinose); also semi-decussation, semi-intercostal, semi-mucous, semi-sarcodic; semi-bulb, the bulbus vestibuli, either of two vascular bodies on either side of the entrance of the vagina.
1855Dunglison Medical Lexicon, *Semi-bulb of the female, Bulbus vestibuli.
1855Brewster Newton I. x. 226 The *semi-decussation of the optic nerves.
1733Douglas Winslow's Anat. (1756) II. 24 *Semi-intercostal Arteries.
Ibid. I. 202 The Antithenar or Internal *Semi-Interosseus of the Thumb.
Ibid. 216 *Semi-Membranosus. This is a long thin Muscle, partly Tendinous, from whence it has its name. 1875Turner in Encycl. Brit. I. 841/1 The biceps [is inserted] into the head of the fibula, and semi⁓tendinosus and semi-membranosus into the upper end of the tibia. 1896Treves Syst. Surg. II. 31 An enlargement of the bursa between the semi-membranosus and inner head of the gastrocnemius.
1758J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) Dict. C c 8 Semimembranosus, the *Semi⁓membranous Muscle that serves to move the Leg.
1843Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxvii. 350 The external skin or *semimucous membrane of the male.
1693tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Seminervosus Musculus, the *Semi⁓nervous Muscle.
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn., *Semi⁓nervosus, seu Semi-tendinosus, a Muscle of the Thigh, which is so called from its being half Tendinous and Nerve-like.
1733Douglas Winslow's Anat. (1756) II. 346 The superior *Semi-Orbicular Muscle is oftentimes broader than the inferior.
Ibid., The *Semi-Orbiculares are commonly looked upon as one Muscle, surrounding both Lips, from whence it is called Orbicularis.
1879tr. De Quatrefages' Hum. Spec. 4 The *semi-sarcodic substance which surrounds their siliceous or horny skeleton.
1753Chambers's Cycl. Suppl., *Semispinalis, a muscle, called also transverso⁓spinalis dorsi. 1875Turner in Encycl. Brit. I. 835/1 The semispinales, multifidi and rotatores spinæ muscles. 1704*Semitendinosus [see seminervosus]. 1733Douglas Winslow's Anat. (1756) I. 215 This Tendon is inserted..above the Semi-Tendinosus. 1875Turner in Encycl. Brit. I. 841/1 The action of the sartorius, gracilis and semi-tendinosus, which are inserted close together into the tibia.
1733Douglas Winslow's Anat. (1756) I. §677 The Muscles which move the Vertebræ of the Back and Loins..were they to be reckoned separately as Vertebral or *Semi-Vertebral Muscles.
g. In Pathol. and Therapeutics, as semi-albinism, semi-coma, semi-comatose, semi-confluent, semi-fluctuant, semi-fluctuating, semi-hepatization, semi-luxation, semi-malignant, semi-narcosis, semi-pectoral, semi-prone (whence semi-pronation), semi-recumbent, semi-supination.
1898Syd. Soc. Lex., *Semi-albinism, a half-white condition of the skin, sometimes occurring in negroes.
1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 202 Delirium..verging into *semi-coma.
1878A. M. Hamilton Nervous Dis. 36 She complained of vertical headache, became *semi-comatose.
1887Cassell's Encycl. Dict., *Semiconfluent, half confluent. Used spec. of a kind of small-pox.
1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 1137 An elastic *semifluctuant sensation on percussion.
1872T. Bryant Pract. Surg. 734 Fixed *semifluctuating growths.
1879St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 73 *Semi-hepatization of left lung.
1898Syd. Soc. Lex., *Semi-luxation, a syn. for Sub⁓luxation.
1864Erichsen Sci. & Art Surg. (ed. 4) 469 *Semi-Malignant Tumours.
1937Koestler Spanish Testament ii. 235 That merciful state of *semi-narcosis induced by..spinning illusions. 1965J. Pollitt Depression & its Treatment v. 67 In very severe cases, continuous sleep (continuous narcosis) or continuous semi-narcosis with chlorpromazine and small amounts of Sodium Amytal must be given.
1881Trans. Obstetr. Soc. Lond. XXII. 284 The patient resting either in the *semi-prone or *semi⁓pectoral position.
1898Syd. Soc. Lex., *Semipronation, the Semi-prone position, or the assuming of that position.
1875Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. viii. (ed. 2) 308 The individual should be placed in a *semi-recumbent position.
1889Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. VIII. 534 When the hand is *semisupinated, i.e., with the radius and ulna parallel.
1898Syd. Soc. Lex., *Semisupination, half-supination. A position halfway between supination and lying on the side.
h. In Chem., as semi-acid, semi-acidified, semi-carbonization, † semi-oxidated, semi-oxidized, semi-oxygenated, semi-oxygenized, † semi-phlogisticated, † semi-saline, semi-reduced; in the designation of a class of compounds, as semi-benzidam, semi-glutin (see quot. 1879), semi-naphthalidine; also semialdehyde, a derivative of a compound containing two identical functional groups (e.g. a dicarboxylic acid) in which one of the groups has been converted into an aldehyde group; † semi-carbonate, a subcarbonate; semi-combined a., partially or loosely combined; semi-covalent a., having some covalent character; semi-normal a. (see quot.).
1880Webster's Suppl., *Semiacid.
1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) II. 91 The Calx which is certainly *semi⁓acidified.
1942Jrnl. Biol. Chem. CXLV. 69 In the presence of this enzyme..α-ketoglutaric acid formed succinic *semi⁓aldehyde and CO2. 1976Nature 16 Dec. 652/2 GABA concentrations were measured using GABA transferose and succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase to generate NADH, which was measured spectrofluorometrically.
1868Watts Dict. Chem. V. 233 *Semibenzidam, this name was given by Zinin to a compound produced by the action of sulphide of ammonium on dinitrobenzene.
1808Phil. Trans. XCVIII. 98 A saturated soda..becomes a true *semi-carbonate by being exposed..to a red heat.
1804Ibid. XCIV. 400 Woody fibre in a state of *semicarbonization.
1965Phillips & Williams Inorg. Chem. I. v. 156 *Semi-covalent bonding involving d orbitals may also be expected to lead to high coordination numbers for early members of the transition series.
1879Encycl. Brit. X. 132/2 Two distinct substances could be separated, one precipitable by perchloride of platinum, which he [Hofmeister] calls *semiglutin, and the other..which he calls hemicollin.
1852W. Gregory Handbk. Org. Chem. 344 *Seminaphtalidine, C10H5N, is obtained when nitronaphtalèse is treated by Zinin's process.
1868Watts Dict. Chem. V. 233 *Seminaphthylamine, C10H8N2..; also called Seminaphthalidine, Seminaphthalidam, and Azonaphthylamine... A base produced by the action of sulphydrate of ammonium on dinitronaphthalene.
1896Gould Student's Med. Dict., *Seminormal Solution, one containing in solution half the quantity of the substance contained in the normal solution.
1965*Semi-oxidized [see semi-reduced below].
1794Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 365 Moist *semi-oxygenated calces of iron.
a1846Ure (cited by Worcester), *Semi-oxygenized.
1805Saunders Min. Waters 556 A very soluble *semi-oxydated calx.
1828–32Webster, *Semiphlogisticated, partially impregnated with phlogiston.
1965Phillips & Williams Inorg. Chem. I. x. 386 The anaerobic system..tends to yield acetic acid, alcohol, and similar semi-oxidized and *semi-reduced compounds.
1799Med. Jrnl. I. 379 The neutral and *semi⁓saline combinations before specified.
i. In Geol., Mineral., and Geogr., as semi-aluminous, semi-calcareous, semi-compact(ed, semi-deltaic, semi-desert, semi-extinct, semi-fossil, semi-granitic, semi-hard, semi-indurated, semi-lapidified, semi-mineralized, semi-porphyritic, semi-stratified, semi-volcanic adjs.; semi-anthracite, semi-bituminous a. (see quot.); † semiprimigenous a., applied by Kirwan to formations intermediate between the primary and the secondary; † semiprotolite (Kirwan), a ‘semi-primigenous’ fossil.
1841Miller Old Red Sandstone vi. (1887) 127 The stratified clay is mottled by layers of *semi-aluminous, semi-calcareous nodules.
1858H. D. Rogers Geol. Pennsylv. II. ii. 990 The Anthracites being properly separable into Hard Anthracites and *Semi-anthracites; the Bituminous Coals into dry or *Semi-bituminous, and fat or true Bituminous Coals.
1841*Semi-calcareous [see semi-aluminous].
1794Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 158 A *semicompact mass of the nature of porcelain.
1796Ibid. II. 348 A *semi-compacted coagulated mass.
1849Dana Geol. vii. (1850) 433 The *semi-continent New Holland.
1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 106 Rivers may be divided into four great classes: (1) the tidal; (2) the deltaic; (3) the *semi-deltaic; and (4) the torrential.
1849Dana Geol. ix. (1850) 455 The *semi-desert of California. 1903W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant Geog. 163 Transition forms between desert on the one hand, and woodland or grassland on the other, are termed semi-deserts.
1839G. Roberts Dict. Geol., Solfatara, a *semi-extinct volcano, emitting only gaseous sulphurous exhalations, and aqueous vapours.
1896H. Woodward Guide Fossil Reptiles Brit. Mus. 93 Teeth of Sharks..in a *semi-fossil state.
1791Beddoes in Phil. Trans. LXXXI. 50 *Semi-granitic, porphyritic, and common whinstone.
1811Pinkerton Petral. II. 197 A little more than *semi-hard, only being capable of being scratched with the point of a knife.
1794Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 76 Mild Calx in a loose or *semi-indurated form.
1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. 236 Hills of *semi⁓lapidified marl.
1802Playfair Illustr. Hutton. Theory 153 This *semi-mineralized coal.
1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. iii. 83 Some very remarkable rocks with a *semi-porphyritic character.
1799Kirwan Geol. Ess. 44 *Semi-primigenous strata (Todliegendes).
Ibid. 307 After this shale and coal alternate until all terminate in red *semiprotolite.
1890Dana Charact. Volcanoes 23 The eruptions are only *semi-volcanic.
j. In names of articles or processes of manufacture: semi-china, -porcelain, ware resembling china, etc., but having an inferior glaze, finish, etc.; semi-coke, a smokeless fuel that leaves little ash, made from coal by carbonization at a low temperature (usu. 500–600°C); semi-coking a., designating a coal that is intermediate between a good coking coal and one that does not produce coke; semi-steel, a low-carbon cast iron produced by melting mild steel with pig iron in a furnace; semi-water-gas, a fuel gas made by blowing a mixture of steam and air into a producer.
1786Cavallo in Phil. Trans. LXXVII. 9 The *semi⁓calcined part floats at the top.
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 482 The blue printed tea-ware has recently obtained the name of *semi-china, owing to its being, when well fired, very fine, white and neat, and possessing some degree of transparency.
1918Chem. & Metallurgical Engin. XIX. 580/1 Charles Howard Smith..proposed to get an intermediate soft 16 to 20 per cent volatile *semi-coke. 1972Harker & Allen Fuel Sci. v. 70 The tar and most of the volatile matter are driven off leaving a material known as ‘semi-coke’.
1915Iron & Coal Trades Rev. XCI. 421/2 No serious attempts have hitherto been made to utilise in the low-temperature system non-coking and *semi-coking coals for the production of oils. 1977Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 64/2 High grade coke can be made from a coal mixture including a proportion of only semi-coking coal.
1892Labour Commission Gloss., *Semi-dried bricks, bricks manufactured from clay, one half dry and the other half damp.
1878Encycl. Brit. VIII. 188/2 The *semi⁓dry or ‘dust’ process of manufacturing encaustic tiles.
1897Sparkes & Gandy Potters 40 The kind of *semi-glaze known as a ‘smear’.
1893Barber Pottery & Porcel. 391 The *semi⁓glazed old-gold color of the adjacent terra-cotta.
1886Guide Exhib. Galleries Brit. Mus. 210 The pottery *semi⁓porcelain, and porcelain known as Kutani ware, made in the province of Kaga. 1908Ch. Times 20 Mar. 394/2 Pretty novelties in semi-porcelain.
1858Q. Jrnl. Chem. Soc. X. 145 Mr. Bessemer claims the production..of a particular product called *semi-steel. 1861Fairbairn Iron 141 What he [Bessemer] calls semi-steel. 1929Iron & Steel Industry III. 35 The metallurgist has long regarded the term ‘semi-steel’ as a misnomer, although the use of the term within the foundry business is harmless when it is simply made to imply the use of steel in a cast iron mixture... Instead, we have at present the innuendo that ‘semi-steel’ is more or less a definite iron-carbon alloy of superior properties compared to cast iron, whereas it is in reality an ‘unknown quantity’. 1958Engineering 21 Mar. 384/2 The bottom grate is of heat resistant 30 per cent chrome semi-steel and is reversible for burning coal or coke.
1910Encycl. Brit. (ed. 11) XI. 286/1 *Semi-water gas is especially adapted for the purpose of driving gas-engines on the explosive principle (gas motors).
k. Denoting styles of architecture having only some of the features connoted by the second element, as semi-classic, semi-Gothic, semi-Norman.
1843Bloxam Gothic Archit. (ed. 5) 219 Key-stones after the Roman or Italian *semi-classic style.
1768Acct. Denmark 94 The royal palace of Rosenburg..is a handsome structure in the *semi Gothic taste. 1925F. Madan Oxf. outside Guide-Books (ed. 2) 186 The Firm's premises..were entirely rebuilt and included the present ‘semi-Gothic’ elevation.
1829Bloxam Gothic Archit. 31 *Semi-Norman Pointed Arch.
l. In names of mechanical contrivances (see quots.). Cf semi-automatic a.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 796 *Semifixed, said of a steam engine bolted to an iron foundation piece on which it may be moved intact.
Ibid., *Semi-multi-flue Boiler, a flue-plate is fixed in the flue a short distance behind the furnace, and a number of wrought⁓iron or brass flues pass from this to the back of the boiler.
Ibid., *Semi-multi-tubular Boiler, a term applied to those boilers in which a portion of the cylindrical shell is occupied by flues.
1753Chambers's Cycl. Suppl., *Semireverberatory fire, in chemistry, a term used to express such a reverberatory fire, in which the flame is only beaten back upon the bottom of the vessel.
9. Miscellaneous: semi-active a., designating a method of missile guidance in which the missile responds to a signal transmitted from elsewhere and reflected by the target; semi-antique a., of a rug or carpet: between fifty and one hundred years old; also absol. as n.; semi-armour-piercer, -piercing, applied to a kind of shell for perforating some thickness of armour plate; semi-Bantu a. , of or pertaining to a number of languages in Central and West Africa closely related to the Bantu family; also as n.; semi-basement, a basement room or rooms set only partially below ground level; † semi-brick [after L. sēmilater], a half-baked brick; semi-broch Archæol., in the Hebrides and western mainland of Scotland: a hollow-walled fort-like structure representing a stage of development between the galleried dun and the broch; semi-bull R.C. Ch., a bull issued by a pope before his coronation (Cass.); semi-cardinal, applied to the points of the compass half-way between the cardinal points, as NE.; semi-cell Bot., each of the two parts of a cell which is constricted in the middle, as in desmids; semi-chemical a., applied to (wood pulp made by) a pulping process in which wood chips are subjected to mild chemical delignification followed by mechanical processing; † semi-cipher, fig. a nothing or nobody; semi-classical a., (a) gen., esp. in Music; (b) Physics, designating a theory that is intermediate in its assumptions and methods between the classical, or Newtonian, description and that of modern physics, esp. in quantum mechanics and relativity; hence semi-classically adv.; semi-closed a., (a) Fortif. (see quot.); (b) Med., applied to methods of administering anæsthetics employing a gas supply that is closed from the atmosphere and in excess of the patient's needs, the excess being vented to the atmosphere; (cf. open a. 11 h, semi-open a.); † semi-commoner, a demy of Magdalen College, Oxford; semi-cretin, ‘a variety of cretin who can speak in a rudimentary way and can appreciate his everyday bodily necessities’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1898); semi-cursive a. Palæogr., of or pertaining to one of various scripts combining cursive features with elements of a more formal style; also absol. as n.; semi-definite a. Logic, implying ‘some but not all’; semi-diesel, -Diesel a., of an engine: (see quot. 1974); also as n., an engine of this type; semi-display Typogr., a lay-out (for advertisements, etc.) intermediate between the run-on and displayed styles; hence semi-displayed a.; semi-documentary a., of or pertaining to a film that presents factual or semi-factual material in fictional form; also as n.; semi-empirical a., that derives in part from theoretical considerations and in part from the results of experiment; so semi-empirically adv.; semi-evening dress (also gown, etc.), (a) fashionable dress (gown, etc.) of less than fully formal design suitable for both afternoon and evening wear; also ellipt. as semi-evening n.; semi-fabricated a., (of a material) formed into some standard shape for use in the making of finished articles; so semifabricator, a manufacturer of semifabricated goods; semi-final, in football and other contests, the match or round immediately preceding the final one; semi-finalist, a competitor in a semi-final; semifinished a., (of a material, esp. steel) manufactured or treated for use in the making of finished articles; semi-gloss a., designating a finish intermediate between matt and glossy; semi-grand a. and n., a modified form of the grand piano; semi-high a. = half-high (see half- 4); semi-hoop, a semicircular arc or arch; semi-intensive a. Agric., of or pertaining to a method of rearing livestock that includes features of intensive farming; semi-island, -islet, a piece of land that becomes insular at high tide; semileptonic a. Particle Physics, involving both leptons and hadrons; hence semileptonically adv.; semi-logical a. (see quot.); semi-main U.S. = repêchage; semi-manufacture, a product made from raw materials and used in the manufacture of finished goods; semi-mute a. and n., applied to those who, through deafness, speak only imperfectly; semi-portal a., applied to a crane mounted on a frame consisting essentially of a horizontal member supported at one end by an upright; semi-precious a., (of stones) that may be cut and polished but are not of sufficient value to rank as gems; semi-proletariat Communism [tr. Chinese bànwúchǎnjiējí (1926 Mao Zedong)], the class of poor peasants and others intermediate between the proletariat and the petty bourgeoisie; semi-proof, proof depending on the evidence of a single witness; semi-psychic adv. and a. Bridge, (see quot. 1964); semi-quantitative a., partly quantitative; approximate; based on or yielding approximate figures; hence semi-quantitatively adv.; semi-reflecting a., designating a material of low reflectivity (usu. a film deposited on a transparent base) which permits partial reflection and partial transmission; hence semi-reflection; semi-reflective a.; semi-reflector; semi-scale, half or some fraction of full-scale; usu. attrib.; semi-sequitur [after non sequitur], an inference or conclusion which is related only indirectly to the premisses; semi-sub, short for semi-submersible n.; semi-submersible a. and n., (applied to) an offshore drilling platform or barge equipped with submerged hollow pontoons that can be flooded with water when the vessel is anchored on site in order to give it stability against waves and wind; semi-synthetic a., that is a mixture of synthetic and natural materials, or has been prepared by artificial modification of a natural material; that is a combination of synthetic and natural processes; † semi-time, ‘half a time’ (see Rev. xii. 14 and cf. Dan. vii. 25, xii. 7); semi-tint (see quot. 1752; = half-tint); semi-tropic(al a., subtropical; so semi-tropics; semi-truck U.S. = semi-trailer; semi-variable a. Econ., of a cost (see quot. 1965); semi-works U.S., a manufacturing plant used to develop and perfect a new product or process after testing in a pilot plant and before full-scale production; usu. attrib.
1954K. W. Gatland Devel. Guided Missile (ed. 2) iii. 83 Final guidance is obtained by the technique known as ‘*semi-active homing’, the missile responding to target reflection from the ground radar.
1945G. G. Lewis Pract. Bk. Oriental Rugs (ed. 6) v. ii. 304 Antique or *semi-antique Chinese rugs are as scarce as hen's teeth. 1970J. Franses European & Oriental Rugs 3 Its wool is hand⁓spun on all the early carpets and semi-antiques. 1979Tucson Mag. Apr. 23/1 The semi-antique Iranian prize rug was rolled up.
1895Daily News 14 Nov. 6/5 This company was supplying *semi-armour-piercers, built to perforate a considerable thickness of armour and to burst sufficiently inside.
1898Westm. Gaz. 9 June 5/1 *Semi-armour piercing shell and other ammunition.
1919H. H. Johnston Compar. Study Bantu & Semi-Bantu Languages ii. 17 The *semi-Bantu languages on this north-west borderland have a vocabulary which contains a greater or smaller amount of Bantu roots. Ibid. 814 The Indiki language of the southern Maneñguba country [is an]..interesting form of Semi-Bantu. 1977Language LIII. 291 Bantu and Semi-Bantu classifiers do have meaning.
1934in Webster, *Semi-basement. 1963Punch 20 Nov. 729/1 Desks crowded among filing cabinets in semi-basement. 1974Country Life 7 Mar. (Suppl.) 32l/1 Semi-basement boiler/drying room, playroom.
1601Holland Pliny xix. x. II. 32 Water wherein the pouder of a *semi-bricke or halfe-baked tile is mingled.
1903E. Beveridge Coll & Tiree x. 73 The *Semi-broch type. It may be bold to introduce a new name in our description of the Tiree Duns, but a type seems to occur here which is..distinct from the ruder Hill-Forts. 1963Times 16 Feb. 10/4 Tiree has some 20 dun sites, of which four appear to be hollow-walled semi⁓brochs. 1980Glasgow Archaeol. Jrnl. VII. 73/1 There are only three semibrochs on the whole of the NW coast of Scotland.
1653R. G. tr. Bacon's Hist. Winds 20 Let Cardinall windes be those which blow from corners or Angles of the World: *Semi-cardinall, those which blow in the halfe wards of those.
1872H. C. Wood Fresh-w. Algæ 101 Divided into two symmetrical *semi⁓cells. 1927West & Fritsch Treat. Brit. Freshwater Algæ 259 The young semicells are clearly recognisable and nuclear division is complete before any change takes place in the chloroplasts of the parent. 1969F. E. Round Introd. Lower Plants ii. 27 Each mature semicell is ornamented or produced into spines and looked at from the apices is constructed on a bilateral..or triangular basis.
1925Paper Trade Jrnl. 15 Oct. 57/1 The various processes..for the production of semi-cellulose as above defined may conveniently be termed *semi-chemical inking processes, as they consist essentially of some chemical treatment combined with a mechanical disintegration of the partially cooked wood. 1961Times 2 June 26/2 A new semi-chemical pulp mill to use indigenous woods. 1974Sci. Amer. Apr. 56/3 Semichemical processes are applied mainly to hardwoods because of the lower content of lignin in such wood.
1550R. Bieston Bayte Fortune A iij, Loe there goeth a *semesypher in algorisme, There goeth a wretch, a foole, and a barat bringer.
1949Billboard 2 Apr. 34/3 Albums listed are those classical and *semi-classical albums selling best in the nation's retail record stores. 1964J. W. Linnett Electronic Struct. Molecules i. 6 In quantum mechanics the orbits of the Bohr-Sommerfeld semi-classical methods are replaced by orbitals. 1970G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. i. 4 Another important quantity corresponds *semi-classically to the speed of the electron in the first Bohr orbit as a fraction of the speed of light.
1888Pall Mall Gaz. 12 June 3/2 The works in which these guns should..be mounted..must be of the kind known technically as ‘*semi-closed’, strong enough to prevent a detachment taking them in the rear. 1914J. T. Gwathmey Anesthesia vi. 272 Semi-Closed method.—Martin Ware has reported one or two thousand cases without a fatality. 1977Proc. R. Soc. Med. LXX. 784/2 Anaesthesia with spontaneous breathing usually employs a semi-closed circuit.
1691Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 14 William Lilye was..Elected one of the Demies or *Semi-commoners of St. Mary Magd. Coll. in 1486. 1715M. Davies Athen. Brit. I. 36 The foresaid William Grocyn, became a Divine or Semicommoner of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxon.
1927Bull. Bezan Club IV. 11 These lines, on both the Greek and Latin sides, are written not in a stiff, formal book-script, but in an easy⁓going *semi-cursive. 1948D. Diringer Alphabet ii. x. 545 The Italian semi-cursive minuscule..developed from the Roman minuscule, was employed throughout Italy from the seventh to the ninth century, and continued to be used in Tuscany until the twelfth century. 1968PMLA LXXXIII. 23/1 The script..may be described as an upright, bold but somewhat ungainly cursiva (anglicana) formata, or semi-cursive in older and looser nomenclature.
a1856Sir W. Hamilton Logic App. (1860) II. 279 Here some may mean some only—some not all. Here some, though always in a certain degree indefinite, is definite so far as it excludes omnitude,—is used in opposition to all. This I would call its *Semi-definite meaning. 1864Bowen Logic v. 137 Whenever we predicate a Genus of a Species, the Predicate is obviously quantified as Particular; and some, which is the predesignation of particularity, must then be thought in its semi-definite sense.
1911Engineer 7 June 27/1 (caption) *Semi-Diesel oil engine. 1920R. A. McMillan Guide to B.O.T. Exam. for Extra First-Class Engineers xv. 396 A common type of Semi-Diesel is the Bolinder engine. 1960G. Blanchet Search in North i. 19 From the engine exhaust came the hollow staccato of the semi-diesel. 1974McGraw-Hill Dict. Sci. & Techn. Terms 1323/2 Semidiesel engine. 1. An internal combustion engine of a type resembling the diesel engine in using heavy oil as fuel but employing a lower compression pressure and spraying it under pressure, against a hot (uncooled) surface or spot, or igniting it by the precombustion or supercompression of a portion of the charge in a separate member or uncooled portion of the combustion chamber. 2. A true diesel engine that uses a means other than compressed air for fuel injection.
1971Cabinet Maker & Retail Furnisher 24 Sept. 537 Run-on and *Semi-display Announcements are set only in Times Bold and Times Roman. 1976Horse & Hound 10 Dec. 65/1 (Advt.), Advertisers wishing to take a smaller space may use semi display with a minimum size of 2 cms but no blocks or illustrations are permissible in this style.
1972Daily Tel. 5 July 6 Run-on (minimum setting) and *semi-displayed (with lines of white space, indents, or double-line capitals)—{pstlg}1.40 per line.
1939L. Jacobs Rise of Amer. Film 413 Allied in spirit to the *semi-documentary films were the realistic regional dramas. 1948L. Levy Music for Movies xiii. 131 (heading) The semi-documentary. 1958New Statesman 3 May 567/3 Granada's main achievement is to prove that serious semi-documentary or discussion programmes (Under Fire, Youth wants to Know, What the Papers Say) can be successful entertainment.
1935Condon & Shortley Theory of Atomic Spectra i. 9 The results..were obtained in *semi-empirical ways from consideration of a formulation of the theory that was only true in the limit of large quantum numbers. 1970Semi-empirical [see pre-exponential s.v. pre- B. 1 d].
1976Physical Rev. Lett. XXXVI. 375/1 We may now *semiempirically incorporate the major factor neglected so far.
1917Vogue Early Apr. 3/1 *Semi-evening or Afternoon Gown in best quality Chiffon Taffetas and Ninon de Soie. 1923A. Huxley Antic Hay x. 156 For semi-evening dress, shell rims with gold ear⁓pieces. 1923B. Ruck Dancing Star i. vi. 117 Ripple's frock was the kind of garment dear to the compromise-loving British heart. It was ‘a semi-evening’, which, to a purist, means that the dress is appropriate neither to evening or afternoon. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart i. ix. 155 She asked me to come to Peter Jones's with her to help her choose a semi-evening dress. a1976A. Christie Autobiogr. (1977) iii. iv. 155, I had a pale grey crêpe de Chine semi-evening dress.
1947J. Newton Introd. Metallurgy (ed. 2) v. 238 Rolling not only produces finished shapes such as plates, sheets,..and rails, but many *semifabricated shapes such as steel, copper, and brass rod for wire drawing; steel billets for forging and piercing. 1976Scotsman 24 Dec. 4/5 Alcan (US), are also to raise prices for their semifabricated aluminium products.
1967Economist 29 July 425/3 Hitherto most of this east European aluminium has been bought by the giant non-American producers... It has then either been passed on to their own *semi-fabricators or sold to the independent semi-fabricators at the official producers' price.
1884Truth 13 Mar. 369/2 The *semi-final tie between Notts County and the Blackburn Rovers. 1895Daily News 21 Feb. 5/5 Sunderland, the favourites for the trophy,..are pretty certain to obtain a place in the semi-final.
1898*Semi-finalist [see -ist 4 b]. 1922Daily Mail 24 Nov. 11 Beaten semi-finalists. 1972D. Delman Sudden Death (1973) ii. 39 The year before he'd been champion at Wimbledon and a semi-finalist at Forest Hills.
1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 16 May (verso rear cover), Germany would have to supply raw materials and *semi-finished products. 1959[see forge-master s.v. forge n. 6 b]. 1972Daily Tel. 9 Feb. 2/4 The plastics industry expects that about 50 per cent. of finished and semi-finished products will be wholly or partially metricated by mid-1971.
1963Times 8 Jan. 11/2 A mid-tone matt or *semi-gloss single colour.
1835Court Mag. VI. 220/2 Several *semi-grands were also shown to us: these were equal in power to ordinary grand piano-fortes, but with a lengthened undulation of sound. 1842Penny Mag. 30 Apr. 172/1 The semi-grand pianoforte. 1875Browning Inn Album ii. 45 A brand-new bore she calls a ‘semi-grand’.
1905Daily Chron. 2 Nov. 3/5 *Semi-high bodices.
1687Wood Life (O.H.S.) III. 226 They caused..the forefront..of the arches of the several gates to be trimmed up with bowes and green leaves tied to a *semi-hoop. 1835–6Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 283/2 In the true Rasores..the posterior lateral processes pass backwards exterior to the ribs, supporting them in the Capercailzie, like a semi-hoop.
1935J. S. Hicks Encycl. Poultry II. 509 A *semi-intensive house may be of any size from one, say, 6 ft. by 6 ft. by 6 ft., capable of housing ten or a dozen birds, to a mammoth affair for the accommodation of 500 or more layers. 1966Economist 1 Oct. 72/2 Beef growers are turning to what is termed ‘semi-intensive’ beef rearing instead. This combines intensive grazing with fattening on high protein compounds to produce a 15- to 18-month-old beast for market.
1870F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 20 The Venerable Bede writes of Lindisfarne as a *semi⁓island.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Semi-islet, an old term for bridge-islet.
1965Physical Rev. Lett. XIV. 51 (heading) SU(6) and *semileptonic interactions.
1979Nature 14 June 588/2 If the D decays *semi-leptonically some of its energy is taken by the unobserved neutrino.
1827Whately Logic (ed. 2) 138 The other kind [of Logical Fallacies] may be most properly called *semi-logical; viz. all the cases of ambiguous middle Term except its non-distribution.
1968Surfer Mag. Jan. 48/1 Overland finally got into the finals by winning the men's *semi-main. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 28 Apr. 2b/5 The top two finishers in the consolation and 25-lap semi-main will qualify for the final run for the lion's share of the $12,000 purse.
1935Economist 16 Feb. 353/1 Japan is exporting more finished goods and manufactured foodstuffs, importing more raw materials and *semi-manufactures. 1979Shell Trade in Eastern Europe (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 3 Historically, Eastern European exports to the West have been principally raw materials, semi-manufactures, fuels and agricultural produce.
1864Webster, *Semi-mute. 1896Godey's Mag. Feb. 163/1 The oral work which was at first only done for the benefit of semi⁓mutes.
1908A. Tolhausen tr. Böttcher's Cranes vi. 256 (heading) *Semi-portal travelling crane, with central steam supply station. 1958Times Rev. Industry Oct. 20/3 Electric semi-portal cranes serving three transit sheds.
1905Bookman June 83/1 Metal clasps set with *semi-precious stones.
1951tr. M. Litvinoff in J. Degras Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy I. 136 This new apparatus of power should embody the dictatorship of the working class (and in some places also the rural *semi-proletariat, i.e. the poor peasants). 1965J. Ch'ên Mao & Chinese Revolution (1967) i. v. 110 The semi-proletariat, according to Mao, consisted of the overwhelming majority of the semi-tenant peasants, poor peasants, handicraftsmen, shop assistants and pedlars. 1975J. De Bres tr. Mandel's Late Capitalism xi. 362 Many of the producers in the export branch are recruited from the stratum of the semi-proletariat who engage in wage labour only to obtain a supplementary income to eke out their means of subsistence in agriculture.
1728Chambers Cycl., *Semiproof, an imperfect Proof. The Depositions of a single Evidence only make a Semi-proof. 1856Bouvier Law Dict. (ed. 6), Semi-proof. Presumptions of fact are so called.
1960T. Reese Play Bridge with Reese 118 Unless he has opened *semi-psychic he should have both the minor suit Queens. 1962Listener 3 May 790/3 North opened with a semi-psychic One Club. 1964Official Encycl. Bridge 493/2 Semi-psychic, a departure from normal bidding methods which is not a complete bluff but is still intended to deceive the opponents. The term usually refers to an opening bid well below minimum values, but lead-inhibiting bids belong in the same category.
1929Parker & Crozier in C. Murchison Found. Exper. Psychol. viii. 362 The comparison of odors is possible, in an empirically *semi-quantitative way, by the use of several such instruments. 1977Sci. Amer. May 39/2 The first semiquantitative step in generalizing the theory of crystalline semiconductors to amorphous materials was taken by Sir Nevill Mott of the University of Cambridge.
1956Nature 21 Jan. 127/1 The intermediate products formed in the hydrolysis of the cyclic oligomers of ε-caprolactam..have been identified and *semi-quantitatively determined.
1927Jrnl. Sci. Instruments IV. 491 (heading) *Semi-reflecting surfaces. 1946Nature 20 July 101/2 For glass surfaces that have not been made semi-reflecting these [interference patterns] do not have the contrast of reflected interference patterns.
1976Z. Knittl Optics of Thin Films ix. 374 A common feature of many synthesis problems is the condition for 1(ω2) to be flat in a certain range about ω = 0 and at a certain level. Depending on this level we have the anti⁓reflection or the *semireflection problem.
1973Sci. Amer. June 69/1 The devices can be made transmissive for rear-lighting applications,..or *semireflective for both kinds of operation.
1945Jrnl. Sci. Instruments XXII. 103/1 Before 1936, the majority of *semi-reflectors were made by chemical deposition of silver. 1976Z. Knittl Optics of Thin Films ix. 397 Chebyshev-type semireflectors..may be only one of the ways of achieving a broad-band maximum.
1946Nature 7 Sept. 337/2 It is impossible in chemical engineering and many other branches of applied science to conduct research entirely in the laboratory; full-scale or *semi-scale plant must be used. 1973Ibid. 2 Feb. 319/1 In ‘semi-scale’ tests (about a tenth the size of a real reactor) water failed..to stay in the test vessel.
1965Punch 24 Nov. 779/1 The discords between received Edwardian fiction and child-observed fact work as poignantly as ever, as do the *semi-sequiturs: ‘He was broad and stout and had a manful way of carelessly swinging his arms that gave him many friends.’
1975Offshore Engineer Sept. 55/1 Staflo..and Sea Quest..along with the ill-fated Ocean Prince, are the only *semi-subs built in the UK.
1962World Oil Sept. 96/3 The rig is an all weather, *semi-submersible which is submerged to the 40 foot level in normal drilling operations. 1963World Petroleum Aug. 47/1 The semi-submersible vessels give a desired balance between cost, safety and performance. 1975North Sea Background Notes (Brit. Petroleum Co.) 11 Semi-submersibles can be used for drilling when resting on the sea bottom, but they are generally employed in the floating position. 1980Christian Sci. Monitor (Mid-western ed.) 4 Dec. 11/1 A third delineation well..was spudded on Nov. 14 five miles west of P-15 by the newly arrived semi-submersible drilling rig.
1946Nature 7 Sept. 350/2 The method may give still better results if..*semi-synthetic mediums are used for the toxin production. 1974Ibid. 19 Apr. 706/2 Rats..were fed a semisynthetic diet for 3 months.
1664H. More Exp. 7 Epist. vi. 105 Those people that keep my works to the end, to the last *semi-time of the Seven, they shall have power over the Pagan Christians. 1685― Paralip. Prophet. 236 A Semi-time (which I call also, in one word, an Hexamenon).
1752Chambers Cycl., Teints, and *Semi-Teints, in painting, denote the several colours used in a picture, considered as more or less high, or bright, or deep, or thin, or weakened, and diminished. 1773Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 216 The great lights..are well enough coloured, but the semi-tints..are..without grace or variety.
1853Kingsley Hypatia ix, The balmy *semi-tropic night. 1896Yearbk. U.S. Dept. Agric. 191 The citrus and other semi⁓tropic fruits.
1856J. C. Patteson Let. 18 June in C. M. Yonge Life J. C. Patteson (1874) I. 258 Many New Zealand and many *semi-tropical plants. 1860[see semi-alpine in 1 above]. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 214 The growth of certain semi-tropical crops.
1908R. W. Chambers Firing Line x, These quaint little black quail of the *semi-tropics.
1975J. Grady Shadow of Condor viii. 130 The bus parked between two idling *semi-trucks.
1965H. K. Compton Gloss. Purchasing & Supply Managem. Terms. 123 *Semi-variable cost, a cost which is partly fixed and partly variable, such as the cost of placing orders, carrying stock, etc., each of which has a fixed cost content, and a variable cost proportional to the volume of throughput. 1971D. C. Hague Managerial Econ. ii. v. 104 Depreciation is a semi-variable cost.
1935Industr. & Eng. Chem. XXVII. 863/2 The main purpose of the *semi-works is the development to a financially profitable stage of those processes which have been initiated in the laboratory. 1945H. D. Smyth Gen. Acct. Devel. Atomic Energy Mil. Purposes vii. 74 These include all aspects of the research, development and semi-works studies necessary for the design, construction, and operation of chain-reacting piles. 1956A. H. Compton Atomic Quest 152 A ‘semi-works’ installation where they could train the men needed for the final operation and where they could make preliminary tests of their equipment and processes. |