selectadj.n.
/sᵻˈlɛkt/, U.S. /səˈlɛk(t)/ A. adj.
1. Selected, chosen out of a larger number, on account of excellence or fitness; picked. select committee: one consisting of a small number of members, selected to investigate a special matter. select meeting, (amongst Quakers) a meeting of ministers and elders. select vestry, see vestry n.1
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [adjective] > selecting > selected
elect?a1400
pickedc1450
sorted1547
elected1549
select1565
selected1590
exempt?1611
delibated1656
singled1870
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Selectus, chosen from amonge other: chief amonge other: selecte.
1571 T. Digges in L. Digges's Geom. Pract.: Pantometria Epist. sig. *ijv When they shall perceiue your Lordshippe..doth allow and accepte them as fragrante floures selecte and gathered out of the pleasant gardynes Mathematicall.
1580 Lease in C. R. L. Fletcher Collectanea (1885) I. 237 These twelve select trees.
1606 W. Warner Continuance Albions Eng. xiv. Ded. Whom my Muse Doth its select Mecænas chuse.
1643 Declar. Commons conc. Rebellion in Ireland 33 The examination of Colonell Audley Mervin given..unto a select committee of the House of Commons.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 823 No sooner hee with them of Man and Beast Select for life shall in the Ark be lodg'd. View more context for this quotation
1676 M. Hale Medit. Lord's Prayer 167 in Contempl. Moral & Divine: 2nd Pt. Not only at the select and solemn times of Prayer, but in the general Frame of our conversation.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1647 (1955) II. 536 The Doctor Married us in My Wifes fathers Chapell..; some few select friends being present.
1712 in T. W. Marsh Some Rec. Early Friends in Surrey & Sussex (1886) xv. 140 Its Unanimusly agreed..that a Select Meeting be Held in each Weekly Meeting..concerning the good order and Discipline of the Church.
1718 M. Prior Solomon on Vanity iii, in Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 497 Select from vulgar Herds, with Garlands gay, A hundred Bulls ascend the Sacred Way.
1731 Gentleman's Mag. 1 159 In the Parish where I serve, the Vestry is compos'd of thirty select Members besides the Rector.
1744 R. Dodsley (title) A select collection of old plays.
1782 J. Priestley Hist. Corruptions Christianity II. vi. i. 4 The more secret parts of the heathen worship, to which select persons only were admitted.
1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus i. 18 Every gibbet says its catechism And reads a select chapter in the Bible Before it goes to play.
1835 1st Rep. Commissioners Munic. Corporations Eng. & Wales App. iii. 1496 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 116) XXIV. 1 The mayor, aldermen and capital burgesses form the Select Body or common council.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xxi. 649 To the smaller plot..only a few select traitors were privy.
1873 (title) Cornelius Nepos. Select Lives. With notes by Edward Walford.
2. Hence, Choice, of special value or excellence; composed of or containing the best, choicest or most desirable; superior.absolute.1827 P. Cunningham Two Years New S. Wales II. xxiv. 121 The first of our subscription-concerts..was attended by one hundred and twenty of the select, admittances being decided by ballot.1831 W. Scott Count Robert ii, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. I. 20 The public games..where, in the select of their own countrymen, they saw the handsomest specimens of the human race.
a. Of things, material or immaterial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [adjective] > choice or excellent
chisa700
ycorec900
trya1300
walea1325
richc1330
choice1340
tried1362
chief1519
select1590
selected1605
recherché1689
tid1727
pick1790
selectable1836
beauty1895
plum1923
shit-kicking1961
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. vi. sig. Hh2 Whence all the world deriues the glorious Features of beautie, and all shapes select, With which high God his workmanship hath deckt.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. iii. 74 And they of France of the chiefe rancke and station Are of a most select and generall chiefe in that.
1623 Ld. Herbert Let. 31 Oct. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. 164 I will come from the ordinarie voice to the selecter judgement of the Ministers of State and more intelligent people in this Kingdome.
1656 J. Smith Compl. Pract. Physick Pref. 3 Most select Remedies for every Disease.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 513 And happie Constellations on that houre Shed thir selectest influence. View more context for this quotation
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 142. ⁋5 He has spent his most select Hours in the Knowledge of them.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Def. Poetry in Prose Wks. (1888) II. 19 The Romans appear to have considered the Greeks as the selectest treasuries of the selectest forms of manners.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxxviii. 350 His senior..had consigned a quantity of select wines to him.
1868 F. H. Joynson Metals in Constr. 99 If what is called the ‘best select’ copper is required, the refining process is gone through a second time.
b. Of persons, company, etc. Now often: Unexceptionable with regard to social standing or estimation.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > aristocracy or upper class > [adjective]
aristocratic1596
select1602
qualified1604
patrician?1614
classical1629
aristocratical1742
ruffle-shirted1805
connected1817
thoroughbred1821
upper1825
eupatrid1833
optimate1846
classy1870
silver-tailed1890
upper-bracket1945
upscale1966
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [adjective] > choice or excellent > of person
walea1325
select1602
1602 J. Marston Hist. Antonio & Mellida Prol. sig. Bv Select, and most respected Auditours.
1603 M. Drayton Barrons Wars vi. xvi. 127 Men most select, of speciall worth, and sort.
1677 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 36 The Venetian Embassador made a ball to Lord Ossery and his family and Lord Arlington and his, and some other select company last weeke.
1770 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1988) I. 121 The Party though small were select.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. ii. ii. 129 The Reverend Charles Merton..kept up all the more select of his old London acquaintances.
1840 T. B. Macaulay Ranke's Hist. in Ess. 559 Persecution of that sort which bows down and crushes all but a very few select spirits.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xix. 266 He [the Elector of Saxony] had..a great desire to be a member of the most select and illustrious orders of knighthood.
a1871 T. Carlyle in J. W. Carlyle Lett. & Memorials (1883) II. 278 Company at first aristocratic and select.
3. Careful in selection. Hence, (of a society or association) admitting only persons of a high class, esp. with regard to social station; exclusive; (of a place of resort) frequented only by persons of good social position.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [adjective] > choice or excellent > exclusive
elite1808
select1836
exclusive1942
1836 A. Combe Physiol. Digestion i. ii. 21 The appetite becomes less keen and more select in its choice.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 316 You are select in your acquaintance.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda I. i. iii. 54 And I have spoken for Gwendolen to be a member of our Archery Club—the Brackenshaw Archery Club—the most select thing anywhere.
1888 Lady 25 Oct. 374/1 Such a sweet, select watering-place. All the best people go there.
B. n. † b. A selected class or group, a selection.
a. A selected person or thing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [noun] > selecting from a number or for a purpose > the product of selection > a selected person or thing
select1610
excerpt1830
selection1878
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [noun] > selecting from a number or for a purpose > the product of selection
coil1574
culla1618
delibation1624
culling1692
selecta1734
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God vii. iii. 261 If therefore felicity bee not to bee placed amongst those selects, because they gotte their places rather by chance then desert: yet surely fortune should bee one amongst them.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) i. ii. §2 32 Borrow of the profligate Speech-makers, or Lyars of the Time in Print, and make a Select out of a Select of them to adorn a Party.
a1734 R. North Life F. North (1742) 29 In Town, he had his Select of Friends and Acquaintance.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) ii. iv. §144. 308 He..sets forth a Select of the Rye-Plot Papers.
1805 T. Holcroft Mem. Bryan Perdue I. 159 I appeared to be the inmate and select of his soul, and almost as necessary to him as his horses and dogs.
1881 E. Ingersoll Oyster-industry (10th Census U.S.: Bureau of Fisheries) 248 Selects, oysters of the first quality, i.e. selected; applied wholly to opened stock.
1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. (at cited word) It is possible to buy ware that is composed wholly of selects. S. Taylor.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 17/6 The All-Star game tomorrow night with the selects meeting the Stanley Cup defending champions from Toronto.
c. See quot. 1881 at sense B. a.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
selectv.
/sᵻˈlɛkt/, U.S. /səˈlɛk(t)/ 1.
a. transitive. To choose or pick out in preference to another or others. Also to select out.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > choose in specific way [verb (transitive)] > select from a number or for a purpose
markOE
to choose out1297
out-trya1325
cullc1330
welec1330
try1340
walea1350
coil1399
drawa1400
to mark outa1450
electa1513
sorta1535
prick1536
exempta1538
select1567
sort1597
to gather out1611
single1629
delibate1660
to cut out1667
outlooka1687
draught1714
draft1724
to tell off1727
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 25 To select or choose forth amongst many things what is heade and principall.
1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres v. xci. sig. Dd4v Haue you then selected mee To be the man, which you would haue displac'd Out of the role of immortalitie?
1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 141 Of some [reeds] the Arabians make darts and jauelins..; others they select to write with.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. vii. 81 A certaine number..must I select from all: The rest shall beare the businesse in some other fight. View more context for this quotation
1706 A. Pope Let. 10 Apr. in Corr. (1956) I. 15 You desire me to select..some Things from the first Volume of your Miscellanies, which may be alter'd so as to appear again.
1754 W. Warburton View Bolingbroke's Philos.: Lett. 1st & 2nd ii. 135 Men..were not always sufficiently careful in selecting their arguments.
1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 239 A power of selecting and adapting means to proximate ends according to circumstances.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xiv. 122 The party was admirably selected.
1839 Earl Spencer in Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. (1840) 1 22 The importance of selecting good male animals [for breeding purposes].
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 657 In selecting rebels for punishment.
1867 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 2nd Ser. 3 ii. 464 He then soon begins to select out fine days for this purpose.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 25 Would a forger have had the wit to select the most..characteristic thoughts of Plato?
b. Said of impersonal agencies. Cf. selection n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > choose in specific way [verb (transitive)] > select from a number or for a purpose > specifically of impersonal agencies
select1859
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species Introd. 5 Any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself,..will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 494 The eruption..not selecting any special nerve territories.
c. To choose and dedicate to.Apparently an isolated use.
ΚΠ
1715 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. ii. 504 The Limbs they sever from th' inclosing Hyde, The Thighs, selected to the Gods, divide.
2. intransitive. To choose or pick out something from a number; to make a selection.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > make types of choice [verb (intransitive)] > make a selection
to pick a salad1520
pick1824
select1833
1833 T. Hook Parson's Daughter III. ix. 228 ‘The next dinner you give, George, we will select better,’ said Lady Frances. ‘We will have up the local lawyer who knows the county politics, and all the friends and foes of the district.’
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species iv. 102 In man's methodical selection, a breeder selects for some definite object, and free inter~crossing will wholly stop his work.
Draft additions 1993
3. The infinitive used attributive and in other combinations to designate that part of a device which is employed in selecting one of its modes of operation.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [adjective] > other specific parts
self-balancing1796
epicyclic1841
slotted1849
reversing1864
kinematic1876
self-aligning1889
knock-off1896
underslung1909
self-cancelling1933
knock-on1952
toleranced1953
select1974
1974 P. Cave Mama (new ed.) viii. 64 Mama strolled over to the juke-box, gave it a vicious kick and smiled with satisfaction as the green ‘select’ light snapped on.
1976 Aviation Week 31 May 43/1 Activation of the weapon-select button also automatically cues the onboard computer to provide the proper firing solutions for the particular weapon selected.
1984 Mag. of Bank Admin. Apr. 134/3 A new concept in HELP..allows the user to select the desired operation or data file simply by hitting the ‘select’ key.
1987 Internat. Combat Arms Sept. 80/2 It is a select-fire weapon equipped like the rest of the H & K line with either a solid or retractable butt stock and is extremely accurate at ranges to 200 meters.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.n.1565v.1567