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seel

[seel]
verb (used with object)
  1. Falconry. to sew shut (the eyes of a falcon) during parts of its training.
  2. Archaic.
    1. to close (the eyes).
    2. to blind.
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Origin of seel

1490–1500; < Middle French siller, ciller, derivative of cil eyelash < Latin cilium eyelid, eyelash; see cilia
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for seel

Historical Examples

  • "Seel" was a term in falconry, meaning "to sew up" (the eyes of the hawk).

    Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I

    Edmund Spenser

British Dictionary definitions for seel

seel

verb (tr)
  1. to sew up the eyelids of (a hawk or falcon) so as to render it quiet and tame
  2. obsolete to close up the eyes of, esp by blinding
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Word Origin

C15 silen, from Old French ciller, from Medieval Latin ciliāre, from Latin cilium an eyelid
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012