Part 226

Sir W. Scott.

Send"er (?), n. One who sends. Shak.

Sen"e*cas (?), n. pl.; sing. Seneca (&?;). (Ethnol.) A tribe of Indians who formerly inhabited a part of Western New York. This tribe was the most numerous and most warlike of the Five Nations.

Seneca grass(Bot.), holy grass. See under Holy. -- Seneca eil, petroleum or naphtha. -- Seneca root, or Seneca snakeroot (Bot.), the rootstock of an American species of milkworth (Polygala Senega) having an aromatic but bitter taste. It is often used medicinally as an expectorant and diuretic, and, in large doses, as an emetic and cathartic. [Written also Senega root, and Seneka root.]

||Se*ne"ci*o (?), n. [L., groundsel, lit., an old man. So called in ||allusion to the hoary appearance of the pappus.] (Bot.) A very large ||genus of composite plants including the groundsel and the golden ||ragwort.

Se*nec"ti*tude (?), n. [L. senectus aged, old age, senex old.] Old age. [R.] "Senectitude, weary of its toils." H. Miller.

Sen"e*ga (?), n. (Med.) Seneca root.

Sen"e*gal (?), n. Gum senegal. See under Gum.

Sen"e*gin (?), n. (Med. Chem.) A substance extracted from the rootstock of the Polygala Senega (Seneca root), and probably identical with polygalic acid.

Se*nes"cence (?), n. [See Senescent.] The state of growing old; decay by time.

Se*nes"cent (?), a. [L. senescent, p. pr. of senescere to grow old, incho. fr. senere to be old.] Growing old; decaying with the lapse of time. "The night was senescent." Poe. "With too senescent air." Lowell.

Sen"es*chal (?), n. [OF. seneschal, LL. seniscalcus, of Teutonic origin; cf. Goth. sineigs old, skalks, OHG. scalch, AS. scealc. Cf. Senior, Marshal.] An officer in the houses of princes and dignitaries, in the Middle Ages, who had the superintendence of feasts and domestic ceremonies; a steward. Sometimes the seneschal had the dispensing of justice, and was given high military commands.

Then marshaled feast Served up in hall with sewers and seneschale.

Milton.

Philip Augustus, by a famous ordinance in 1190, first established royal courts of justice, held by the officers called baitiffs, or seneschals, who acted as the king's lieutenants in his demains.

Hallam.

Sen"es*chal*ship, n. The office, dignity, or jurisdiction of a seneschal.

Senge (?), v. t. To singe. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Sen"green (?), n.[AS. singr&?;ne, properly, evergreen, fr. sin (in composition) always + grëne green; akin to OHG. sin- ever, L. semper.] (Bot.) The houseleek.

Se"nile (?), a. [L. senilis, from senex, gen. senis, old, an old man: cf. F. sénile. See Senior.] Of or pertaining to old age; proceeding from, or characteristic of, old age; affected with the infirmities of old age; as, senile weakness. "Senile maturity of judgment." Boyle.

Senile gangrene (Med.), a form of gangrene occuring particularly in old people, and caused usually by insufficient blood supply due to degeneration of the walls of the smaller arteries.

Se*nil"i*ty (?), n. [Cf. F. sénilité.] The quality or state of being senile; old age.

Sen"ior (?), a. [L. senior, compar. of senex, gen. senis, old. See Sir.] 1. More advanced than another in age; prior in age; elder; hence, more advanced in dignity, rank, or office; superior; as, senior member; senior counsel.

2. Belonging to the final year of the regular course in American colleges, or in professional schools.

Sen"ior, n. 1. A person who is older than another; one more advanced in life.

2. One older in office, or whose entrance upon office was anterior to that of another; one prior in grade.

3. An aged person; an older. Dryden.

Each village senior paused to scan, And speak the lovely caravan.