Part 250

2. (Mil.) In a company, battery, or troop, a noncommissioned officer next in rank above a corporal, whose duty is to instruct recruits in discipline, to form the ranks, etc.

In the United States service, besides the sergeants belonging to the companies there are, in each regiment, a sergeant major, who is the chief noncommissioned officer, and has important duties as the assistant to the adjutant; a quartermaster sergeant, who assists the quartermaster; a color sergeant, who carries the colors; and a commissary sergeant, who assists in the care and distribution of the stores. Ordnance sergeants have charge of the ammunition at military posts.

3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the doctor of the civil law; -- called also serjeant at law. [Eng.] Blackstone.

4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign; as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant, surgeon. [Eng.]

5. (Zoöl.) The cobia.

Drill sergeant. (Mil.) See under Drill. -- Sergeant-at-arms, an officer of a legislative body, or of a deliberative or judicial assembly, who executes commands in preserving order and arresting offenders. See Sergeant, 1. -- Sergeant major. (a) (Mil.) See the Note under def. 2, above. (b) (Zoöl.) The cow pilot.

Ser"geant*cy (?), n. Same as Sergeancy.

Ser"geant*ry (?), n. [CF. OF. sergenteric.] See Sergeanty. [R.] [Written also serjeantry.]

Ser"geant*ship, n. The office of sergeant.

Ser"geant*y (?), n. [Cf. OF. sergentie, LL. sergentia. See Sergeant.] (Eng. Law) Tenure of lands of the crown by an honorary kind of service not due to any lord, but to the king only. [Written also serjeanty.]

Grand sergeanty, a particular kind of tenure by which the tenant was bound to do some special honorary service to the king in person, as to carry his banner, his sword, or the like. Tomlins. Cowell. Blackstone. -- Petit sergeanty. See under Petit.

Se"ri*al (?), a. 1. Of or pertaining to a series; consisting of a series; appearing in successive parts or numbers; as, a serial work or publication. "Classification . . . may be more or less serial." H. Spencer.

2. (Bot.) Of or pertaining to rows. Gray.

Serial homology. (Biol.) See under Homology. -- Serial symmetry. (Biol.) See under Symmetry.

Se"ri*al, n. A publication appearing in a series or succession of part; a tale, or other writing, published in successive numbers of a periodical.

Se`ri*al"i*ty (?), n. The quality or state of succession in a series; sequence. H. Spenser.

Se"ri*al*ly, adv. In a series, or regular order; in a serial manner; as, arranged serially; published serially.

Se"ri*ate (?), a. Arranged in a series or succession; pertaining to a series. -- Se"ri*ate*ly, adv.

Se`ri*a"tim (?), adv. [NL.] In regular order; one after the other; severally.

Se`ri*a"tion (?), n. (Chem.) Arrangement or position in a series.

Se*ri"ceous (?), a. [L. sericus silken, sericum Seric stuff, silk, fr. Sericus belonging to the Seres, Gr. &?;&?;&?;, a people of Eastern Asia, the modern Chinese, celebrated for their silken fabrics. Cf. Silk, Serge a woolen stuff.] 1. Of or pertaining to silk; consisting of silk; silky.

2. (Bot.) Covered with very soft hairs pressed close to the surface; as, a sericeous leaf.

3. (Zoöl.) Having a silklike luster, usually due to fine, close hairs.

Ser"i*cin (?), n. [L. sericus silken.] (Chem.) A gelatinous nitrogenous material extracted from crude silk and other similar fiber by boiling water; -- called also silk gelatin.

Ser"i*cite (?), n. [L. sericus silken.] (Min.) A kind of muscovite occuring in silky scales having a fibrous structure. It is characteristic of sericite schist.

||Ser`ic*te"ri*um (?), n. [See Sericeous.] (Zoöl.) A silk gland, as in ||the silkworms.

Ser"i*cul`ture (?), n. [See Sericeous, and Culture.] The raising of silkworms.

Se"rie (?), n. [Cf. F. série.] Series. [Obs.]