Part 381

8. A workman's bench. Knught.

Siege gun, a heavy gun for siege operations. -- Siege train, artillery adapted for attacking fortified places.

Siege, v. t. To besiege; to beset. [R.]

Through all the dangers that can siege The life of man.

Buron.

Siege"work` (?), n. A temporary fort or parallel where siege guns are mounted.

Sie"mens-Mar`tin proc"ess (?). See Open-hearth process, etc., under Open.

Si"e*nite (?), n. (Min.) See Syenite.

Si`e*nit"ic (?), a. See Syenitic.

Si*en"na (?), n. [It. terra di Siena, fr. Siena in Italy.] (Chem.) Clay that is colored red or brown by the oxides of iron or manganese, and used as a pigment. It is used either in the raw state or burnt.

Burnt sienna, sienna made of a much redder color by the action of fire. -- Raw sienna, sienna in its natural state, of a transparent yellowish brown color.

Si`en*nese" (?), a. Of or pertaining to Sienna, a city of Italy.

||Si*er"ra (?), n. [Sp., properly, a saw, fr. L. serra a saw. See ||Serrate.] A ridge of mountain and craggy rocks, with a serrated or ||irregular outline; as, the Sierra Nevada.

The wild sierra overhead.

Whitter.

||Si*es"ta (?), n. [Sp., probably fr. L. sessitare to sit much or long, ||v. freq. of sedere, sessum, to sit. See Sit.] A short sleep taken ||about the middle of the day, or after dinner; a midday nap.

||Sieur (?), n. [F., abbrev. from seigneur. Cf. Monsieur, Seignior.] ||Sir; -- a title of respect used by the French.

Sie"va (?), n. (Bot.) A small variety of the Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus).

Sieve (?), n. [OE. sive, AS. sife; akin to D. zeef, zift, OHG. sib, G. sieb. √151a. Cf. Sift.] 1. A utensil for separating the finer and coarser parts of a pulverized or granulated substance from each other. It consist of a vessel, usually shallow, with the bottom perforated, or made of hair, wire, or the like, woven in meshes. "In a sieve thrown and sifted." Chaucer.

2. A kind of coarse basket. Simmonds.

Sieve cells (Bot.), cribriform cells. See under Cribriform.

Si"fac (?), n. (Zoöl.) The white indris of Madagascar. It is regarded by the natives as sacred.

Sif"fle*ment (?), n. [F., a whistling or hissing.] The act of whistling or hissing; a whistling sound; sibilation. [Obs.] A. Brewer.

Sif"i*let (?), n. [Cf. F. siflet.] (Zoöl.) The six-shafted bird of paradise. See Paradise bird, under Paradise.

Sift (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Sifting.] [AS. siftan, from sife sieve. √151a. See Sieve.] 1. To separate with a sieve, as the fine part of a substance from the coarse; as, to sift meal or flour; to sift powder; to sift sand or lime.

2. To separate or part as if with a sieve.

When yellow sands are sifted from below, The glittering billows give a golden show.

Dryden.