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Webster 1913 Edition


Select

Se-lect′

,
Adj.
[L.
selectus
, p. p. of
seligere
to select; pref.
se-
aside +
levere
to gather. See
Legend
.]
Taken from a number by preferance; picked out as more valuable or exellent than others; of special value or exellence; nicely chosen; selected; choice.
A few
select
spirits had separated from the crowd, and formed a fit audience round a far greater teacher.
Macaulay.

Se-lect′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Selected
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Selecting
.]
To choose and take from a number; to take by preference from among others; to pick out; to cull;
as, to
select
the best authors for perusal
.
“One peculiar nation to select.”
Milton.
The pious chief . . .
A hundred youths from all his train
selects
.
Dryden.

Webster 1828 Edition


Select

SELECT'

,
Verb.
T.
[L. selectus, from seligo; se, from, and lego, to pick, cull or gather.] to choose and take from a number; to take by preference from among others; to pick out; to cull; as, to select the best authors for persual; to select the most interesting and virtuous men for associates.

SELECT'

,
Adj.
Nicely chosen; taken from a number by preference; choice; whence, preferable; more valuable or excellent than others; as a body of select troops; a select company or society; a library consisted of select authors.

Definition 2024


Select

Select

See also: select and sélect

English

A SNES controller with a two gray buttons in the middle, one of them being Select.

Noun

Select (plural Selects)

  1. A button (of a joystick, joypad or similar device) that, when pressed, activates any of certain predefined functions that usually, but not always, involve selecting something out of a list of items.

select

select

See also: Select and sélect

English

Adjective

select (comparative more select, superlative most select)

  1. Privileged, specially selected.
    Only a select few were allowed into the premiere.
    • Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)
      A few select spirits had separated from the crowd, and formed a fit audience round a far greater teacher.
    • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, chapter III:
      At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. [] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
  2. Of high quality; top-notch.
    This is a select cut of beef.

Verb

select (third-person singular simple present selects, present participle selecting, simple past and past participle selected)

  1. To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options.
    He looked over the menu, and selected the roast beef.
    The program computes all the students' grades, then selects a random sample for human verification.
  2. (databases) To obtain a set of data from a database using a query.

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