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Serapis to Set Off Serapis The Ptolemaic form of the Egyptian Osiris. The word is a corruption of osorapis (dead apis, or
rather osirified apis), a deity which had so many things in common with Osiris that it is not at all easy
to distinguish them. Serat (Al). The ordeal bridge over which everyone will have to pass at the resurrection. It is not wider than the edge of a scimitar, and is thrown across the gulf of hell. The faithful, says the Koran, will pass over in safety, but sinners will fall headlong into the dreary realm beneath. Serbonian Bog or Serbonis. A mess from which there is no way of extricating oneself. The Serbonian
bog was between Egypt and Palestine. Strabo calls it a lake, and says it was 200 stadia long, and 50
broad; Pliny makes it 150 miles in length. Hume says that whole armies have been lost therein. Typhon
lay at the bottom of this bog, which was therefore called Typhon's Breathing Hole. It received its name
from Sebaket-Bardoil, a king of Jerusalem, who died there on his return from an expedition into Egypt. Now, sir, I must say I know of no Serbonian bog deeper than a £5 rating would prove to be.- B. Disraeli (Chanc. of the Exch.). Times, March 19, 1867 A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog,Seremenes (4 syl.). Brother-in-law of King Sardanapalus, to whom he entrusts his signet-ring to put down a rebellion headed by Arbaces the Mede and Belesis, the Chaldean soothsayer. He is slain in a battle with the insurgents. (Byron: Sardanapalus.) Serenade (3 syl.). Music performed in the serene- i.e. in the open air at eventide (Latin, serenum
whence the French sérénade and Italian serenata). Or serenate which the starved lover singsSerene (2 syl.). A title given to certain German princes. Those princes who used to hold under the empire were entitled Serene or Most Serene Highnesses. It's all serene. All right (Spanish, sereno, all right- the sentinel's countersign). Sereno, the night-watch. `Let us clearly understand each other.' `All serene,' responded Foster.- Watson; The Web of the Spider chap. viii.Serif and Sanserif. The former is a letter in typography with the wings or finishing-strokes (as T); the latter is without the finishing-strokes (as T). Serjeants-at-Law French, frères-serjens, a corruption of fratres-servientes of the Templars. Sermon Lane (Doctors Commons, London). A corruption of Shere-moniers Lane (the lane of the money- shearers or clippers, whose office it was to cut and round the metal to be stamped into money). The Mint was in the street now called Old Change. (Maitland: London, ii. 880.) Serpent An attribute of St. Cecilia, St. Euphemia, and many other saints, either because they trampled
on Satan, or because they miraculously cleared some country of such reptiles. (See Dagon .) O wave, Hygeia, o'er Britannia's throneJupiter Ammon appeared to Olympia in the form of a serpent, and became the father |
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