[Written also Senega root, and Seneka root.]
Senecio
(||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.
Senectitude
(Se*nec"ti*tude) n. [L. senectus aged, old age, senex old.] Old age. [R.] "Senectitude,
weary of its toils." H. Miller.
Senega
(Sen"e*ga) n. (Med.) Seneca root.
Senegal
(Sen"e*gal) n. Gum senegal. See under Gum.
Senegin
(Sen"e*gin) n. (Med. Chem.) A substance extracted from the rootstock of the Polygala Senega
and probably identical with polygalic acid.
Senescence
(Se*nes"cence) n. [See Senescent.] The state of growing old; decay by time.
Senescent
(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.
Seneschal
(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. Seneschalship
(Sen"es*chal*ship), n. The office, dignity, or jurisdiction of a seneschal.
Senge
(Senge) v. t. To singe. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Sengreen
(Sen"green) n.[AS. singrne, properly, evergreen, fr. sin (in composition) always + grëne
green; akin to OHG. sin- ever, L. semper.] (Bot.) The houseleek.
Senile
(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.