Seel

From Middle English sel, from Old English sǣle ("good, fortunate, happy"), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz ("good, happy"), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- ("to calm, quiet, be favourable"). Cognate with Danish sæl ("blissful"), Swedish säll ("blissful"), Icelandic sæll ("blissful"), Gothic 𐍃𐌴𐌻𐍃 (sēls, "good, kind, useful"), Latin sōlor ("comfort, console").

Full definition of seel

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Good; fortunate; opportune; happy.

From Middle English sele, sel, from Old English sǣl ("time, occasion, a fit time, season, opportunity, the definite time at which an event should take place, time as in bad or good times, circumstances, condition, position, happiness, joy, good fortune, good time, prosperity"), from Proto-Germanic *sēliz ("luck, joy"), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *sēl- ("to calm, quiet, be favourable"). Cognate with Icelandic sæla ("bliss"), Dutch zalig ("blissful, blessed"). More at silly.

Alternative forms

• seal

Noun

1. (UK, dialectal) Good fortune; happiness; bliss.
2. (UK, dialectal) Opportunity; time; season.the seel of the day

Derived terms

• barley-seel
• hay-seel

From Old French siller, ciller ("to sew up the eyelids of, hoodwink, wink"), from cil ("eyelid"), from Latin cilium ("eyelid, eyelash").

Verb

1. (falconry) To sew together the eyes of a young hawk.
• J. ReadingFond hopes, like seeled doves for want of better light, mount till they end their flight with falling.
2. (by extension) To blind.

Compare Low German sielen ("to lead off water"), French siller ("to run ahead, to make headway"), and English sile (transitive verb).

Verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete, of a ship) To roll on the waves in a storm.
• Samuel Pepys...the ship seeled so much that I was not able to stand...

Noun

1. The rolling or agitation of a ship in a storm.

Anagrams

• eels
• else
• lees
• lese
• sele