serried

Etymology

It is the past participle of obsolete serry “to press close together, close ranks” (1581),^[1][2][3][4] from Middle French serré (“close, compact”),^[1][2][3] the past participle of serrer “to press close, fasten”,^[1][2][3] from Vulgar Latin *serrare (“to bolt, lock up”),^[2][3] from Latin sera “bolt, bar”.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of ranks of armed men, pressed close together, shoulder to shoulder (1667), in Milton's Paradise Lost.^[2][3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that later use of the word owes much to Walter Scott, who linked it with phalanx in Marmion.^[3] From 1834 it was used of things likened to ranks of soldiers,^[6] and from 1899 of closely reasoned argument.^[6] It has sometimes been misused for serrated, a sense Merriam-Webster records as an alteration.^[6][5]

Timeline

• 1581 – serry, to close ranks.^[2]
• 1667 – serried, in Paradise Lost.^[2][3][5][6]
• 1834 – of things in close rows.^[6]
• 1899 – of closely reasoned argument.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Pressed or crowded together, especially in rows, as soldiers in close ranks.
2. Marked by ridges; serrate.

Word family

• serriedly
• serriedness

Related words

• phalanx
• serrate

References

1. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press