serried English · revision 1083

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the past participle of obsolete ''serry'' “to press close together, close ranks” (1581),^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[der|frm|serré|t=close, compact]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) the past participle of ''serrer'' “to press close, fasten”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) [[der|la-vul|*serrare|t=to bolt, lock up]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) from Latin ''sera'' “bolt, bar”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of ranks of armed men, pressed close together, shoulder to shoulder (1667), in Milton's ''Paradise Lost''.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Etymonline notes that later use of the word owes much to Walter Scott, who linked it with ''phalanx'' in ''Marmion''.^(Etymonline) From 1834 it was used of things likened to ranks of soldiers,^(OED 1989) and from 1899 of closely reasoned argument.^(OED 1989) It has sometimes been misused for ''serrated'', a sense Merriam-Webster records as an alteration.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1581 – ''serry'', to close ranks.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1667 – ''serried'', in ''Paradise Lost''.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1834 – of things in close rows.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1899 – of closely reasoned argument.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Pressed or crowded together, especially in rows, as soldiers in close [[rank|alt=ranks]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Marked by ridges; [[serrate]].^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[serriedly]]

+ * [[serriedness]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[phalanx]]

+ * [[serrate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}