Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
adj
Rare; uncommon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: infrequent, scarce, uncommon, dearthy, few and far between, geason, in short supply, rare, raresome, scant, scantling, selcouth, seld, seldom, selly, superrare, unfrequent
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Unusual; unwonted.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: bizarre, odd, weird, aberrant, abnormal, alien, anomalous, as queer as Dick's hatband, booky, curious, deviant, discrepant, eerie, eldritch, errant, exceptional, extraordinary, fey, forby, freak, freakish, freaky, fremd, funny, heteroclite, hinky, incongruous, incongruitous, irregular, kooky, monstrous, nonstandard, outlandish, out of the ordinary, outré, peculiar, quaint, queer, queer as a clockwork orange, queer as a nine bob note, queer as a three dollar bill, queer as a coot, queer as Dick's hatband, rare, rum, rummy, selcouth, seld, singular, strange, trippy, uncanny, uncommon, uncouth, unconventional, unearthly, unexpected, unreasonable, unusual, unwonted, weirdsome, yampy
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Seldom.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, dialectal, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: infrequently, scarcely, uncommonly, at times, ever and anon, every once in a while, every now and then, every so often, from time to time, intermittently, irregularly, now and again, now and then, occasionally, on occasion, once in a while, sometimes, sporadically, while, whilom
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A seat, throne.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A shop (in Medieval Latin records selda or silda (cf. Latin sella (“seat, chair”)); also in Anglo-Norman form seude). Also, a stand for spectators.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From Middle English selde (adjective) and selde (adverb), a back-formation from Old English seldor (“more seldom”), seldost (“most seldom”).
From Middle English selde (“seat, store”), from Old English seld (noun), neuter, metathetic form of setl (noun) (English settle).
