searce

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English sarse, probably from Anglo-Norman cerche, *cerce, from Late Latin *circa.

Traditionally derived from Old French saas (Late Latin *saetāceus (pannus) (“(cloth) made of bristles”)), but this does not explain the -r- or the final -e of the Middle English form; intrusive -r- before /s/ is sometimes found in Middle English, but one would expect etymological r-less forms to appear alongside such forms.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

searce (plural searces)

  1. (obsolete, countable) A sieve; a strainer.

Verb

searce (third-person singular simple present searces, present participle searcing, simple past and past participle searced)

  1. (obsolete) To sift (through a sieve); to bolt.
    • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 144:
      My next Difficulty was to make a Sieve, or Searſe, to dreſs my meal, and to part it from the Bran and the Huſk, without which I did not ſee it poſſible I could have any Bread. […] I had nothing like the neceſſary Things to make it with—I mean fine thin Canvas, or Stuff, to ſearſe the Meal through.

References
  1. Charles H. Livingston (1947 December) “English Searce, Search 'Sieve, Strainer'”, in Modern Language Notes‎, volume 62, number 8, pages 550-554

Anagrams
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