Sear
SEAR, adj. n.Cy. Hrt. e.An. s.Cy. Ken. Sur. Sus. w.Cy. Dev. Cor. Also written sere Ess. Ken.1 Sur.1 w.Cy.; and in forms sair Suf. Ess.; sare Suf.1 Ess. Ken.1 Ken.2 Sur. Sus.1; zare Dev.; zear Dev.1; zeer Cor.1 Cor.2 [siə(r, seə(r).]
Withered, dry; esp. of dry firewood as opposed to green. n.Cy. (J. Losh 1783). e.Cy. Ray (1691). e.An.1 Suf. As sare as a cammock (C.T.); The dows build with sair twigs, e.An. Dy. Times (1892); Suf.1 Ess. Pick up all the sere wood you can find (H.H.M.). s.Cy. Grose (1790). Ken.1 The term is generally applied to firewood. ‘They say that Muster Goodyer has a lot of good sere fagots to sell’; Ken.2, Sur. (T.T.C.), Sur.1 Sus.1 Burn ash-wood green, 'Tis fire for a Queen; Burn ash-wood sare, 'Twool make a man swear. e.Sus. When a pasture is dried up by the sun, it is said to look ‘sear,’ Holloway. Cor.2 Hence Seared, ppl. adj. shrivelled, dried up. Hrt. That drunken deaf seared chap, Ellis Pronunc. (1889) V. 200.
Comb. (1) Sear-month, obs., August; (2) Sear-wood, the old decayed wood in a coppice. (1) w.Cy. It is good to eat briars in the sere-month (K.). (2) Suf. The wood-stealers always tell you they never take any but sear wood, Cullum Hist. Hawsted (1813). e.Sus. Holloway.
Rotten, worn out; esp. used of clothing; fig. of persons: worn out, aged. Ess. (H.W.) Ken. My coat is very sare, Lewis I. Tenet (1736); Ken.1 Ken.2 Cor.1 She's very zeer; Cor.2 Hence Seary, adj. threadbare; fig. out of health. Dev. Reports Provinc. (1887); I don't know but what his trousers are getting zeary. Her's cruel zeary to-day, Reports Provinc. (1895); Dev.1 I've... a pair of canvas sheets bran-new and a pair a leet seary, 47, ed. Palmer. [OE. sēar, withered, dry [B.T.).]
SEAR, sb. n.Cy. [siər.] In phr. to make the locks tickle of the sear, to make the gun-lock so that the pull of a single hair upon the trigger would send it off. N. & Q. (1885) 6th S. xii. 25.
SEAR, see Sore, Sure, adj., v.2
