SEMI-
\sˈɛmi], \sˈɛmi], \s_ˈɛ_m_i]\
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sem'i, a prefix of Latin origin, meaning 'half,' and also less accurately 'partly,' 'incompletely.'--n. and adj. SEMIAC'ID, half-acid, sub-acid.--n. SEM'IANGLE, the half of a given angle.--adj. SEMI-AN'NUAL, half-yearly.--adv. SEM'I-AN'NUALLY, once every six months.--adj. SEMIAN'NULAR, semicircular.--ns. SEM'I-AN'THRACITE, coal intermediate between anthracite and semi-bituminous coal; SEM'I-APE, a lemur.--adjs. SEM'I-AQUAT'IC (zool., bot.), entering the water, but not necessarily existing by it; SEM'I-[=A]'RIAN, relating to the Christology of the so-called Semi-Arians (Eusebius of Cæsarea, &c.) who held a middle ground between the Arian hetero-ousia and the orthodox homo-ousia or co-equality of the Son with the Father, asserting the homoi-ousia, or similarity of essence.--n. SEM'I-[=A]'RIANISM.--adjs. SEM'I-ARTIC'ULATE, loose-jointed; SEM'I-ATTACHED', partially bound by affection or interest; SEMIBARB[=A]'RIAN, half-barbarian or savage: partially civilised.--n. SEMIBAR'BARISM.--adj. SEM'I-BIT[=U]'MINOUS, partly bituminous, as coal.--ns. SEM'IBR[=E]VE, a musical note, half the length of a breve = 2 minims or 4 crotchets; SEM'IBULL, a bull issued by a pope between the time of his election and that of his coronation.--adjs. SEM'ICALC[=A]'REOUS, partly chalky; SEM'I-CAL'CINED, half-calcined; SEMICARTILAG'INOUS, gristly; SEMICENTENN'IAL, occurring at the completion of fifty years.--n. a celebration at the end of fifty years.--adj. SEMICH[=O]'RIC.--ns. SEMICH[=O]'RUS, a small number of selected singers; SEM'ICIRCLE, half a circle: the figure bounded by the diameter of a circle and half the circumference.--adjs. SEM'ICIRCLED; SEMICIR'CULAR.--adv. SEMICIR'CULARLY.--ns. SEMICIRCUM'FERENCE, half of the circumference of a circle; SEM'ICIRQUE, a semicircular hollow; SEMICL[=O]'SURE, half-closure; SEM'ICOLON, the point (;) marking a division greater than the comma; SEMIC[=O]'LON-BUTT'ERFLY, a butterfly with a silver mark on the under side; SEM'I-COL'UMN, a half-column.--adjs. SEM'I-COLUM'NAR, flat on one side and rounded on the other; SEM'I-COMPLETE' (entom.), incomplete; SEM'I-CON'FLUENT (path.), half-confluent; SEM'I-CON'JUGATE, conjugate and halved; SEM'I-CON'SCIOUS, half or imperfectly conscious; SEM'I-CONVER'GENT, convergent as a series, while the series of moduli is not convergent.--n. SEM'ICOPE, an outer garment worn by some of the monastic clergy in the Middle Ages.--adjs. SEM'ICOR'NEOUS, partly horny; SEMICOR'ONATE.--n. SEM'ICOR'ONET (entom.), a line of spines half surrounding a part.--adjs. SEM'I-COSTIF'EROUS, half-bearing a rib; SEMICRIT'ICAL, related to a differential equation and its criticoids.--n. SEM'ICROME (mus.), a sixteenth note.--adjs. SEM'ICRUST[=A]'CEOUS, half-hard; SEMICRYS'TALLINE, imperfectly crystallised.--n. SEMIC[=U]'BIUM, a half-bath.--adjs. SEMICYLIN'DRICAL, resembling a cylinder divided longitudinally; SEMIDEF'INITE, half-definite: SEM'I-DEPEND'ENT, half-dependent; SEM'IDES'ERT, half-desert; SEM'IDETACHED', partly separated: noting one of two houses joined by a party-wall, but detached from other buildings.--ns. SEM'I-DIAM'ETER, half the diameter of a circle: a radius; SEM'I-DIAP[=A]'SON, a diminished octave; SEM'I-DIAPHAN[=E]'ITY, half-transparency.--adj. SEMI'-DIAPH'ANOUS, half-transparent.--n. SEMIDIUR'NA, a group of lepidopterous insects including the hawk-moth.--adj. SEMIDIUR'NAL, accomplished in half a day: (entom.) flying in twilight.--n. SEM'I-DOME', half a dome, esp. as formed by a vertical section.--adj. SEM'IDOUB'LE, having the outermost stamens converted into petals.--n. a festival on which half the antiphon is repeated before and the whole antiphon after the psalm.--n. SEM'I-EF'FIGY, a representation of a figure seen at half-length only.--adj. SEM'I-ELLIP'TICAL, having the form of an ellipse which is cut transversely.--ns. SEM'I-F[=A]'BLE, a mixture of truth and fable; SEM'I-FAIENCE', pottery having a transparent glaze instead of the opaque enamel of true faience; SEM'I-FIG'URE, a partial human figure in ornamental design.--v.t. SEM'I-FLEX, to half-bend.--n. SEM'I-FLEX'ION.--adj. SEM'I-FLOS'CULAR.--n. SEM'I-FLOS'CULE, a floret with a strap-shaped corolla.--adjs. SEM'I-FLOS'CUL[=O]SE, SEM'I-FLOS'CULOUS, having the corolla split, flattened out, and turned to one side, as in the ligular flowers of composites; SEMIFLU'ID, half or imperfectly fluid; SEM'I-FORMED, half-formed.--n. SEM'I-FR[=A]'TER, a secular benefactor of a religious house, having a share in its intercessory prayers and masses.--adjs. SEM'I-FUSED', half-melted; SEMIGL[=O]'B[=O]SE, SEMIGLOB'ULAR, having the shape of half a sphere.--adv. SEMIGLOB'ULARLY.--ns. SEM'I-GOD, a demi-god; SEM'I-INDEPEND'ENCE.--adjs. SEM'I-INDEPEND'ENT, not fully independent; SEM'I-IN'FINITE, limited at one end and extending to infinity; SEM'I-LIG'NEOUS, partially woody: (bot.) having a stem woody at the base and herbaceous at the top; SEMI-LIQ'UID, half-liquid.--n. SEMI-LIQUID'ITY.--adjs. SEM'I-LOG'ICAL, half-logical, partly logical; SEM'I-L[=U]'CENT, half-transparent; SEMI-L[=U]'NAR, half-moon shaped, as the semi-lunar bone of the wrist; SEM'I-L[=U]'NATE, having the form of a half-moon; SEM'I-MALIG'NANT, not very malignant, said of tumours; SEM'I-MAT[=U]RE', half-ripe.--n. SEMIMEMBRAN[=O]'SUS, a long muscle of the back of the thigh.--adjs. SEMIMEM'BRANOUS (anat.), partly membranous; SEM'I-MEN'STRUAL, half-monthly, esp. of an inequality of the tide.--n. SEM'I-MET'AL, in old chemistry, a metal that is not malleable, as zinc.--adjs. SEM'I-METAL'LIC; SEM'I-MONTH'LY, occurring twice a month.--n. SEMI-M[=U]TE', one who, having lost the faculty of hearing, has also lost the faculty of speech--also adj.--adj. SEM'I-N[=U]DE', half-naked.--n. SEM'INYMPH, the pupa of an insect which undergoes only semi-metamorphosis.--adjs. SEM'I-OBSCURE', noting the wings of insects when deeply tinged with brownish-gray, but semi-transparent; SEM'I-OFFIC'IAL, partly official.--adv. SEM'I-OFFIC'IALLY.--n. SEM'I-[=O]'PAL, a variety of opal not possessing opalescence.--adj. SEM'I-OPAQUE', partly opaque.--n. SEM'I-OP'TERA, a genus of birds--the standard-wings.--adj. SEM'I-ORBIC'ULAR, having the shape of half a sphere.--n. SEM'I-OR'DINATE, half a chord bisected by the transverse diameter of a conic.--adjs. SEM'I-OSS'EOUS, partly bony; SEMI[=O]'VAL, having the form of an oval; SEMIOVIP'AROUS, imperfectly viviparous; SEMIPAL'MATE, half-webbed, as the toes of a bird.--ns. SEMIPALM[=A]'TION; SEMIPARAB'OLA, one branch of a parabola being terminated at the principal vortex of the curve; SEM'IPED, in prose, a half-foot.--adjs. SEM'IPEDAL; SEM'I-PEL[=A]'GIAN, relating to the theology of the Semi-Pelagians (John Cassianus, &c.), who tried to find a middle course between the Augustinian doctrine of predestination and the Pelagian doctrine of the free-will of man.--n. SEM'I-PEL[=A]'GIANISM.--adjs. SEM'I-PELL[=U]'CID, imperfectly transparent; SEM'IPEN'NIFORM, half-penniform; SEM'I-PER'FECT, nearly perfect; SEM'I-PIS'CINE, half-fish; SEM'I-PLANT'IGRADE, incompletely plantigrade: partly digitigrade; SEM'I-PLAS'TIC, imperfectly plastic.--ns. SEMIPLOT[=I]'NA, a group or sub-family of cyprinoid fishes; SEM'IPLUME, a feather of partly downy structure;SEMIQUAD'RATE, an aspect of two planets when distant from each other 45 degrees; SEM'IQU[=A]VER, a musical note, half the length of a quaver: something of short duration.--adjs. SEM'I-RECON'DITE, half-hidden; SEM'I-R[=E]'FLEX, involuntarily performed, but not entirely independent of the will; SEM'I-REG'ULAR, pertaining to a quadrilateral having four equal sides, but only pairs of equal angles; SEM'I-RETRAC'TILE, retractile to some extent.--n. SEM'I-RING, a bronchial half-ring.--adjs. SEM'I-SAG'ITTATE (entom.), shaped like the barbed end of a fish-hook; SEM'I-SAV'AGE, semi-barbarian; SEM'I-SAX'ON, early Middle English (c. 1150-1250); SEM'I-SEP'TATE, half-partitioned.--ns. SEM'I-SEX'TILE, the position of planets when they are distant from each other the twelfth part of a circle, or 30°; SEM'I-SMILE, a faint smile.--adjs. SEM'I-SOLID, partially solid; SEMISPHER'ICAL, having the figure of a half-sphere.--ns. SEM'I-SPIN[=A]'LIS, a deep muscular layer of the back; SEM'I-SQUARE, an aspect of two planets when 45 degrees from each other; SEM'I-STEEL, puddled steel.--adjs. SEM'I-SUPERNAT'URAL, half-divine and half-human; SEM'I-S[=U]'PINATED, placed between supination and pronation.--ns. SEM'I-TAN'GENT, the tangent of half an arc; SEM'I-TENDIN[=O]'SUS, a fusiform muscle on the back of the thigh.--adjs. SEMITEN'DINOUS, tendinous for half its length; SEMIT[=E]R[=E]'TE, half-round; SEMITER'TIAN, partly tertian and partly quotidian.--n. SEM'ITONE, half a tone: one of the lesser intervals of the musical scale, as from B to C.--adj. SEMITON'IC.--n. SEM'I-TRANSP[=A]'RENCY.--adjs. SEM'I-TRANSP[=A]RENT, half or imperfectly transparent; SEM'I-TROP'ICAL, subtropical; SEM'I-T[=U]'BULAR, like the half of a tube divided longitudinally; SEM'I-TYCHON'IC, approximating to Tycho Brahe's astronomical system; SEM'I-UN'CIAL, intermediate between uncial and minuscule.--n. a method of writing Latin and Greek in use in the sixth and seventh centuries.--adjs. SEMIVIT'REOUS, partially vitreous; SEMIVIT'RIFIED, half-vitrified; SEM'IVIVE (obs.) half-alive; SEM'I-V[=O]'CAL, pertaining to a semivowel: imperfectly sounding.--n. SEMIVOW'EL, a half-vowel, a letter possessing the character of both a vowel and a consonant, usually only w and y, but sometimes including also the liquids l and r and the nasals m and n.--adj. SEM'I-WEEK'LY, issued twice a week.--SEMICYLINDRICAL LEAF, a leaf elongated, flat on one side, round on the other.
By Thomas Davidson