Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A person charged with the service of the table, especially a head servant or upper servant in such a capacity.
  • noun One who sews or uses the needle.
  • noun Specifically—
  • noun In bookbinding, the operator, usually a woman, who sews together the sections of a book.
  • noun In entomology, the larva of a tortricid moth, one of the leaf-rollers or leaf-folders, as Phoxopteris nubeculana, the. apple-leaf sewer.
  • To empty as a sewer; discharge sewage.
  • noun A conduit or canal constructed, especially in a town or city, to carry off superfluous water, soil, and other matters; a public drain.
  • noun In anatomy and zoology, a cloaca.
  • To drain by means of sewers; provide with sewers.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who sews, or stitches.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A small tortricid moth whose larva sews together the edges of a leaf by means of silk
  • noun A drain or passage to carry off water and filth under ground; a subterraneous channel, particularly in cities.
  • noun Formerly, an upper servant, or household officer, who set on and removed the dishes at a feast, and who also brought water for the hands of the guests.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A pipe or system of pipes used to remove human waste and to provide drainage.
  • noun A person who sews.
  • noun now historical A servant attending at a meal, responsible for seating arrangements, serving dishes etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a waste pipe that carries away sewage or surface water
  • noun someone who sews
  • noun misfortune resulting in lost effort or money

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman asseour, from Old French asseoir ("find a seat for"), from Latin assidēre, present active participle of assideō ("attend to"), from ad ("to, towards, at") + sedeō ("sit").

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