Meaning and Origin
What does the name See mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
User Submitted Origins
- A seat; a site; a place where sovereign power is exercised.(Obs)"Jove laughed on Venus from his sovereign see." [Spenser.]
- Specifically:
- The seat of episcopal power; a diocese; the jurisdiction of a bishop; as, the see of New York.
- The seat of an archbishop; a province or jurisdiction of an archbishop; as, an archiepiscopal see .
- The seat, place, or office of the pope, or Roman pontiff; as, the papal see .
- The pope or his court at Rome; as, to appeal to the see of Rome.
- The seat of episcopal power; a diocese; the jurisdiction of a bishop; as, the see of New York.
Etymology: OE. se see, OF. se sed sied, fr. L. sedes a seat, or the kindred sedere to sit. See Sit, and cf. Siege
- To perceive by the eye; to have knowledge of the existence and apparent qualities of by the organs of sight; to behold; to descry; to view."I will now turn aside, and see this great sight." [Ex. iii. 3.]
- To perceive by mental vision; to form an idea or conception of; to note with the mind; to observe; to discern; to distinguish; to understand; to comprehend; to ascertain."Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren." [Gen. xxxvii. 14.]"Jesus saw that he answered discreetly." [Mark xii. 34.]"Who's so gross That seeth not this palpable device?" [Shak.]
- To follow with the eyes, or as with the eyes; to watch; to regard attentively; to look after."I had a mind to see him out, and therefore did not care for contradicting him." [Addison.]
- To have an interview with; especially, to make a call upon; to visit; as, to go to see a friend."And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death." [1 Sam. xv. 35.]
- To fall in with; to meet or associate with; to have intercourse or communication with; hence, to have knowledge or experience of; as, to see military service."Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil." [Ps. xc. 15.]"Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." [John viii. 51.]"Improvement in wisdom and prudence by seeing men." [Locke.]
- To accompany in person; to escort; to wait upon; as, to see one home; to see one aboard the cars.
- In poker and similar games at cards, to meet (a bet), or to equal the bet of (a player), by staking the same sum."I'll seeyou and raise you ten."
Etymology: OE. seen sen seon, AS. seón; akin to OFries. sīa, D. zien, OS. & OHG. sehan, G. sehen, Icel. sjā, Sw. se, Dan. see, Goth. saíhwan, and probably to L. sequi to follow (and so originally meaning, to follow with the eyes). Gr. "e`pesqai, Skr. sac. Cf. Sight Sue to follow
- To have the power of sight, or of perceiving by the proper organs; to possess or employ the sense of vision; as, he sees distinctly."Whereas I was blind, now I see." [John ix. 25.]
- Figuratively: To have intellectual apprehension; to perceive; to know; to understand; to discern; -- often followed by a preposition, as through, or into."For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." [John ix. 39.]"Many sagacious persons will find us out, . . . and see through all our fine pretensions." [Tillotson.]
- To be attentive; to take care; to give heed; -- generally with to; as, to see to the house." See that ye fall not out by the way." [Gen. xlv. 24.]"Cassio's a proper man, let me see now, - To get his place." [Shak.]
Note: ☞ Let me see Let us see, are used to express consideration, or to introduce the particular consideration of a subject, or some scheme or calculation.
Note: ☞ See is sometimes used in the imperative for look, or behold. “ See. see! upon the banks of Boyne he stands.”
- The seat within a bishop's diocese where his cathedral is located
- Perceive (an idea or situation) mentally ("Now I see!" and "I just can't see your point")
- Get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally ("I see that you have been promoted")
- Make sense of; assign a meaning to ("What message do you see in this letter?")
- Be careful or certain to do something; make certain of something ("See that the curtains are closed")
- Deem to be ("I don't see the situation quite as negatively as you do")
- Deliberate or decide ("See whether you can come tomorrow" and "let's see--which movie should we see tonight?")
- Find out, learn, or determine with certainty, usually by making an inquiry or other effort ("I want to see whether she speaks French" and "See whether it works")
- Match or meet
- Receive as a specified guest ("the doctor will see you now" and "The minister doesn't see anybody before noon")
- Imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind ("I can't see him on horseback!", "I can see what will happen", and "I can see a risk in this strategy")
- Come together ("I'll probably see you at the meeting" and "How nice to see you again!")
- Accompany or escort ("I'll see you to the door")
- Undergo or live through a difficult experience
- Perceive or be contemporaneous with ("You'll see a lot of cheating in this school" and "I want to see results")
- Perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight ("You have to be a good observer to see all the details", "Can you see the bird in that tree?", and "He is blind--he cannot see")
- See and understand, have a good eye ("The artist must first learn to see")
- Observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect ("I must see your passport before you can enter the country")
- See or watch ("This program will be seen all over the world" and "see a movie")
- Observe as if with an eye
- Date regularly; have a steady relationship with ("Did you know that she is seeing an older man?")
- Go to see for professional or business reasons ("You should see a lawyer" and "We had to see a psychiatrist")
- Go to see for a social visit ("I went to see my friend Mary the other day")
- Go to see a place, as for entertainment ("We went to see the Eiffel Tower in the morning")
- Take charge of or deal with ("Could you see about lunch?")
From Middle English seen, from Old English sēon (“to see, look, behold, perceive, observe, discern, understand, know”), from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną (“to see”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to see, notice”). Cognate with West Frisian sjen (“to see”), Dutch zien (“to see”), Low German sehn, German sehen (“to see”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål se (“to see”), Norwegian Nynorsk sjå (“to see”), and more distantly with Latin sīgnum (“sign, token”), Albanian shih (“look at, see”) imp. of shoh (“to see”).
From Old French sie (“seat, throne; town, capital; episcopal see”), from Latin sedes (“seat”), referring to the bishop's throne or chair (compare seat of power) in the cathedral; related to the Latin verb sedere (“to sit”).
- A diocese, archdiocese; a region of a church, generally headed by a bishop, especially an archbishop.
- The office of a bishop or archbishop; bishopric or archbishopric
- A seat; a site; a place where sovereign power is exercised.
see was also found in the following language(s): Afrikaans, Estonian, Finnish, Friulian, Middle Dutch, North Frisian, Tetum, and West Frisian