<B>servomechanism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various devices by which a supplementary source of power is activated to assist in the movement, manipulation, or guidance of some equipment. A servomechanism operates by automatically detecting and correcting errors in position, speed, output, and the like, according to a predetermined setting. </DL>
<A NAME="servomotor">
<B>servomotor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an auxiliary motor to supplement the primary source of power in the movement, manipulation, or guidance of a heavy or complex device. <BR> <I>Ex. The company's commercial items include various servomotors and other airborne components used in private and commercial aircraft (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="servosystem">
<B>servosystem, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a system of servomechanisms or servomotors to move or guide a heavy or complex device. </DL>
<A NAME="servusservorumdei">
<B>Servus servorum Dei,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) servant of the servants of God (a title used by the Popes). </DL>
<A NAME="sesame">
<B>sesame, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>Also, <B>sesame seed.</B> <DD> the small seeds of an East Indian plant, used to flavor bread, candy, and other foods, and in making an oil used in cooking. <DD><B> a. </B><B>=sesame oil.</B> <DD><B> 1. </B>the plant that produces these seeds. It is an annual herb with oblong leaves and tiny flowers, cultivated in tropical regions. <DD><B> 2. </B>a magic password; open sesame. <BR> <I>Ex. No Tory, however wise, ... could have obtained the sesame to those apartments (Edward R. Bulwer-Lytton).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sesameoil">
<B>sesame oil,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bland, yellow oil extracted from sesame seeds, used in cooking, salads, medicine, and cosmetics. </DL>
<A NAME="sesamoid">
<B>sesamoid, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with certain small, oval, nodular bones or cartilages, as in the kneecap. <DD><I>noun </I> a sesamoid bone or cartilage. </DL>
<A NAME="sesotho">
<B>Sesotho, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the Bantu language of the Basuto. It is one of the official languages of Lesotho. Also, <B>Sesuto,</B> <B>Sotho.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sesquicarbonate">
<B>sesquicarbonate, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a salt whose composition is between a carbonate and a bicarbonate. <BR> <I>Ex. sodium sesquicarbonate.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sesquicentenary">
<B>sesquicentenary, </B>noun, pl. <B>-aries,</B> adjective. =sesquicentennial.</DL>
<A NAME="sesquicentennial">
<B>sesquicentennial, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with 150 years or a 150th anniversary. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a 150th anniversary. <DD><B> 2. </B>a celebration of a 150th anniversary. <BR> <I>Ex. The sesquicentennial of the Declaration of Independence was held in 1926.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sesquioxide">
<B>sesquioxide, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a compound of oxygen and another element in the proportion of three atoms of oxygen to two of the other. </DL>
<B>sesquipedalian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>very long; containing many syllables. <DD><B> 2. </B>using or given to using long words. <BR> <I>Ex. The words gathered size like snowballs, and towards the end of her letter Miss Jenkyns used to become quite sesquipedalian (Elizabeth Gaskell).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>measuring a foot and a half. <DD><I>noun </I> a very long word. </DL>
<A NAME="sesquipedalianism">
<B>sesquipedalianism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the practice of using long words. </DL>
<A NAME="sesquiterpene">
<B>sesquiterpene, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a terpene having one and a half times as many atoms in the molecule as a normal terpene. Farnesol is a sesquiterpene. </DL>
<A NAME="sess">
<B>sess.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> session. </DL>
<A NAME="sessile">
<B>sessile, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>(Botany.) attached by the base instead of by a stem. A leaf having no petiole or a flower having no peduncle or pedicel is sessile. <BR> <I>Ex. If no style intervenes between the ovary and stigma, the stigma is said to be sessile, as in the poppy (Heber W. Youngken).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Zoology.) attached by the base and having no connecting neck, as certain organs or animals. Some barnacles are sessile. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Zoology.) sedentary; fixed to one spot; not able to move around. <BR> <I>Ex. A small group of about a dozen species of sessile, marine, wormlike animals ... secrete a hard tube in which they dwell (A. M. Winchester).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>static; immobile. <BR> <I>Ex. a sessile droplet of water, a sessile dislocation.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sessility">
<B>sessility, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the condition of being sessile. </DL>
<A NAME="session">
<B>session, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>a sitting or meeting of a court, council, or legislature. <DD><B> b. </B>a series of such sittings. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the Administration's hopes and plans for the next session of Congress (Time).</I> <DD><B> c. </B>the term or period of such sittings. <BR> <I>Ex. This year's session of Congress was unusually long.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>any meeting. <BR> <I>Ex. an important session with some businessmen. After 100 sessions, the entire group is better in health and better adjusted (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a single, continuous course or period of lessons and study into which a school day or year is divided. <BR> <I>Ex. the afternoon session, the summer session.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Archaic.) any sitting or being seated. <BR> <I>Ex. Vivien ... Leapt from her session on his lap (Tennyson).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in session,</B> </I>meeting. <BR> <I>Ex. Congress is now in session. The teachers were in session all Saturday morning.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sessions,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>(in the United States) local courts dealing especially with lesser criminal offenses. </I> <I>Ex. He was brought before the town court of sessions on a charge of petty larceny.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>Also, <B>sessions of the peace.</B> (in Great Britain) periodic sittings held by justices of the peace. <BR> <I>Ex. A favourite at the Old Bailey, and eke at the sessions (Dickens).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sessional">
<B>sessional, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of a session; having to do with sessions. <DD><B> 2. </B>occurring every session. </DL>
<A NAME="sesterce">
<B>sesterce, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an ancient Roman silver or brass coin of small value, worth 1/4 of a denarius. </DL>
<A NAME="sestertium">
<B>sestertium, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tia.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an ancient Roman unit of money equal to a thousand sesterces. </DL>
<A NAME="sestet">
<B>sestet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a musical sextet. <DD><B> 2. </B>the last six lines of a sonnet, especially of an Italian or Petrarchan sonnet. <DD><B> 3. </B>a poem or stanza of six lines. </DL>
<A NAME="sestina">
<B>sestina, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nas,</B> <B>-ne.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a poem of six six-line stanzas and a concluding triplet. The last words of the first stanza are repeated in the other five stanzas in different order, and in the concluding triplet. </DL>
