per se, n.3 and adv.
View as:
Pronunciation:
Brit.
/pəː ˈseɪ/
,
U.S.
/ˌpər ˈseɪ/
Forms:
15–16 perse, 15– per se, 16 perce.
A. n.3
1.
a. A letter which by itself forms a word (A per se, I per se, O per se). Also allusively: a unique or incomparable person or thing. See also the letters A n., I n.1, O n.1 Now poet. and rare.
▸?a1505 R. Henryson Test. Cresseid 78 in Poems
(1981)
113
The flour and A per se Of Troy and Grece.
a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid
(1957)
Prol. 8
Maist reuerend Virgill..Lantarn, laid stern, myrrour and A per se.
1533 J. Heywood Play of Wether sig. Aiii,
Some saye I am I perse I.
1622 J. Mabbe tr. M. Alemán Rogue ii. 226,
I only, was compleat; I was I per se I; I was like a Rule, without exception.
?1628 J. Taylor Dog of War (title-page),
Printed by I perse I, for O perse O.
1943 L. Durrell Coll. Poems
(1985)
57,
I, per se I, I sing on.
b. orig. cant. O per se o: as a refrain. Now arch. and rare.Perh. originally a call for curfew.
1612 T. Dekker
(title)
O per se O. Or a new cryer of lanthorne and candle-light.
1668 F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue II. xiv. 129
Wilt thou a begging go, O per se o, o per se o.
1964 R. Graves Man does, Woman is 58
‘O per se O, O per se O!’, The moribund grammarian cried.
2. A symbol which by itself stands for a word. and per se = ampersand n.; the symbol &. Now hist.In quot. 1596, punning on the name Pierce or Percy.
1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. Gv,
A per se, con per se, tittle, est, Amen!
1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke 36,
& per se, con per se.
1602 T. Heywood How Man may chuse Good Wife E 2v,
In processe of time I came to e perce e, and comperce, and tittle, then I got to a, e, i, o, u.
1709 W. King Miscellanies 255
And per se And alone, as Poets use, The starving Dictates of my Rules pursues.
1846 B. R. Hall Something for Every Body x. 49
In contradiction to your folks of Somewhersburg, he will affirm that Smoothey taught the alphabet in twenty-six lessons, and the and-per-se in two.
1882 Longman's Mag. 1 95
‘Ampussy and,’ that is, in full ‘and per se, and,’ is the name of the sign for the conjunction and, &, which used to be printed at the end of the alphabet.
1996 Independent 27 Jan. 16/3
Ampersand (&) derives from ‘and per se and’ so surely ‘@’ should be called ‘amperseat’.
2002 Scotsman
(Nexis)
1 Oct. 3
The English name comes from the way English school children used to learn the alphabet. At the end, they would say ‘X, Y, Z, and per se and.’ The last part refers to the ‘&’ symbol, which is per se (by itself) the word ‘and’.
B. adv.
By or in itself, themselves, or (now rarely) himself or herself; without reference to anything (or anyone) else; intrinsically.
1574 J. Whitgift Def. Aunswere to Admon. viii. i. §3. 300
For they belong vnto God properly and per se, to man per accidens.
1609 Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. ii. 15
They say hee is a very man per se and stands alone.
1681 T. Goodwin Wks.
(1861)
I. 165
For whatsoever hath any thing by way of participation, it is reducible to something that hath it per se, of itself.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. (at cited word),
We say a Thing is considered Per se, when 'tis taken in the Abstract, and without Connexion with other things.
?1748 B. Franklin Exper. & Observ. Electr.
(1751)
36
Air is an electric per se.
1853 T. I. Wharton Digest Cases Pennsylvania 473
A pigstye in a city is per se a nuisance.
1880 J. Payn Confid. Agent xlvi. 302
He thought of Matthew per se, and of the ruin he had brought upon himself as well as upon others.
1883 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 11 592
It was very questionable whether the words used were defamatory per se.
1934 Lancet 30 June 1377/1
The term ‘airman’ in the R.A.F...does not, per se, imply flying capacity.
1967 G. Lichtheim tr. Hegel Phenomenology of Mind 340
The individual no longer retains possession of himself per se, but lets the inner get right outside him, and surrenders it to something else.
1992 New Republic 13 July 4/3
Real conservatives do not reject homosexuality per se so much as they reject victimology.