semblance

UK /ˈsɛmblən(t)s/ US /ˈsɛmblən(t)s/
noun 5

Definitions

noun

1

The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.

Oft haue I ſeene a timely-parted Ghoſt, / Of aſhy ſemblance, meager, pale, and bloodleſſe, […]

Be you the Souldier, for you likeſt are / For manly ſemblance, and ſmall skill in vvarre: […]

2

The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.

O povverfull Loue, that in ſome reſpects makes a Beaſt a Man: in ſom other, a Man a beaſt. You vvere alſo (Iupiter) a Svvan, for the loue of Leda: O omnipotent Loue, hovv nere the God drevv to the complexion of a Gooſe: a fault done firſt in the forme of a beaſt, (O Ioue, a beaſtly fault:) and then another fault, in the ſemblance of a Fovvle, thinke on't (Ioue) a fovvle [i.e., foul]-fault.

He also hath his own conceit: / It is, thinks he, the gracious Fairy, / Who loved the Shepherd Lord to meet / In his wanderings solitary; / […] / 'Twas said that she all shapes could wear; / And oftentimes before him stood, / Amid the trees of some thick wood, / In semblance of a lady fair, […]

3

The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.

And other diuels that ſuggest by treaſons, / Do botch and bungle vp damnation, / VVith patches, colours, and vvith formes being fetcht / From gliſt'ring ſemblances of piety: […]

[H]e his vvonted pride / Soon recollecting, vvith high vvords, that bore / Semblance of vvorth not ſubſtance, gently rais'd / Their fainted courage, and diſpel'd their fears.

4

Followed by of: a person or thing that is seen; an apparition, a vision.

Still she bears her weird [charm or spell] alone, / In the Valley of Saint John. / And her semblance oft will seem / Mingling in a champion's dream, / Of her weary lot to plain, / And crave his aid to burst her chain.

England, seated far north in the turbid sea, now visits my dreams in the semblance of a vast and well-manned ship, which mastered the winds and rode proudly over the waves.

5

Followed by of: a person or thing that looks similar to another person or thing; a likeness.

Then call them not the Authors of their ill, / No more then vvaxe ſhall be accounted euill, / VVherein is ſtampt the ſemblance of a Deuill.

In this reign died John Rous, the antiquarian of VVarvvickſhire, vvho drevv his ovvn portrait and other ſemblances, but in too rude a manner to be called paintings.

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