serail

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See also: sérail

English

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Etymology

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From Middle French sérail, from Italian serraglio.

Noun

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serail (plural serails)

  1. (now rare) A seraglio.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. [] The First Part [], 2nd edition, part 1, London: [] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, [], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
      He ſhall be made a chaſte and luſtleſſe Eunuch,
      And in my Sarell tend my Concubines:
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 42, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes [], book I, London: [] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount [], →OCLC:
      What longing lust would not bee alaid, to see three hundred women at his dispose and pleasure, as hath the Grand Turke in his Seraille?
    • 1990, Roy Porter, English Society in the 18th Century, Penguin, published 1991, page 264:
      London teemed with brothels and other pleasure domes such as Mrs Hayes's serail in Pall Mall, whose floor show included a Tahitian “Love Feast’ between twelve nymphs and twelve youths, and naked dancing.

Anagrams

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