serry

Borrowed from French serré, past participle of serrer, from Middle French serrer, from Old French serrer, from Vulgar Latin *serrare (“close, shut”), from Late Latin serare (“fasten, bolt”), from Latin sera (“a bar, bolt”), akin to Latin serere (“to join or bind together”). Compare French serrer (“to tighten”) and Spanish cerrar (“to shut, close”).

serry (third-person singular simple present serries, present participle serrying, simple past and past participle serried)

1. (dated, poetic or literary) To crowd, press together, or close (rank)
   • 1904, William Ernest Henley, "Clinical", in Poems

     High shoulders, low shoulders, broad shoulders, narrow ones,
     Round, square, and angular, serry and shove

   • 1921, Alice Meynell, "Summer in England, 1914", in Poems

     thrive the serried flocks and herds.

• “serry”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Ryers, Ryser