select
Definitions
General English
- verb to choose something or someone carefully
Agriculture
- verb to identify plants or animals with desirable characteristics such as high yield or disease resistance as part of the activity of breeding new varieties
Aviation
Commerce
- adjective of top quality or specially chosen
Computing
Construction
- A high-quality piece of lumber graded for appearance. Select lumber is used in interior and exterior trim, and cabinetry. It is most often sold S4S in a 4/4 thickness, but may also be produced S2S in a variety of thicknesses.
Information & Library Science
- verb to find and choose specific information or data
Medical
- verb to choose one person, thing or group, but not others
Origin & History of “select”
Select is one of a wide range of English words that go back ultimately to Latin legere ‘choose’ or its past participle lectus (others include collect and elect and, from its later extended meaning ‘read’, lectern and lecture). Addition of the prefix sē- ‘apart’ produced sēligere ‘choose out’, whose past participle sēlectus gave English select, both as adjective and verb.
