semblance

Noun

semblance (countable and uncountable, plural semblances)

1. (countable) 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, […]1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
   • Be you the Souldier, for you likeſt are / For manly ſemblance, and ſmall skill in vvarre: […]1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC, signature M2...

   Synonyms:

   veneer

   1. Followed by of: the outward appearance of a person or thing when regarded as similar to that of another 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...c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
      • 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, […]1815, William Wordsworth, “Canto First”, in The White Doe of Rylstone; or The Fate of the Nortons. A Poem, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co....
   2. Followed by of: the outward appearance of a person or thing which is different from what the person or thing actually is; also, an outward appearance of a thing which does not actually exist.
      • 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: […]1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
      • [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.1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature C...
2. (countable) 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.1813, [Walter Scott], “Canto Second”, in The Bridal of Triermain, or The Vale of St John. In Three Cantos, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman...
   • 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.1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 2
3. (countable) 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.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature I2, verso
   • 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.1762, Horace Walpole, “Continuation of the State of Painting to the End of Henry VII”, in Anecdotes of Painting in England; […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Farmer […], →OCLC, page 52

   Synonyms:

   portrait

4. (countable, always in the negative) Followed by of: a bare or mere appearance of something.
   • When the former [Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset] wished to put his own brother [Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley] to death, without even the semblance of a trial, he found a ready instrument in [Thomas] Cranmer.1828 September, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “[Henry] Hallam. […]”, in Critical and Historical Essays, Contributed to the Edinburgh Review. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] Longman, Brown...
5. (countable) A person's non-verbal behaviour or demeanour which shows their feelings, thoughts, etc., or which is faked to hide such true feelings, thoughts, etc.
   • And of truth the Protectour [later Richard III of England] and the Duke of Buckingham [Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham] made very good ſembleaunce vnto the Lord Haſtinges [William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings], and kept him much in their company.1569, Richard Grafton, “Edwarde the Fift”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye...
   • And euer vvhen the Prince vnto him ſpake, / He louted lovvly, as did him becum, / And humble homage did vnto him make, / Midſt ſorrovv ſhevving ioyous ſemblance for his ſake.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 44, page 106
6. (countable, dated) In the form make semblance: an act of appearing; an appearance, a manifestation; also, a false appearance, a pretence.
   • [T]hey all make ſemblance of loathing Piero, and knit their fiſts at him; […]1600 or 1601 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] […]...
   • [H]ee vvas ſlain by a ſouldior, that making ſemblance to deliver unto him the keies of the Caſtle hanging at the head of a ſpeare, ranne him into the body vvith it.1610, William Camden, “Romans in Britaine”, in Philémon Holland, transl., Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […]...
7. (archaic, uncountable) The quality or state of being similar; likeness, resemblance, similarity.
   • I find that holy VVrit in many places / Hath ſemblance vvith this method, vvhere the caſes / Doth call for one thing, to ſet forth another: / Uſe it I may then, and yet nothing ſmother / Truths golden Beams; Nay, by this method may / Make it caſt forth its rayes as light as day.1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC
   • I thought no body had been like me, but I ſee there vvas ſome Semblance 'tvvixt this good man and I, […]1684, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. From This World to That which is to Come: The Second Part. […], London: […] Nathaniel Ponder […], →OCLC, page 138
8. (obsolete, uncountable) The chance of something happening; likelihood, probability.
   • And yet ſome ſemblance there is that it [a law] vvas yet more ancient, even in the time of Hen[ry] I. if I miſtake not the ſence of that clauſe in his lavvs concerning vagabonds; […]1647, Nath[aniel] Bacon, “Of the Peace”, in An Historicall Discourse of the Uniformity of the Government of England. The First Part. From the First Times till the Reign of Edward the Third, London...