Self

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Pronoun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Self, a. [AS. self, seolf, sylf; akin to OS. self, OFries. self, D. zelf, G. selb, selber, selbst, Dan. selv. Sw. sjelf, Icel. sjālfr, Goth. silba. Cf. Selvage.].

•  Same; particular; very; identical.  Sir. W. Raleigh.  [1913 Webster]

  "To shoot another arrow that self way
  Which you did shoot the first."  [1913 Webster]

  "At that self moment enters Palamon."  [1913 Webster]
•  Having its own or a single nature or character, as in color, composition, etc., without addition or change; unmixed; as, a self bow, one made from a single piece of wood; self flower or plant, one which is wholly of one color; self-colored.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Self, n. 

•  The individual as the object of his own reflective consciousness; the man viewed by his own cognition as the subject of all his mental phenomena, the agent in his own activities, the subject of his own feelings, and the possessor of capacities and character; a person as a distinct individual; a being regarded as having personality.  Addison.  [1913 Webster]

  "A man's self may be the worst fellow to converse with in the world."  [1913 Webster]

  "The self, the I, is recognized in every act of intelligence as the subject to which that act belongs. It is I that perceive, I that imagine, I that remember, I that attend, I that compare, I that feel, I that will, I that am conscious."  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, personal interest, or love of private interest; selfishness; as, self is his whole aim.  [1913 Webster]
•  Personification; embodiment.  [1913 Webster]

  " Self is united to certain personal pronouns and pronominal adjectives to express emphasis or distinction. Thus, for emphasis; I myself will write; I will examine for myself; thou thyself shalt go; thou shalt see for thyself; you yourself shall write; you shall see for yourself; he himself shall write; he shall examine for himself; she herself shall write; she shall examine for herself; the child itself shall be carried; it shall be present itself. It is also used reflexively; as, I abhor myself; thou enrichest thyself; he loves himself; she admires herself; it pleases itself; we walue ourselves; ye hurry yourselves; they see themselves. Himself, herself, themselves, are used in the nominative case, as well as in the objective. “Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples.” John iv. 2."  [1913 Webster]

  " self is used in the formation of innumerable compounds, usually of obvious signification, in most of which it denotes either the agent or the object of the action expressed by the word with which it is joined, or the person in behalf of whom it is performed, or the person or thing to, for, or towards whom or which a quality, attribute, or feeling expressed by the following word belongs, is directed, or is exerted, or from which it proceeds; or it denotes the subject of, or object affected by, such action, quality, attribute, feeling, or the like; as, self-abandoning, self-abnegation, self-abhorring, self-absorbed, self-accusing, self-adjusting, self-balanced, self-boasting, self-canceled, self-combating, self-commendation, self-condemned, self-conflict, self-conquest, self-constituted, self-consumed, self-contempt, self-controlled, self-deceiving, self-denying, self-destroyed, self-disclosure, self-display, self-dominion, self-doomed, self-elected, self-evolved, self-exalting, self-excusing, self-exile, self-fed, self-fulfillment, self-governed, self-harming, self-helpless, self-humiliation, self-idolized, self-inflicted, self-improvement, self-instruction, self-invited, self-judging, self-justification, self-loathing, self-loving, self-maintenance, self-mastered, self-nourishment, self-perfect, self-perpetuation, self-pleasing, self-praising, self-preserving, self-questioned, self-relying, self-restraining, self-revelation, self-ruined, self-satisfaction, self-support, self-sustained, self-sustaining, self-tormenting, self-troubling, self-trust, self-tuition, self-upbraiding, self-valuing, self-worshiping, and many others."  [1913 Webster]

  "She was beauty's self."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Self, n. & adj.
--n. (pl. selves)
1 a person's or thing's own individuality or essence (showed his true self).
2 a person or thing as the object of introspection or reflexive action (the consciousness of self).
3 a one's own interests or pleasure (cares for nothing but self). b concentration on these (self is a bad guide to happiness).
4 Commerce or colloq. myself, yourself, himself, etc. (cheque drawn to self; ticket admitting self and friend).
5 used in phrases equivalent to myself, yourself, himself, etc. (his very self; your good selves).
6 (pl. selfs) a flower of uniform colour, or of the natural wild colour.
--adj.
1 of the same colour as the rest or throughout.
2 (of a flower) of the natural wild colour.
3 (of colour) uniform, the same throughout.

Idiom

one's better self one's nobler impulses. one's former (or old) self oneself as one formerly was.

Etymology

OE f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Self

I, I myself, alter, alter ego, alterum, anima, anima humana, atman, ba, better self, breath, breath of life, buddhi, coconscious, collective unconscious, conscience, conscious self, death instinct, divine breath, ego, ego ideal, ego-id conflict, ethical self, foreconscious, he, heart, her, herself, him, himself, id, inner man, inner self, it, jiva, jivatma, khu, libidinal energy, libido, manes, me, mind, motive force, my humble self, myself, nephesh, number one, oneself, other self, ourselves, persona, personality, pleasure principle, pneuma, preconscious, primitive self, psyche, psychic apparatus, purusha, racial unconscious, ruach, shade, shadow, she, soul, spirit, spiritual being, spiritus, subconscious, subconscious mind, subconscious self, subliminal, subliminal self, submerged mind, superego, the self, them, themselves, they, unconscious, unconscious mind, vital impulse, you, yours truly, yourself, yourselves

ROGET THESAURUS

Self

Identity

N identity, sameness, coincidence, coalescence, convertibility, equality, selfness, self, oneself, identification, monotony, tautology, facsimile, homoousia: alter ego, ipsissima verba, same, self, very, one and the same, very thing, actual thing, real McCoy, no other, one and only, in the flesh, identical, self, ilk, the same, selfsame, one and the same, homoousian, coincide, coalescent, coalescing, indistinguishable, one, equivalent, tweedle dee and tweedle dum, much the same, of a muchness, unaltered, identically, on all fours, identity, sameness, coincidence, coalescence, convertibility, equality, selfness, self, oneself, identification, monotony, tautology, facsimile, homoousia: alter ego, ipsissima verba, same, self, very, one and the same, very thing, actual thing, real McCoy, no other, one and only, in the flesh, identical, self, ilk, the same, selfsame, one and the same, homoousian, coincide, coalescent, coalescing, indistinguishable, one, equivalent, tweedle dee and tweedle dum, much the same, of a muchness, unaltered, identically, on all fours, identity, sameness, coincidence, coalescence, convertibility, equality, selfness, self, oneself, identification, monotony, tautology, facsimile, homoousia: alter ego, ipsissima verba, same, self, very, one and the same, very thing, actual thing, real McCoy, no other, one and only, in the flesh, identical, self, ilk, the same, selfsame, one and the same, homoousian, coincide, coalescent, coalescing, indistinguishable, one, equivalent, tweedle dee and tweedle dum, much the same, of a muchness, unaltered, identically, on all fours.

Speciality

N speciality, specialite, individuality, individuity, particularity, peculiarity, idiocrasy, personality, characteristic, mannerism, idiosyncrasy, specificness, singularity, reading, version, lection, state, trait, distinctive feature, technicality, differentia, particulars, details, items, counts, minutiae, I, self, I myself, myself, himself, herself, itself, special, particular, individual, specific, proper, personal, original, private, respective, definite, determinate, especial, certain, esoteric, endemic, partial, party, peculiar, appropriate, several, characteristic, diagnostic, exclusive, singular, idiomatic, idiotypical, typical, this, that, yon, yonder, specially, especially, particularly, in particular, in propria persona, ad hominem, for my part, each, apiece, one by one, one at a time, severally, respectively, each to each, seriatim, in detail, in great detail, in excruciating detail, in mind-numbing detail, bit by bit, pro hac vice, pro re nata, namely, that is to say, for example, id est, exemplia gratia, e, g, i, e, videlicet, viz, to wit, le style est l'homme meme.