serif.html - n.
a slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter as in T contrasted with T! (cf. SANSERIF).

seriffed adj. [perh. f. Du. schreef dash, line f. Gmc]

serif.html - In young people's slang: very, truly, absolutely. Used especially in serious bad, really bad. Etymology: Formed by using the adjective serious in place of its corresponding adverb seriously , in much the same way as real had been shifted from adjective to adverb qualifying another adjective several decades previously. History and Usage : Serious used as a general intensifier, especially to qualify the adjective bad, seems to have originated among US Blacks and has been recorded in print since the mid eighties (although it almost certainly goes back further in speech). In the phrase serious bad it possibly has the function of alerting the hearer to the fact that bad is being used in its traditional or serious sense, rather than the opposite slang sense 'good' (for which see bad ). With his top lip curled to signify contempt, he goaded an imaginary hapless friend: 'You a lame chief , well lame, serious lame!' New Statesman 16 Feb. 1990, p.
12 Those of you who have been popping pills and smoking dope are doing the same thing Len Bias did. Those are serious bad shots you're taking boys, serious poor judgements that you're using with your body and mind . New York Times 20 Aug. 1990, section C, p. 6

serif.html - adjective (Business World) In business jargon: considerable , worth taking seriously . Used especially in serious money, a large sum of money. Etymology: A development of sense which relies on a kind of shorthand: it is not the money, the commodity, etc. that is serious, but the intention of the person offering it. Thus a serious offer of money, for example, became serious money. History and Usage: This is a well-established US business usage (it has been in colloquial use for several decades). It became current in other English-speaking countries in the second half of the eighties and increasingly found its way into print. According to some business executives, the fixed phrase serious money can be tied down to a figure containing a specified number of noughts; whether or not in this phrase, serious tends to be preceded by the verb talk, used transitively. Bankability: Serious money. Recent two-book deal with Viking earned him more than

150,000. Correspondent Magazine 29 Oct. 1989, p.
66 She wore these three-inch heels...I'm talking serious stiletto. Alice Walker Temple of My Familiar (1989), p. 244

serif.html - n. & adj.
--n.

1 a story, play, or film which is published, broadcast, or shown in regular instalments.
2 a periodical.

--adj.

1 of or in or forming a series.
2 (of a story etc.) in the form of a serial.
3 Mus. using transformations of a fixed series of notes (see SERIES ).
4 (of a publication) appearing in successive parts published usu. at regular intervals, periodical.

serial killer a person who murders continuously with no apparent motive. serial number a number showing the position of an item in a series. serial rights the right to publish a story or book as a serial.

seriality n. serially adv. [SERIES + -AL]

serif.html - n.
a composer or advocate of serial music.

serialism n.

serif.html - v.tr.
(also -ise)
1 publish or produce in instalments.
2 arrange in a series.
3 Mus. compose according to a serial technique.

serialization n.