serail

See also: sérail

English

Etymology

From Middle French sérail, from Italian serraglio.

Noun

serail (plural serails)

1. (now rare) A seraglio.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

     He ſhall be made a chaſte and luſtleſſe Eunuch,
     And in my Sarell tend my Concubines:

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 42, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     What longing lust would not bee alaid, to see three hundred women at his dispose and pleasure, as hath the Grand Turke in his Seraille?

   • 1990, Roy Porter, English Society in the 18th Century, Penguin, published 1991, page 264:

     London teemed with brothels and other pleasure domes such as Mrs Hayes's serail in Pall Mall, whose floor show included a Tahitian “Love Feast’ between twelve nymphs and twelve youths, and naked dancing.

Anagrams

• Alires, Israel, Isreal, Lieras, Sailer, Sal Rei, ariels, railes, realis, relais, resail, sailer, serial