Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A surname.
  • proper noun A male given name transferred back from the surname, in quiet use since the 19th century.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English form of Latin Silvanus. Also from the Old English given name Selewine, from sel "hall" + wine "friend".

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Examples

  • Dan Aykroyd told Empire Magazine last year that he had hoped Alyssa Milano would reprise her role as Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn from the Ghostbusters: Video Game.

    Bill Murray Talks GHOSTBUSTERS 3 on Letterman – Collider.com 2010

  • A distinguished man of letters of the present day has called Selwyn the father confessor of the society of his time: it is a tribute to his friendliness and good sense, as well as to his good nature and patience.

    George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life Helen [Editor] Clergue

  • A distinguished man of letters of the present day has called Selwyn the father confessor of the society of his time: it is a tribute to his friendliness and good sense, as well as to his good nature and patience.

    George Selwyn His Letters and His Life Ed 1899

  • 'And it is a blessed thing that now three of your old dear friends, once called Selwyn, Abraham, Hobhouse should be consecrating your own nephew and pupil, gathered by God's providence into the same part of God's field at the ends of the earth.'

    Life of John Coleridge Patteson Yonge, Charlotte M 1873

  • I will not go to Bristol, though Mrs. Selwyn is very urgent with me; – but I desire not to see any more of the world! the few months I have already passed in it, have sufficed to give me a disgust even to its name.

    Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World 1778

  • It will be impossible for me to avoid seeing him, as Mrs. Selwyn is very well acquainted with Mrs. Beaumont.

    Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World 1778

  • In a similar 2000 pact, Gotham nonprofit Roundabout Theater sold the naming rights to one of its Broadway houses, formerly known as the Selwyn (also on 42nd Street), to American

    Variety.com 2010

  • In a similar 2000 pact, Gotham nonprofit Roundabout Theater sold the naming rights to one of its Broadway houses, formerly known as the Selwyn (also on 42nd Street), to American

    Variety.com 2010

  • VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- 10/29/09 -- Selwyn Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SWN) ( "Selwyn") is pleased to announce that it has recently received a Class A Land Use Permit from the Sahtu Land and Water Board, Northwest Territories.

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2009

  • BLITHERS, he reads name inside.) "Selwyn," his card is at the bottom.

    Three Hats A Farcical Comedy in Three Acts Arthur Shirley 1889

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