semblance

noun

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, […]”

   “Be you the Souldier, for you likeſt are / For manly ſemblance, and ſmall skill in vvarre: […]”

   “Perhaps my ſemblance might deceive the truth, / That I to manhood am arriv'd ſo near, / And invvard ripenes doth much leſs appear, / That ſom more timely-happy ſpirits indu'th.”

   “ACERONIA. […] The eye of Rome / And the Prætorian camp have long rever'd, / VVith cuſtom'd avve, the daughter, ſiſter, vvife, / And mother of their Cæsars. / AGRIPPINA. Ha, by Juno, / It bears a noble ſemblance.”

   “Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie / Thy soul's immensity; […]”

2. (countable, uncountable)The outward appearance or form of a 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 another fault, in the ſemblance of a Fovvle, thinke on't (Ioue) a fovvle [i.e., foul]-fault.”

   “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, […]”

3. (countable, uncountable)The outward appearance or form of a person or thing.

   “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: […]”

   “[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.”

   “[T]hey had the appearance of a good Body of Men, there being all the ſemblance of great Bodies behind on the other ſide of the Hill; the falſehood of vvhich vvould have been manifeſt as ſoon as they ſhould move from the place vvhere they vvere, and from vvhence they vvere therefore not to ſtir.”

   “Old W—— was a little, busy, cringing tradesman, who, with his son upon his arm, would stand bowing and scraping, cap in hand, to any thing that wore the semblance of a gown— […]”

   “It is the heyday of Imposture; of Semblance recognising itself, and getting itself recognised, for Substance.”

4. (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.”

   “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.”

5. (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.”

   “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.”

   “The fact of our deriving constant pleasure from whatever is a type or semblance of divine attributes, and from nothing but that which is so, is the most glorious of all that can be demonstrated of human nature, it not only sets a great gulf of specific separation between us and the lower animals, but it seems a promise of a communion ultimately deep, close, and conscious, with the Being whose darkened manifestations we here feebly and unthinkingly delight in.”

6. (countable)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.”

7. (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.”

   “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.”

   “VVeele haue a ſvvaſhing and a marſhall outſide, / As manie other manniſh covvards haue, / That doe outface it vvith their ſemblances.”

   “A Diſſembling friend, vvith faire and falſe vvords, and ſemblances, dravveth his neighbour into ſome dangerous inconvenience; but a vviſe and juſt man vvill ſoone perceive his fraud, and avoid him, and the miſchiefe plotted by him.”

   “Him, gath'ring round, the haughty Suitors greet / VVith ſemblance fair, but invvard deep deceit.”

8. (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; […]”

   “[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.”

   “His vvords make ſemblance as if hee vvere magnanimouſly exerciſing himſelf, […]”

   “[B]y his Father baniſh'd, vvith a ſmall number fled thether to him, he [Caligula] made ſemblance of marching tovvard Britain; […]”

9. (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.”

   “I thought no body had been like me, but I ſee there vvas ſome Semblance 'tvvixt this good man and I, […]”

   “The Reins [of a horse-drawn coach] vvere cloath’d in vvhiteſt ſilk, to hold / Some ’ſemblance to the Hand vvhich them controll’d.”

10. (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; […]”