Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective
- being more than two but fewer than many in number or kind: several ways of doing it.
- respective; individual: They went their several ways.
- separate; different: several occasions.
- single; particular.
- Law. binding two or more persons who may be sued separately on a common obligation.
noun
- several persons or things; a few; some.
determiner
-
- more than a few; an indefinite small numberseveral people objected
- (as pronoun; functioning as plural)several of them know
adjective
- (prenominal) various; separatethe members with their several occupations
- (prenominal) distinct; differentthree several times
- law capable of being dealt with separately; not sharedCompare joint (def. 15)
adj.early 15c., “existing apart,” from Anglo-French several, from Middle French seperalis “separate,” from Medieval Latin separalis, from Latin separ “separate, different,” back-formation from separare “to separate” (see separate (v.)). Meaning “various, diverse, different” is attested from c.1500; that of “more than one” is from 1530s, originally in legal use. Here we are all, by day; by night we’re hurledBy dreams, each one into a several world[Herrick, 1648] Related: Severalty. Jocular ordinal form severalth attested from 1902 in American English dialect (see -th (2)).