select

From Latin sēlēctus, perfect passive participle of sēligō (“choose out, select”), from sē- (“without; apart”) + legō (“gather, select”).

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈlɛkt/
• Rhymes: -ɛkt
• Hyphenation: se‧lect

select (comparative more select, superlative most select)

1. Privileged, specially selected.

   Only a select few were allowed into the premiere.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Macaulay

     A few select spirits had separated from the crowd, and formed a fit audience round a far greater teacher.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:

     At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

2. Of high quality; top-notch.

   This is a select cut of beef.

select (third-person singular simple present selects, present participle selecting, simple past and past participle selected)

1. To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options.

   He looked over the menu, and selected the roast beef.

   The program computes all the students' grades, then selects a random sample for human verification.

2. (databases) To obtain a set of data from a database using a query.

• (to choose): choose, opt

• deselect

• elects, scelet