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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SEDERUNT, n., adj. Also sedarin; sedairance. [sə′derənt; in 4. + sə′derən(s)]

I. n. 1. The word used in minutes to introduce the list of names of those present at a meeting of a deliberative body; the list itself; the persons who attended, rare in pl. Hence sederunt sheet, a piece of paper circulated at a meeting on which those present sign their names. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1701 Acts of Sederunt (1790) 191:
The Lord present at their sitting down in the Morning, after the ringing of the Session-bell, to be marked in the sederunt.Ayr. 1763 Ayr Presb. Reg. MS. (14 Dec.):
Sederunt after prayer by the Mod[erato]r all Members present at the forenoon's sed[erun]t except Elders.Ayr. 1821 Galt Provost xliii.:
Mr. Peevie, one of the very sickerest of all the former sederunts.Sc. 1845 Stat. Acc.² II. 243:
The Minutes always run thus, “Sederunt, minister, elders and deacons”.Sc. 1910 U.F. Ch. Mission. Rec. (22 Jan.) 2:
The council met with a sederunt of four.Sc. 1935 St. Andrews Citizen (13 July) 4:
The sederunt was wrong, for four members were not present.

2. A meeting or sitting of a court: (1) of the Court of Session. Hence Act of Sederunt, an ordinance drawn up by the judges of the Court of Session to regulate its procedure, as empowered by an Act of 1540; Book of Sederunt, the book in which these Acts and other minutes of the Court of Session is recorded; sederunt-day, a day appointed for a sitting of the Court.Sc. 1701 Acts of Sederunt (1790) 221:
Act for regulating the Sederunts of the Lords.Sc. 1714 W. Forbes Decisions Pref. xliv.:
Acts of Sederunt (the same with the Rules of Court in England) differ from the Decisions in this. That the former are only fixed Rules of Form to be observed in the Distribution of Justice made by the Lords in Thesi.Sc. 1769 Boswell In Search of a Wife (Brady and Pottle 1957) 267:
My Lord, you have had long sederunts.Sc. 1815 Acts 55 Geo. III. c.42. § 7:
The Division shall thereupon order the said Exception to be heard in presence on or before the Fourth Sederunt Day thereafter.Sc. 1826 Scott Journal (11 March):
This day the Court rose after a long and laborious sederunt.Sc. 1834 G. R. Gleig Allan Breck III. xvii.:
The judge hastened to pronounce the sederunt ended.Sc. 1967 Scotsman (26 Dec.) 4:
Acts of Sederunt are rules made by the Court of Session to regulate procedure in the Courts.

(2) sim. of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Churches or of a kirk session, presbytery or synod.Sc. 1706 R. Wodrow Early Letters (S.H.S.) 290:
To be concluded or hudled over in ane afternoons sederunt.Rxb. 1724 Melrose Parish Reg. (S.R.S.) 118:
The sederunt closed with prayer.Sc. 1800 A. Carlyle Autobiog. (1860) 108:
After many very late sederunts of the Synod.Slk. 1886 J. Russell Yarrow 42:
There was such a succession of late sederunts, that the Commissioner, Lord Belhaven, and the purse-bearer, Mr. Burnett, were both worn out.

(3) of Parliament, Town Councils and other public bodies. Hence sederunt-book, a book recording such meetings, a minute-book.Sc. 1700 Acts Parl. Scot. X. 204:
Prayers said. Rolls called. Minuts of the last Sederunt read.Slg. 1705 Trans. Slg. Nat. Hist. and Arch. Soc. (1889–90) 35:
Ane book for minuting the acts and overturrs of Councile, which is to be signed by the Preses each sederunt of Councile.Sc. 1728 W. Maitland Hist. Edb. (1753) 334:
The Articles of the Managers, which are to be ingrossed in the Sederunt-book.Lth. 1756 A. Mackay Bk. Mackay (1906) 459:
The foresaid sederunt with the report of the said Donald Lord Reay and the other gentlemen above named insert in the sederunt books.Sc. 1787 in Burns Works (Chambers 1896) II. 58:
Sederunt of the Managers of the Kirk and Kirkyard Funds of Canongate.Ayr. 1822 Galt Provost xv.:
There was no difficulty in getting a minute entered at the sederunt.Sc. 1932 H. Lamond Sc. Angler 273:
A long sederunt at Westminster.

3. A meeting or sitting of an informal or social nature, a sitting at work or talk, a drinking-bout, etc. (ne.Sc., Per., Fif., wm. Sc., Wgt. 1969). Deriv. ¶sederencie, a sedentary habit or occupation. Comb. sederunt-book.Sc. 1711 S.C. Misc. (1841) 202:
He will acquaint me some evening, when he is for a long sederunt.Inv. 1733 Trans. Gael. Soc. Inv. XI. 175:
The sederunt having continued from about eight o' clock in the morning till six in the afternoon, the gentlemen were all very merry.Sc. 1770 Herd MSS. (Hecht 1904) 45:
A copy of the Cape [club] sederunt book.Dmb. 1829 D. MacLeod Past Worthies (1894) 74:
This being the first occasion on which the Midges could possibly meet since their last sederunt (in consequence of the intervention of the daft days), the sitting was kept up with great hilarity and harmony.Ayr. 1838 Galt in Tait's Mag. (Jan.) 40:
Weavers, and those of a sederencie.Sc. 1873 D. M. Ogilvy Willie Wabster 11:
There he took a gude lang rest — Fu blydely held a lang sederunt.Kcb. 1894 Crockett Lilac Sunbonnet iv.:
Yer lang sederunt on the tap o' the hill dyke.Arg. 1914 N. Munro New Road xxxiii.:
Fresh from a long sederunt at the Bailie's.Abd. 1921 T.S.D.C.:
Ye're haddin a sedairance at yer Scotch words.Cai. 1939 Neil M. Gunn Wild Geese Overhead (1991) 281:
When he faced the road, he hung on to a branch. The sederunt in the Blue Club had taken the guts out of him all right! Uls. 2000 Belfast Telegraph 28 Apr :
That the matter has not yet been finalised is the result of procrastination by the committee of which I was a member, and yet we could not very well meet when we were not summoned. A third meeting, which I could not attend was held on December 2, 1997 and I was not called to any further sederunts. Sc. 2000 Herald 24 Aug 22:
There was even an argument about whether Raymond Robertson attended board meetings when a Minister, with a former board member who claimed not to have seen him. Does the board keep minutes? Is there a sederunt? Why argue about facts which can be checked? Sc. 2003 Edinburgh Evening News 20 May 2:
The First Minister then plucked a fountain pen from his pocket and signed the Book of Sederunt.

4. An unpleasant interview, a scolding, severe rebuke, a dressing-down (Abd. 1921 T.S.D.C., sedairance; Abd., Ags., Per. 1969).Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan I. ii.:
Mary has dreed an awful sederunt to-day.Abd. 1956 People's Jnl. (4 Feb.):
Gettin' a gey sedarin fae's wife.

II. adj. Used with ppl. force: seated, in conclave.Ayr. 1836 Galt in Tait's Mag. (Jan.) 33:
When they had been some time sederunt.