- select (adj.)
- 1565, from L. selectus, pp. of seligere "choose out, select," from se- "apart" (see secret) + legere "to gather, select" (see lecture). The verb is attested from 1567. The noun meaning "a selected person or thing" is recorded from 1610. Selection is attested from 1646; applied to actions of breeders (first attested 1837), hence use by Darwin (1857). Selective is first recorded 1625; selective service is from 1917, Amer.Eng. New England selectman first recorded 1646.