| E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. |
| | | I | | |
|
per se [I by itself], i.e. without compeer, pre-eminently so. | 1 |
| |
| “If then your I [yes] agreement want, |
| I to your I [yes] must answer, ‘No.’ |
| Therefore leave off your spelling plea, |
| And let your I [yes] be I per se.” |
| i.e. let your yes be yes decidedly. | |
|
| |
Wits Interpreter, p. 116. |
|
 Many other letters are similarly used; as, A per se. (See A-PER-SE.) Thus in Restituta Eliza is called “The E per se of all that ere hath been.” So again, “O,” signifies a crier, from “O yes! O yes!” We have “Villanies descovered by … the help of a new crier, called O per se [i.e. superior to his predecessors].” 1666. | 2 |
|
Shakespeare, in Troilus and Cressida, i. 2, even uses the phrase “a very man per se” = A 1. | 3 |
| |
|
|
