Baretti: A dictionary of the English and Italian languages
Serrá-re, v. a.
1. to shut, shut up, lock, lock up.— la porta, to shut the door. — una cassa, to lock up a chest; 2. to retain (as the memory);3. to hide, conceal; 4. to contain, keep in, refrain, keep back, bridle, rule; 5. to terminate,end, finish. — la vita, to end one's life. Al — del giorno, towards the evening. — un mercato,to conclude, finish, bind a bargain; 6. to strain, bind straight, hard, or fast, to fasten, thrust hard, to harden. Queste scarpe mi serrano il piede, these shoes pinch me. Il freddo serra la terra, cold weather hardens the earth. Egli si serra con lui di mal talento, he bears him an ill will; 7. to join together, unite.— le lettere, to close or seal the letters. — l'uscio sulle calcagne, to shut the door in one's face. — alla vita, to fit like one's skin (said of clothes). — il pugno, to clench the fist. — fuora, to shut out. — il basto o i panni addosso ad uno, to press or urge one, to be eager upon, to be hard upon one. — la fila d'un esercito,to draw closer the files of an army. — le vele, to hand or furl the sails. — fuora, to turn away, shut out; v. r. to unite closer, stand closer, to sit, lie, stand close. — addosso a checchessia, to press upon any thing, to cast or throw one's self upon; s. m. Serrá-tóre, f. Serrá-tríce;adj. Serrá-nte.
Florio: a worlde of wordes, or most copious, dictionarie in Italian and English
serrare: to shut, to locke, to enclose, to cloister vp, to immure, to raile in.