to choose in preference to another or others; pick out.
verb (used without object)
2.
to make a choice; pick.
adjective
3.
chosen in preference to another or others; selected. Synonyms: preferred.
4.
choice; of special value or excellence.
5.
careful or fastidious in selecting; discriminating.
6.
carefully or fastidiously chosen; exclusive: a select group of friends.
Origin: 1555–65; < Latinsēlēctus (past participle of sēligere to gather apart), equivalent to sē-se- + leg(ere) to gather, choose + -tus past participle suffix
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.