said

1. 1
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of say.

   He said the meeting would start at noon.

   Everything that was said at the negotiation stayed confidential.

   Note

   One spelling now does two jobs that Middle English kept apart: seide for the simple past, seid or iseid for the participle. Both come from Old English and amount to say plus -ed. As a participle it builds the perfect (has said) and the passive. The passive has a use worth knowing: it is said that… reports a rumor or common belief without naming anyone who said it.

2. 2
   determiner

   Referring to a particular person or thing already mentioned earlier.

   The said witness failed to appear at the hearing.

   Payment for said services is due within thirty days.

   Similarsuch

3. 3
   adjective

   Already mentioned or referred to earlier in the discourse.

   The said items were listed on the original invoice.

   Tenants must vacate the said premises by the end of the month.

   Similaraforementioned, aforesaid, above-mentioned

   Note

   Here the word keeps its article and sits between the and the noun: the said party, the said railway. It cannot be graded, since nothing is more said than another. Its formality can be turned to wry effect, as in "the said railway, now the great hobby of our Teviotdale lairds," from Michael Robbins's 1951 piece on Sir Walter Scott. Drop the article and it becomes the determiner.

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