Select, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Selected; p. pr. & vb. n. Selecting.]
To choose and take from a number; to take by preference from among others; to pick out; to cull; as, to select the best authors for perusal. "One peculiar nation to select." Milton. The pious chief . . . A hundred youths from all his train selects. Dryden.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Select, a.
Taken from a number by preferance; picked out as more valuable or exellent than others; of special value or exellence; nicely chosen; selected; choice. A few select spirits had separated from the crowd, and formed a fit audience round a far greater teacher. Macaulay.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for select; he lists it under allot, choose.
Where he writes about it:
Allot may also refer to space; as, to allot a plot of ground for a cemetery; but we now oftener use select, set apart, or assign. — from allot
Select implies a careful consideration of the reasons for preference and choice. — from choose
Among objects so nearly alike that we have no reason to prefer any one to another we may simply choose the nearest, but we could not be said to select it. — from choose
Cull, from the Latin colligere, commonly means to collect, as well as to select. — from choose