Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
SEA-SURGEON — SECTARIAN
SEA-SURGEON, n. [sea and surgeon.] A surgeon employed on shipboard.
SEA-SURROUNDED, a. [sea and surround.] Encompassed by the sea.
SEA-TERM, n. [sea and term.] A word or term used appropriately by seamen, or peculiar to the art of navigation.
SEA-THIEF, n. [sea and thief.] A pirate.
SEA-TOAD, n. [sea and toad.] An ugly fish, so called.
SEA-TORN, a. [sea and torn.] Torn by or at sea.
SEA-TOSSED, a. [sea and tossed.] Tossed by sea.
SEA-URCHIN, n. [sea and urchin.] A genus of marine animals, the Echinus, of many species. The body is roundish, covered with a bony crust, and often set with movable prickles.
SEA-WALLED, a. [sea and walled.] Surrounded or defended by the sea.
SEAWARD, a. [sea and ward.] Directed towards the sea.
SEAWARD, adv. Towards the sea.
SEA-WATER, n. [sea and water.] Water of the sea or ocean, which is salt.
SEA-WEED, n. [sea and weed.] A marine plant of the genus Fucus, used as manure, and for glass and soap. A common name for the marine algae, and some other plants growing in salt water.
SEA-WITHWIND, n. Bindweed.
SEA-WOLF, n. [sea and wolf. See Wolf.] A fish of the genus Anarrhicas, found in northern latitudes, about Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Scotland, England, etc. This fish is so named from its fierceness and ravenousness. It grows sometimes to the lenth of four and even seven feet, and feeds on crustaceous animals and shell fish.
SEA-WORMWOOD, n. A sort of wormwood growing in the sea, the Artemisia maritima.
SEAWORTHY, a. [sea and worthy.] Fit for a voyage; worthy of being trusted to transport a cargo with safety; as a seaworthy ship.
SEAL, n. The common name for the species of the genus Phoca. These animals are ampibious, most of the inhabiting the sea coasts, particularly in the higher latitudes. They have six cutting teeth in the upper jaw, and four in the lower. Their hind feet are placed at the extremity of the body, in the same diretion with it, and serve the purpose of a caudal fin; the fore feet are also adapted for swimming, and furmished each with five claws; the external ears are either very small or wanting. There are numerous species; as the leonina, sometimes 18 feet in length, and the jubata, sometimes 25 feet in length, with a name like a lion, both called sea-lion, and found in the southern seas, and alo in the N. Pacific; the ursina, or sea bear, 8 or 9 feet in length, and covered with long, thick bristly hair, found in the N. Pacifac; and the common seal frome 4 to 6 feet in length, found generally throughout the Atlantic and the seas and bays communicating with it, covered with short, stiff, glossy hair, with a smooth head without external ears, and with the fore legs deeply immersed in the skin. Seals are much sought after for their skins and fur.
SEAL, n. [L. sigillum.]
1. A piece of metal or other hard substance, usually round or oval, on which is ingraved some image or device, and sometimes a legend or inscription. This is used by idividuals, corporate bodies and states, for making impressions on wax upon instuments of writing, as an evidence of their authenticity. The king of England has his seal and his privy seal. Seals are sometimes worn in rings.
2. The wax set to an instument, and impressed or stamped with a seal. Thus we give a deed under had and seel. Wax is generally used in sealing instruments, but other substances may be used.
3. The wax or wafer that makes fast a letter or other paper.
4. Any act of confirmation.
5. That which confirms, ratifies or makes stable; assurance. 2 Timothy 2:9.
6. That which effectually shuts, confines or secures; that which makes fast. Revelation 20:3.
SEAL, v.t.
1. To fasten with a seal; to attach together with a wafer or with wax; as, to seal a letter.
2. To set or affix a seal as a mark of authenticity; as, to seal a deed. Hence,
3. To confirm; to ratify; to establish.
And with my hand I seal our true hearts’ love. Shak.
When therefore I hace performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you in Spain. Romans 15:28.
4. To shut or keep close; sometimes with up. Seal your lips; seal up you lips.
Open your ears, and seal your bosom upon the secret conserns of a friend. Dwight.
5. To make fast.
So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. Matthew 27:66.
6. To mark with a stamp, as an evidence of standard exactness, legal size, or merchantable quality. By our laws, weights and measures are to be sealed by an officer appointe and sworn for that purpose; and lether is to be sealed by a like officer, as evidence that it has been inspected and found to be of good quality.
7. To keep secret.
Shut up the words, and seal the book. Daniel 12:4; Isaiah 8:16.
8. To mark as ones property, and secure from danger.
9. To close; to fulfill; to complete; with up.
10. To imprint on the; as, to seal instruction.
11. To inclose; to hide; to conceal.
12. To confine; to restrain.
13. In architecture, to fix a piece of wood or iron in a wall with cement.
SEAL, v.i. To fix a seal.
I will seal unto this bond. [Unusual.] Shak.
SEALED, pp. Furnished with a seal; fastened with a seal; confirmed; closed.
SEALER, n.
1. One who seals; an officer in chancery who seals writs and instruments.
2. In New England, an officer appointed by the town or other proper authority, to examine and try weithts and measures, and set a stamp on such as are according to the standards established by the state; also, an officer who inspects lether and stamps such as is good. These are called sealers of weights and measures, and sealers of lethers.
SEALING, ppr. Fixing a seal; fastening with a seal; confirming; closing; keeping secret; fixing a piece of wood or iron in a wall with cement.
SEALING, n. [from seal, the animal] The operation of taking seals and curing their skins.
SEALING-VOYAGE, n. A voyage for the purpose of killing seals and obtaining their skins.
SEALING-WAX, n. [seal and wax.] A compound of gum lac and the red oxyd of mercury; used for fastening a folded letter and thus consealing the writing, and for receiving impressions of seals set to instruments. Sealing wax is hard or soft, and may be of any color.
SEAM, n.
1. The suture or uniting of two edges of cloth by the needle.
The coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. John 19:23.
2. The joint or juncture of planks in a ship’s side or deck; or rather the intervals between the edges of boards or planks in a floor, etc. The seams of the ships are filled with oakum, and covered with pitch.
3. In mines, a vein or stratum of metal, ore, coal and the like.
4. A cicatrix or scar.
5. A measure of eight bushels of corn; or the vessel that contains it. [Not used in America.]
A seam of glass, the quanity of 120 pounds, or 24 stones of five pounds each. [Not used in America.]
SEAM, n. Tallow; grease; lard. [Not in use.]
SEAM, v.t.
1. To form a seam; to sew or otherwise unite.
2. To mark with a cicatrix; to scar; as seamed with wounds.
SEAMAN. [See under Sea.]
SEAMED, pp. Marked with seams; having seams or scars.
SEAMING, ppr. Marking with scars; making seams.
SEAMLESS, a. Having mo seam; as the seamless garment of Christ.
SEAM-RENT, n. [seam and rent.] The rent of a seam; the separation of a suture.
SEAMSTER, n. One that sews well, or whose occupation is to sew.
SEAMSTRESS, n. A woman whose occupation is sewing.
SEAMY, a. Having a seam; containing seams or showing them.
SEAN, n. a met. [See Sein.]
SEAPOY, SEPOY, n. A native of India in the military service of an European power, and disceplined after the European maner.
SEAR, v.t. [Gr. to dry; to parch; dry. L. torreo, in a diffrent dialect.]
1. To burn to dryness and hardness the surface of any thing; to cauterize; to expose to a degree of heat that changes the color of the surface, ar makes it hard; as, to sear the skin or flesh.
I’m sear’d with burning steel. Rowe.
Sear is allied to scorch in signification; cut it is applied primarily to animal flesh, and has special reference to the effect of heat in making the surface hard. Scorch is applied to flesh, sloth or any other substance, and has mo reference to the effect of hardness.
2. To wither; to dry.
3. To make callous or insensible.
Having their conscience seared with a hot iron. 1 Timothy 4:2.
To sear up, to close by searing or cauterizing; to stop.
Cherish veins of good humor, and sear up those of ill. Temple.
SEAR, a. Dry; withered
SEARCE, v.t. sers. To shift; to bolt; to separate the fine part of meal from the coarse. [Little used.]
SEARCE, n. sers. A sieve; a bolter. [Little used.]
SEARCER, n. sers’er. One that sifts or bolts. [Little used.]
SEARCH, v.t. serch
1. To look over or through for the purpose of finding something; to explore; to examine by inspection; as, to search the house for a book; to search the wood for a thief.
Send though men, that they may search the land of Canaan. Numbers 13:2.
2. To inquire; to seek for.
Enough is left besides to search and know. Milton.
3. To probe; to seek the knowledge of by feeling with instrument; as to search a wound.
4. To examine; to try. Psalm 139:23.
To search out, to seek till found, or to find by seeking; as, to search out truth. Watts.
SEARCH, v.i. serch.
1. To seek; to look for; to make search.
Once more search with me. Shak.
2. To make inquiry; to inquire.
It suffices that they have once with care sifted the matter, and searched into all the particulars. Locke.
To search for, to look for; to seek; to find; as, to search for a gentleman now in the house. Shak.
SEARCH, n. serch.
1. A seeking or looking for something that is lost, or the place of which us unknown; with for or after; as a search for lost money; a search for mines of gold and silver; a search after happiness or knowledge.
2. Inquiry; a seeking. He spent his life in search of truth.
3. Quest; pursuit for finding.
Nor did my search of liberty begin, Till my black hairs were chang’d upon my chin. Dryden.
SEARCHABLE, a. serch’able. That may be searched or explored.
SEARCHED, pp. serch’ed. Looked over carefully; explored; examined.
SEARCHER, n. serch’er.
1. One who searches, explores or examines for the prupose of finding something.
2. A seeker; an inquirer.
3. An examiner; a trier; as the Seacher of hearts.
4. An officer in London, appointed to examine the bodies of the dead, and report the cause of their death.
5. An officer of the customs, whose business is to search and examine ships outward bound, to ascertain whether they have prohibited goods on board, also baggage, goods, etc.
6. An inspector of lether.
7. In military affairs, an instrument for examining ordnance, to ascertain whether guns have any cavities in them.
8. An instrument used in the inspection of butter, etc. to ascertain the quality of that which is contained in firkins.
SEARCHING, pp. serch’ing.
1. Looking into or over; exploring; examining; inquiring; seeking; investigating.
2. a. Penetrating; trying; close; as a searching discourse.
SEARCHING, n. search’ing. Exanination; severe inquisition. Judges 5:16.
SEARCHLESS, n. serch’less. Inscrutable; eluding search or investigation.
SEAR-CLOTH, n. A cloth to cover a sore; a plaster.
SEARED, pp. [from sear.] Burnt on the furface; cauterized; hardened;
SEAREDNESS, n. The state of being seared, cauterized or hardened; hardness; hence insensibility.
SEASON, n. se’zn. Season literally signifies that which comes or arrives; and in this general sense, is synonymous with time. Hence,
1. A fit or suitable time; the convenient time; the usual or appointed time; as, the messenger arrived in season; in good season. This fruit is out of season.
2. Any time, as distinguished from others.
The season prime for sweetest scents and airs. Milton.
3. A time of some continuance, but not long.
Thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. Acts 13:11.
4. One of the four divisions of the year, spring, summer, autumn, winter. The season is mild; it is cold for the season.
We saw in six days’ traveling, the several seasons of the year n their beauty. Addison.
We distinguish the season by prefixing its appropriate name, as the spring-season, summer-seacon, etc.
To be in season, to be in good time, or sufficiently early for the prupose.
To be out of season, to be too late, beyoun the proper time, or beyond the usually appointed time.
From the sense of convenience, is derived the following.
5. That which matures or prepares for the taste; that which gives a relish.
You lack the season of all nature, sleep. Shak.
But in this sense, we now use seasoning.
SEASON, v.t.
1. To render palatable, or to give a higher relish to, by the addition or mixture of another substance more pungent or pleasant; as, to season meat with salt; to season any thing with spices. Leviticus 2:13.
2. To render more agreeable, pleasant or delightful; to give relish or zest to by something that excites, animates or exhilarates.
You season still with sports your serious hours. Dryden.
The proper use of wit is to season conversation. Tillotson.
3. To render more agreeable, or less rigorous and severe; to temper; to moderate; to qualify by admixture.
When mercy seasons justice. Shak.
4. To imbue; to tinge or taint.
Season their younger years with prudent and pious principles. Taylor.
5. To fit any use by time or habit; to mature; to prepare.
Who in want a hollow friend doth try, Directly seasons him an enemy. Shak.
6. To prepare for use by drying or hardening; to take out or suffer to escape the natural juices; as, to season timber.
7. To prepare or mature for a climate; to accustom to and enable to endure; as, to season the body to a particular climate. Long residence in the West Indies, or a fever, may season strangers.
SEASON, v.i.
1. To become mature; to grow fit for use; to become adapted to a climate, as the human body.
2. To become dry and hard by the escape of natural juices, or by being penetrated with other substances. Timber seasons well under cover in the air, and ship timber seasons in salt water.
3. To betoken; to savor.
SEASONABLE, a. Opportune; that comes, happens or is done in good time, in due season or in proper time for the purpose; as a seasonable supply of rain.
Mercy is seasonable in the time of affliction. Ecclus.
SEASONABLENESS, n. Opportuneness of time; that state of being in good time, or in time convenient for the prupose or sufficiently early.
SEASONABLY, adv. In due time; in time convenient; sufficiently early; as, to sow or plant seasonably.
SEASONAGE, n. Seasoning; sauce. [Not used.]
SEASONED, pp. Mixed or sprinkled with something that gives a relish; tempered; moderated; qualified; matured; dried and hardened.
SEASONER, n. He that seasons; that which seasons, matures or gives a relish.
SEASONING, ppr. Giving a relish by something added; moderating; qualifying; maturing; drying and hardening; fitting by habit.
SEASONING, n.
1. That which is added to any species of food to give it a higher relish; usually, something pungent or aromatic; as salt, spices or other aromatic herbs, acids, sugar, or a mixture of several things.
2. Something added or mixed to enhance the pleasure of enjoyment; as, with or humor may serve as a seasoning to eloquence.
Political speculations are of so dry and asutere a nature, that they will not go down with the public without frequent seasoning. Addison.
SEAT, n. [L. sedes, situs.]
1. That on which one sits; a chair, bench, stool or any other thing on which a person sits.
Christ--overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves. Matthew 21:12.
2. The place of sitting; throne; chair of state; tribunal; post of authority; as the seat of justice; judgment-seat.
3. Mansion; residence; dwelling; abode; as Italy the seat of empire. The Greeks sent colonies to seek a new seat in Gaul.
In Albe he shall fix his royal seat. Dryden.
4. Site; situation. The seat of Eden has never been incontrovertibly ascertained.
5. That part of a saddle on which a person sits.
6. In horsemanship, posture or situation of a perosn on horseback.
7. A pew or slip in a chruch; a place to sit in.
8. The place where a thing is settled or established. London is the seat of business and opulence. So we say, the seat of the muses, the seat of arts, the seat of commerce.
SEAT, v.t.
1. To place on a seat; to cause to sit down. We seat ourselves; we seat our guests.
The guests were no sooner seated but they entered into a warm debate. Arbuthnot.
2. To place in a post of authority, in office or a place of distinction. He seated his son in the professor’s chair.
Then high was king Richard seated. Shak.
3. To settle; to fix in a particular place or country. A colony of Greeks seated themselves in the south of Italy; another at Massilia in Gaul.
4. To fix; to set firm.
From their foundations, loosening to and fro, They pluck’d the seated hills. Milton.
5. To place in a chruch; to assign seats to. In New England, where the pews in churches are not private property, it is customary to seat families for a year or longer time; that is, assign and appropriate seats to their use.
6. To appropriate the pews in, to particular families; as, to seat a church.
7. To repair by making the seat new; as, to seat a garment.
8. To settle; to plant with inhabitants; as, to seat a country. [Not used much.]
SEAT, v.i. To rest; to lie down. [Not in use.]
SEATED, pp. Placed in a chair or on a bench, etc.; set; fixed; settled; established; furnished with a seat.
SEATING, ppr. Placing on a seat; setting; settling; furnishing with a seat; having its seats assigned to individuals, as a church.
SEAVES, n. plu. [Heb. suf.] Rushes.
SEAVY, a. Overgrown with rushes.
SEBACEOUS, a. [Low L. sebaceus, from sebum, sevum, tallow.] Made of tallow or fat; pretaining to fat.
Sebaceous humor, a suet-like or glutinous matter secreted by the sebaceous glands, which serves to defent the skin and keep it soft. Coxe. Parr.
Sebaceous glands, small glands seated in the cellular membrane under the skin, which secrete the sebaceous humor. Parr.
SEBACIC, a. [supra.] In chimistry, pretaining to fat; obtained for fat; as the sebacic acid.
SEBATE, n. [supra.] In chimistry, a salt formed by the sebacic acid and a base.
SEBESTEN, n. The Assyrian plum, a plant of the genus Cordia, a species of jujube.
SECANT, a. [L. secans, seco, to cut or cut off, coinciding with Eng. saw.] Cutting; dividing into two parts.
SECANT, n.
1. In geometry, a line that cuts another, or divides it into parts. The secant of a circle is a line drawn from the circumference on one side, to a point without the circumference on the other, In trigonometry, a secant is a right line drawn from the center of a circle, which, cutting the circumference, proceeds till it meets with a tangent to the same circle.
2. In trigonometry, the secant of an arc is a right line drawn from the center through one end of the arc, and terminated by a tangent drawn through the other end.
SECEDE, v.i. [L. secedo; se, from, and cedo, to move. Se is an inseparable preposition or prefix in Latin, but denoting departure or separation.] To withdraw from fellowship, communion or association; to separate ones’s self; as, certain ministers seceded from the church of Scotland about the year 1733.
SECEDER, n. One who secedes. In Scotland, the seceders are a numerous body of presbyterians who seceded from the communion of the established church, about the year 1733.
SECEDING, ppr. Withdrawing from fellowship or communion.
SECERN, v.t. [L. secerno; se and cerno, to separate.] In the animal economy, to secrete.
The mucus secerned in the nose--is a laudable humor. Arbuthnot.
SECERNED, pp. Separated; secreted.
SECERNENT, n. That which promotes secretion; that which increases the irritative motions, which constitute secretion.
SECERNING, ppr. Separating; secreting; as secerning vessels.
SCESSION, n. [L. secessio. See Secede.]
1. The act of withdrawing, particularly from followship and communion.
2. The act of departing; departure.
SECLE, n. [L. seculum.] A century.
SECLUDE, v.t. [L. secludo; se and claudo, cludo, to shut.]
1. To separate, as from company or society, and usually to keep apart for some length of tome, or to confine in a separate state; as persons in low spirits seclude themselves from society.
Let eastern tyrants from the light of heav’n Seclude their bosom slaves. Thomson.
2. To shut out; to prevent from entering; to preclude.
Inclose your tender plants in your conservatory, secluding all entrance of cold. Evelyn.
SECLUDED, pp. Separated from others; living in retirement; shut out.
SECLUDING, ppr. Separating from others; confining in solitude or in a separate state; preventing entrance.
SECLUSION, n. s as z. The act of separating from society or connection; the state of being separate or apart; separation; a shutting out; as to live in seclusion.
SECOND, a. [L. secundus; L. sequor, to follow. See Seek.]
1. That immediately follows the first; the mext following the first in order of place or time; the ordinal of two. Take the second book from the shelf. Enter the second house.
And he slept and dreamed the second time. Genesis 41:5.
2. Next in value, power, excellence, dignity or rank; inferior. The silks of China are second to none. Lord Chatham was second to none in eloquence. Dr. Johnson was second to none in itellecual powers, but second to many in research and erudition.
Second terms, in algebra, those where the unknown quantity has a degree of power less than it has in the term where it is raised to the highest.
At second-hand, in the sicond place of order; not in first place, orby or from the first; by transmission; not primarily; not originally; as a report received at second hand.
In imitation of preachers at second hand, I shall transcribe from Bruyere a piece of raillery. Tatler.
SECOND, n.
1. One who attends another in a duel, to aid him, mark out the ground or destance, and see that all proceedings between the parties are fair.
2. One that supports or maintains another; that which supports
Being sure enough of seconds after the first onset. Wotton.
3. The sixtieth part of a minute or of a degree, that is, the second minute or small division next to the hour. Sound moves above 1140 English feet in a second.
4. In music, an interval of a conjoint degree, being the difference between any sound and the next nearest sound above ar below it.
SECOND, v.t. [L. secundo.]
1. To follow in the next place.
Sin is seconded with sin. [Little used.] South.
2. To support; to lend aid to the attempt of another; to assist’ to forward; to promote; to encourage; to act as the maintainer.
We have supplies to second our attempt. Shak.
The attempts of Austria to circumscribe the conquests of Buonaparte, were seconded by Russia. Anon.
In God’s, one single can its end produce,
Yet serves second too some other use. Pope.
3. In legislation, to support, as a motion or the mover. We say, to second a motion or proposition, or to second the mover.
SECONDARILY, adv. [from secondary.] In second degree or second order; not primarily or originally; not the first intention. Duties on imports serve primarily to raise a revenue, and secondarily to encourage domestic manufactures and industry.
SECONDARINESS, n. The state of being secondary.
SECONDARY, a. [L. secundarius, from secundus.]
1. Succeeding next in order to the first; subordinate.
Where there is moral right on the one hand, not secondary right can discharge it. L’ Estrange.
2. Not primary; not of the first intention.
Two are racial differences; the secondary differences are as four. Bacon.
3. Not of the first order or rate; revolving about a primary planet. Primary planets revolve about the sun; secondary planets revolve about the primary.
4. Acting by deputation or delegated authority; as the work of secondary hands.
5. Acting in subordination, or second to another; as a secondary officer.
Secondary rocks, in geology, are those which were formed after the primary. they are always situated over or above the primitive and transition rocks; they abound with organic remains or petrifications, and are supposed to be mechanical deposits from water. Cleaveland.
A secondary fever, is that which arises after a crisis, or the discharge of some morbid matter, as after the declension of the small pox or measles. Quincy.
Secondary circles, or secondaries, in astronomy, circles passing through the poles of any of the great circles of the sphere, perpendicular to the planes of those circles.
Secondary qualities, are the qualities of bodies which are not inseparable from them, but which is proceed from casual circumstances, such as color, taste, odor, etc.
Secondary formations, in geology, formations of substances, subsequent to the primitive.
SECONDARY, n.
1. A delegate or deputy; one who acts in subordination to another; as the secondaries of the court of king’s bench and common pleas.
2. A fether growing on the second bone of a fowl’s wing.
SECONDED, pp. Supported; aided.
SECONDER, n. One that supported what another attempts, or what he affirms, or hat he moves or proposes; as the seconder of an enterprise or of a motion.
SECOND-HAND, n. Possession received from the first possessor.
SECOND-HAND, a.
1. Not original or primary; received from another.
The have but a second-hand or implicit knowledge. Locke.
2. Not new; that has been used by another; as a second-hand book.
SECONDLY, adv. In the second place.
SECOND-RATE, n. [second and rate.] The second order in size, dignity, or value.
They call it thunder of the second-rate. Addison.
So we say, a ship of the second-rate.
SECOND-RATE, a. Of the second size, rank, quality or value; as a second-rate ship; a second-rate cloth; a second-rate champion.
SECOND-SIGHT, n. The power of seeing things future or distant; a power claimed by some of the highlanders in Scotland.
Nor less avail’d his optic sleight,
And Scottish gift of second-sight. Trubbull’s M’Fingal.
SECOND-SIGHTED, a. Having the power of second-sight.
SECRECY, n. [from secret.]
1. Properly, a state of separation; hence, concealment from the observation of others, or from the notice of any persons not concerned; privacy; a state of being bid from view. When used of an individual, secrecy implies concealment from all others; when used of two or more, it implies concealment from all persons except those concerned. thus a company of counterfeiters carry on their villainy in secrecy.
The Lady Anne, Whom the king in secrecy hath long married. Shak.
2. Solitude; retirement; seclusion from the view of others.
3. Forbearance of disclosure or discovery.
It is not with public as with private prayer; in this, rather secrecy is commanded than outward show. Hooker.
4. Fidelity to a secret; the act or habit of keeping secrets.
For secrecy no lady closer.
SECRET, a. [L. secretus. This is given as the participle of secerno, but is radically a different word. The radical sense of seg is to separate, as in L. seco, to cut off; and not improbably this word is contracted into the Latin se, a prefix in segrego, separo, etc.]
1. Properly, separate; hence, hid; concealed from the notice or knowledge of all persons except the individual or individuals concerned.
I have a secret errand to thee, O king. Judges 3:19.
2. Unseen; private; secluded; being in retirement.
There secret in her sapphire cell,
He with the Nais wont to dwell. Fenton.
3. Removed from sight; private; unknown.
Abide in a secret place, and hide thyself. 1 Samuel 19:2.
4. Keeping secrets; faithful to secrets entrusted; as secret Romans. [Unusual.]
5. Private; affording privacy.
6. Occult; not seen; not apparent; as the secret operations of physical causes.
7. Known to God only.
Secret things belong to the Lord our God. Deuteronomy 29:29.
Not proper to be seen; kept or such as ought to be kept from observation.
SECRET, n. [L. secretum]
1. Something studiously concealed. A man who cannot keep his own secrets, will hardly keep the secrets of others.
To tell our own secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery. Rambler.
A talebearer revealeth secrets. Proverbs 11:13.
2. A thing not discovered and therefore not known.
All secrets of the deep, all nature’s works. Milton.
Hast thou heard the secret of God? Job 15:8.
3. Secrets, plu., The parts which modesty and propriety require to be concealed. In secret, in a private place; in privacy or secrecy; in a state or place not seen; privately.
Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. Proverbs 9:17.
SECRET, v.t. To keep private. [Little used.]
SECRETARISHIP, n. The office of a secretary.
SECRETARY, n. [L. secretus, secret; originally a confident, one entrusted with secrets.]
1. A person employed by a public body, by a company or by an individual, to write orders, letters, dispatches, public or private papers, and the like. Thus ligislative bodies have secretaries, whose business is to record all their laws and resolves. Embassadors have secretaries.
2. An officer whose business is to superintend and manage the affairs of a particular department of government; as the secretary of state, who conducts correspondence of a state with foreign courts: the secretary of the treasury, who manages the department of finance; the secretary of war, of the navy, etc.
SECRETE, v.t.
1. To hide; to conceal; to remove from observation or the knowledge of others; as to secrete stolen goods.
2. To secrete one’s self; to retire from notice into a private place; to abscend.
3. In the animal economy, to produce from the blood substances different from the blood itself, or from any of its constituents; as the glands. The liver secretes bile; the salivary glands secrete saliva.
SECRETED, pp. Concealed; secerned.
SECRETING, ppr. Hiding; secerning.
SECRETION, n.
1. The act of secerting; the act of the producing from the blood substances different from the blood itself, or from any of its constituents, as bile, saliva, mucus, urine, etc. This was considered by the older physiologists as merely separation from the blood of certain substances previously contained in it; the literal meaning of secretion. But this opinion is generally exploded. The organs of secretion are of very various form and structure, but the most general are called glands.
2. The matter secreted, as mucus, perspirable matter, etc.
SECRETIST, n. A dealer in secrets. [Not in use.]
SECRETITIOUS, a. Parted by an animal in secretion.
SECRETLY, adv.
1. Privately; privily; not openly; without the knowledge of others; as, to dispatch a messenger secretly.
2. Inwardly; not apparently or visibly; latently.
Now secretly with inward grief she pin’d. Addison.
SECRETNESS, n.
1. The state of being hid or concealed.
2. The quality of keeping a secret.
SECT, n. [L. Sp. secta; from L. seco, to cut off, to separate.]
1. A body or number of persons united in tenets, chiefly in philosophy or religion, but constituting a distinct party by holding sentiments different from those of other men. Most sects have originated in a particular perlon, who taught and propagated some peculiar notions in philosophy or religion, and who is considered to have been its founder. Among the jews, the principal sects were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. In Greece were the Cynic sect, founded by Antisthenes; and the Academic sect, by Plato. The Academic sect gave birth to the Peripatetic, and a Cynic to the Stoic.
2. A cutting or coin. [Not used.]