| 释义 |
secondary, a. and n.|ˈsɛkəndərɪ|
Also 4–5 secondarye, secoundarie, secundari, -arye, 4–7 secundarie, 4–8 secundary, 5–7 secondari(e.
[ad. L. secundāri-us of the second class or quality, f. secund-us: see second a. and -ary1. Cf. F. secondaire (1372 in Hatz.-Darm.), Pr. secundari, Sp., Pg. secundario, It. secondario.]
A. adj.
1. a. Belonging to the second class in respect of dignity or importance; entitled to consideration only in the second place. Also, and usually, in less precise sense: Not in the first class; not chief or principal; of minor importance, subordinate.
1386Almanak of Year 1 Ther es difference bitwyx þe principal howce and þe secundary howce. a1396[? W. Hylton] Angels' Song in Horstm. R. Rolle I. 178 For þe souereyn & þe essencial Ioye es in [þe] lufe of god.., and [þe] secundarie es in communynge & behaldynge of aungels. c1425Orolog. Sapient. iv. in Anglia X. 354/27 Siche oþere exercises..schulbe.. demyd as secundarye and lesse worth. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 151 Theyr outwarde labour is not theyr principall entent, but it is onely the secondary entent of theyr charite. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 492/2 Therfore these causes be but diuined and gessed at, and seme but very secundary. 1632in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 478 Your request in that particular was accompanied with some secundarie respectes not then made knowne unto us. 1735J. Price Stone Br. Thames 15 Things..purely Ornimental, are no more than of secondary Consideration. 1742Young Nt. Th. viii. 1171 Those secondary goods that smile on earth, He, loving in proportion, loves in peace. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 6 Secondary powers are those of Turkey, Spain, Holland. 1801E. Helme St. Marg. Cave (ed. 2) IV. 233 And is there no secondary motive for that wish, Isabel? 1838Guest Eng. Rhythms i. iv. I. 78 When the word contains two or more syllables there may be a second accent; this, of course, must be subordinate to the first, and is commonly called the secondary accent. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt xxxvi, Something that made the threat..only a secondary alarm. 1899Heinig Gloss. Bot. Terms, Secondary, subordinate. Secondary axes, those proceeding from the main axis. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert ii. 12 Besides, the religious difficulty was only a secondary, a very secondary matter.
†b. Second best; of the second grade of quality.
1428E.E. Wills (1882) 82 My Russet Candelstykes, and 1 paire Candelstekes secundaries next þoo. 1508in Ripon Ch. Acts 330 My secondarie gowne. 1564Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) 225 His best dublatt xijd..a secondari dublatt viijd a nother payre of hose viijd..one old dublatt iiijd. 1580Blundevil Cur. Horses Dis. clxxxviii. 77 Take of..Mirrh secondarie two pound [etc.]. 1601Holland Pliny xxxiii. viii. II. 477 They put secundarie Vermillion in an earthen pot.
c. Of a lower kind; entitled in a lower degree to the appellation. secondary wife: † (a) a concubine; (b) a socially or legally recognized inferior wife in some societies; similarly secondary consort. Also secondary marriage, (a) concubinage; (b) marriage to a secondary wife (sense (b)); similarly secondary union.
1382Wyclif Gen. xxv. 6 To the sonys forsothe of the secondarye wyues [Vulg. concubinarum] he ȝaue ȝiftis. 1382― Gen. xxii. 24, Judges viii. 31, Song Sol. vi. 7. 1782 J. Brown Compend. View Nat. & Rev. Relig. i. i. 24 Servants in families ought to be considered as secondary children, and have due instruction [etc.]. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xliv. IV. 382 From the age of Augustus to the tenth century, the use of this secondary marriage [i.e. concubinage] prevailed both in the West and East. 1847A. Strickland Lives Queens of England X. ii. 328 He likewise obliged the princess to receive at her court, and to countenance the duke of Monmouth's mistress, or secondary wife, Lady Harriet Wentworth. 1924D. Hosie Two Gentl. China (ed. 2) ix. 91 The ladies of the household..often wield a power that must be reckoned with, if they are fond of intrigue, like a certain secondary wife of an official of our acquaintance. 1931W. F. Sands Undiplomatic Mem. 69 From kitchenmaid she was raised to the first rank of secondary consorts..and in due course became the mother of the monarch's third son. 1950Jrnl. R. Anthrop. Inst. LXXX. 101/2 In view of the difficulty of establishing the exact nature of the forms of ‘secondary marriage’, ‘the doctrine of presumption of marriage now applies to the Chinese’. Ibid. 103/1 A..significant shift of a class of women from the status of kept mistresses to that of secondary wives. 1950I. Schapera in A. Radcliffe-Brown Afr. Systems Kinship 149 A ‘secondary union’..is merely an extension of an existing marriage. Its essential character is that, for the purposes of child-bearing, one of the original parties..is replaced by another person of the same sex, who is regarded as a bodily substitute, and not as an independent spouse. 1970J. M. Meskill in M. Freedman Family & Kinship in China 148 In the Wu-feng Lin genealogy..secondary wives..are recorded as well as main wives.
†d. Of an official: Second in rank or status. Of a judge: Not chief or principal; = puisne a. 1 b.
c1450in Aungier Syon (1840) 337 The secundary preste schal sense the fyrste, and the principal senser of the lay brethern schal sense the seyd secundary preste thre castys. 1450Rolls of Parlt. V. 196/2 Gilbert Maltoft, secondary Baron of oure Eschequier. 1599in T. Stafford Pac. Hib. i. i. (1633) 7 If the said Iustice, or assistant, and secondary Iustice, shall depart [etc.]. 1607in Verney Papers (1853) 96 With him as secondarie men in charge, was one maister Philip Giffard. 1630T. Westcote View Devonsh. (1845) 431 Sir John Whiddon..was also secondary Justice of the King's Bench.
e. Of persons: Second-rate. rare.
1827Hare Guesses ii. (1873) 349 Secondary men, men of talents, may be mixt up like an apothecary's prescription. 1829Landor Imag. Conv., Emp. China & Tsing-Ti Wks. 1853 II. 148/1 He will never have a minister who is not taken from the ranks; never a man of genius, never an honest man; but secondary and plausible. 1836― Pericles & Aspasia, Asp. to Anaxag. ibid. 426/2 No writer of florid prose ever was more than a secondary poet.
f. Subsidiary, auxiliary; that is used only in the second resort, or that serves to assist something else.
1751C. Labelye Westm. Bridge 22 Every Arch..is double, the first..built with great Blocks of Portland Stone,..over which there is another Arch..bonded in with the under semicircular Arch... By means of these secondary Arches..every Arch of Westminster Bridge is able to stand by itself. 1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1805) II. 232 Parrots..never climb nor creep without fastening by the bill; with this they begin, and they use their feet only as secondary instruments of motion. 1812J. Henry Camp. agst. Quebec 31 Our secondary guide and myself, thinking that we could manage the water slipped into our canoe. 1861Paley æschylus (ed. 2), Supplices 916 note, A secondary chorus of attendants was actually present. 1874Lawson Dis. Eye 135 To be cut through with a small secondary knife. 1902Sir G. S. Clarke in Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 124/1 Secondary bases, or coaling stations,..are sources of maritime strength in proportion [etc.].
g. Used to designate punishments other than capital.
1831Edin. Rev. Sept. 185 note, The difficulty of secondary punishments is much increased by observing that there is not a form of punishment which is not liable to some objections.
h. secondary evidence (Law): (see quots. 1921, 1976).
1810in E. H. East Rep. Cases King's Bench VIII. 289 The fact of its loss being proved, so as to let in the secondary evidence of its contents; that matter was sufficiently established by parol. 1885Law. Rep. Chanc. Div. XXIX. 290 A probate was not even secondary evidence of a lost will until the statute 20 & 21 Vict. 1921S. L. Phipson Law of Evidence (ed. 6) i. 7 The term secondary evidence, on the other hand, is by common usage confined to documents; it deals only with the means of proving their contents; and it is in general admissible whenever the absence of the primary source has been satisfactorily explained. 1976Halsbury's Laws of England (ed. 4) XVII. 9 In the unavoidable absence of the best or primary evidence of documents, the court will accept secondary evidence. This is evidence which suggests, on the face of it, that other and better evidence exists.
i. secondary association (Cytology): (see quot. 1931).
1931W. J. C. Lawrence in Cytologia II. 353 It is now possible to demonstrate the occurrence of two different types of chromosome association in polyploids. We may define these two modes of association as follows: Primary association 1) arises from prophase pairing and 2) determines segregation. Secondary association 1) is a post⁓synaptic phenomenon and 2) does not affect segregation. It is a differential approximation of the bivalents in the equatorial plane. 1959[see multivalent n.].
†2.
a. Having or entitled to the second place in an enumeration. Obs. rare.
a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 58 [Enumerates three kinds of hæmorrhoids. Of which] þe secundary [i.e. the second hardest to cure] is rixis. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 273 He pullede owte his eien for iij causes. The firste cause was for [etc.]... The cause secondary was for he myȝhte not beholde women withowte concupiscence. The thrydde cause was [etc.].
†b. quasi-adv. In the second place (in an enumeration, argument, etc.); secondly. Obs.
Perh. suggested by med.L. secundāriē adv., similarly used.
1455Rolls of Parlt. V. 300/2 First to Goddes pleasure, secundarie for your owne suerte..and for the third to the universall wele..of this lond. c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 928 Secondary, secondement. 1538Starkey England ii. ii. §14. 195 We myght bryng thys ij thyngys to effecte—that ys to say, to haue the cyuyle law of the Romaynys to be the commyn law here of Englond with vs; and, secondary that [etc.].
3. a. Belonging to the second order in a series related by successive derivation, causation, or dependence; derived from, based on, or dependent on something else which is primary; not original, derivative.
secondary cause: a proximate or instrumental cause, a cause produced by a primary or first cause. (Also used in sense 1.)
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. i. (1495) 76 Heete Colde Drye and Moyste ben callyd the fyrste qualitees... They ben also callyd the pryncipal qualytees, for of theym come all the secundarye effectes. 1567Allen Def. Priesthood 15 Wrought by the principal cause, and yet by the office and ministery of some secondary cause appointed..for the same vse. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 59 We giue unto God the cheefest stroke..all other creatures being but the instrumentall, or secundarie causes. c1645Howell Lett. (1655) II. lxi. 86 So many mother languages,..besides secondary tongues and dialects, which exceed the number of their mothers. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. xxi. 268 In this secondary and symbolicall sense it may be also understood. a1676Hale Prim. Orig. Man. (1677) 26 The secondary origination of Mankind, or the production of the Individuals by generation. 1738Gentl. Mag. VIII. 62/1 Neither do I remember that I have seen much of it [sc. generosity] in any Moral Treatise, being perhaps but superficially handled, under the Notion of a secondary and derivative Virtue. 1777Priestley Matt. & Spir. (1782) I. xii. 146 All secondary causes necessarily lead us to a primary one. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. xlix. V. 94 Of these pictures, the far greater part, the transcripts of a human pencil, could only pretend to a secondary likeness. 1790Phil. Trans. R. Soc. LXXX. 247 (heading) Secondary triangles, subdivided into two sets, for the improvement of the maps of the country, and the plan of the City of London. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 76 Convinced of the undeviating uniformity of secondary causes,..he determines the probability of accounts transmitted to him of former occurrences. 1877Smith & Wace's Dict. Chr. Biog. I. 449/2 The literature upon Cerinthus is summed up in the following primary and secondary authorities. 1908Breed & Hosmer Princ. & Pract. Surveying II. i. 5 From the sides of the primary triangles as bases a secondary system of triangles is laid out, the sides being shorter than those of the primary system. 1975J. B. Harley O.S. Maps i. 7 This primary network is broken down successively into a secondary triangulation (giving a continuous network of stations between 8 km and 12 km apart), a tertiary triangulation (with a density of control points 4 to 7 km apart), and other lower orders of control.
b. Having only a derived authority; acting under the direction of another, subordinate. Cf. 1 d.
1667Milton P.L. v. 854 That we were formd then saist thou? and the work Of secondarie hands, by task transferd From Father to his Son? 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 256 It is doubtful whether the people, with their strong personal feeling towards their Gospodar, will be satisfied with applying to a secondary agency.
c. Philos. (a) Applied to those qualities or affections of bodies that were supposed to be derived from the four ‘primary’ qualities recognized by Aristotle, hot, cold, wet, dry. Obs. exc. Hist. (b) Applied to those properties or qualities of matter (such as colour, smell, taste, etc.) which are by Locke and others distinguished from ‘primary’ qualities as not existing (like the latter) in the bodies themselves independently of perception, but depending upon the action of the primary qualities on the percipient. Cf. primary a. 6 b.
(a)1656Stanley Hist. Philos. vi. Doctr. Aristotle ii. xiii. (1687) 380/1 Besides these principal affections there are others secondary, chiefly competent to homogeneous bodies, some passive, some active.
(b)1666Boyle Orig. Forms & Qual. 43 There are simpler and more Primitive affections of Matter, from which these Secondary Qualities, if I may so call them, do depend. 1700Locke Hum. Und. ii. viii. §10 (ed. 4) 61 Such Qualities, which, in truth are nothing in the Objects themselves, but Powers to produce various Sensations in us by their primary Qualities, i.e. by the Bulk Figure, Texture, and Motion of their insensible parts, as Colours, Sounds, Tasts, &c. These I call secondary Qualities. 1856Ferrier Inst. Metaph. 146 Among the secondary qualities [of matter] are classed heat and cold, colour and sound, taste and odour.
d. Astr. † secondary movable: any of the ‘movables’ except the primum mobile (obs.). secondary planet: a satellite which revolves round a primary planet (planet n.1 2). secondary system: a subordinate system (composed of a primary planet and its satellites) within the solar system.
1664Power Exp. Philos. Pref. 4 The Secondary Planets of Saturn and Jupiter. 1690Secondary movable [see movable n. 1]. 1786–7Bonnycastle Astron. iii. 39 Ten others, called secondary planets, or satellites, which regard their primaries as the centers of their motions. 1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 237 The secondary systems of which that [viz. the Solar] system itself is composed. 1868― Elem. Astron. §16 (1879) 88 The Moon..is one of the satellites, or secondary bodies.
e. secondary circle: Geom. and Astr., a great circle passing through the poles of another great circle perpendicular to its plane; see also n. 3. secondary caustic Math. (see quot. 1857).
1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Secondary Circles. 1857Cayley Math. Papers (1889) II. 339 The secondary caustic or orthogonal trajectory of the refracted rays, i.e. a curve having the caustic for its evolute.
f. secondary bow or secondary rainbow: a rainbow formed by rays twice internally reflected by the rain-drops; usually, an outer and fainter bow parallel with the primary bow.
1793Sturges in Phil. Trans. LXXXIII. 1 In this shower two primary rainbows appeared,..with a secondary bow to each. 1859Parkinson Optics (1866) 236 The Secondary Rainbow. The space above the primary rainbow..seems darker than the rest; beyond this space appears a broader but fainter rainbow the colours of which are in reverse order to those in the primary. 1883R. H. Scott Elem. Meteorol. 200 The secondary bow, presenting the prismatic colours in the reverse order to that just described.
g. Cryst. Of crystalline forms: Derivative, not primitive.
1805–17R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 174 The manner in which secondary crystals may increase in magnitude, and still preserve their form. 1823H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 69 The edge c d, of the secondary plane, being parallel to the diagonal a b, of the primary form. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 122 The secondary forms are supposed to arise from decrements of particles taking place on different edges and angles of the primitive forms.
h. Electr. (i) Of a current: Induced. Hence of apparatus, etc.: Pertaining to an induced current. With reference to any device utilizing electromagnetic induction, esp. a transformer: of, pertaining to, or carrying the output electrical power.
1832Phil. Mag. XI. 300 Although the principal current in A be continued, still the secondary current in B is not found to accompany it, for it ceases after the first moment. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxxi. 423, I applied the secondary electric current to the parts affected. 1847Patent Jrnl. 16 Oct. 476/1 Upon the primary circuit being completed through the primary coils, a secondary circuit is induced through the secondary coils, but in an opposite direction. c1865J. Wylde in Circ. Sci. I. 253/2 The secondary wire, is that in which a current is induced by its proximity to the primary one. 1881S. P. Thompson Elem. Lessons Electr. & Magn. 365 Causing the inductive action in the secondary circuit at ‘make’ to be comparatively feeble. 1931B.B.C. Year-bk. (1932) 436/2 The output of the secondary winding of the output transformer. 1947R. Lee Electronic Transformers & Circuits iii. 58 Single⁓phase full-wave rectifiers with two anodes have higher secondary volt-amperes for a given primary v-a rating than a filament transformer. 1962Newnes Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 810/2 The induced secondary voltage Es lags ϕ by 90° and the secondary current Is lags behind Es by an angle which depends upon the impedance of the secondary circuit. 1969J. J. Sparkes Transistor Switching vi. 146 They are called secondary circuits to contrast them with the input circuits.
(ii) Of a cell or battery: in which the chemical reaction that generates the current is reversible and which therefore can store electrical energy supplied to it.
1872Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXV. 589 The author has investigated what proportion of the energy is lost whilst the secondary battery receives its charge. 1881Electrician 3 Sept. 249/2 No one is inclined to underrate the claims of M. Planté in connection with this form of secondary battery. 1902J. A. Fleming in Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 74/1 In connection with the generator, it is almost the invariable custom to put down a secondary battery, to enable the supply to be given after the engine has stopped. 1922Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 72/2 There is no essential electro-chemical difference between the secondary cell and the primary cell when either is used as a generator of electrical energy. 1962Newnes Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 9/1 Also known as the storage cell or secondary cell, the accumulator is reversible, i.e. it can, after discharging, be brought back to a full state of charge by passing a reverse current through it. 1979Nature 22 Mar. 335/2 (caption) Schematic for repeating cell in a forced ionisation secondary battery using a bipolar ion exchange membrane.
i. Chem. (i) Applied to compounds regarded as being derived from ammonia († or water) by replacement of two hydrogen atoms by organic radicals (cf. primary a. 6 f (i)); also extended to analogous derivatives of other elements, esp. phosphorus. [The sense is due to Gerhardt & Chiozza, who used F. secondaire (Compt. Rend. (1853) XXXVII. 88).]
1854Q. Jrnl. Chem. Soc. VI. 195 To convert the preceding compounds [sc . primary amides] into secondary amides, or amides representing a molecule of ammonia in which 2 atoms of hydrogen are replaced by the negative radicals, we heat these primary amides with an equivalent quantity of chloride of benzoyl, of cumyl, sulphophenyl, &c. 1888,1889[see primary a. 6 f (i)]. 1932I. D. Garard Introd. Org. Chem. xi. 154 Dimethylamine is a typical secondary amine. 1962,1965[see primary a. 6 f (i)]. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XIII. 697/1 The reaction of amines with nitrous acid is an old and important reaction... From secondary amines, nitrosamines precipitate as non-basic, yellowish oils.
(ii) Applied to organic compounds other than amines, etc. (see prec. sense) in which the characteristic functional group is located on a saturated carbon atom which is itself bonded to two other carbon atoms. [Applied orig. to alcohols by H. Kolbe, who used G. secundär (Ann. der Chem. und Pharm. (1864) CXXXII. 102).]
1864Chem. News 26 Nov. 260/1 By a secondary alcohol the author [sc. Kolbe] means a body in which two of the typical hydrogen atoms in a typical alcohol are substituted by two atoms of some other alcohol radicals. 1876Phil. Mag. II. 162 To so-called normal butylic alcohol is generally assigned the structural formula CH2(C3H7)OH; to secondary butylic alcohol the formula CH(CH3)(C2H5)OH; [etc.]. 1876Encycl. Brit. V. 562/2 The isomeric alcohols of the present series can thus be conveniently classified... 1 Primary alcohols... 2 Secondary alcohols... 3 Tertiary alcohols. 1900Perkin & Kipping Org. Chem. vi. 107 Tertiary alcohols are, as a rule, more difficult to obtain than the primary or secondary compounds. 1932I. D. Garard Introd. Org. Chem. iii. 34 Secondary butyl alcohol..is made from butylene..just as isopropyl alcohol is made from propylene. 1972R. A. Jackson Mechanism v. 88 In general, primary compounds undergo SN2 substitution more readily than do secondary compounds, and SN2 reactions on tertiary compounds go with great difficulty if at all.
(iii) Applied to a saturated carbon atom which is bonded to two other carbon atoms; also, bonded to or involving such an atom. Of an ion or free radical: having (respectively) the electric charge or the unpaired electron located on a secondary carbon atom.
1903A. J. Walker tr. Holleman's Text-bk. Org. Chem. i. 46 If it [sc. a carbon atom] is linked to two carbon atoms it is named secondary; if to three, tertiary; if to four, quaternary. 1926H. G. Rule tr. J. Schmidt's Text-bk. Org. Chem. 70 If two, three or all four valencies are linked to carbon, the atom under consideration is termed secondary, tertiary or quaternary respectively. 1950E. R. Alexander Princ. Ionic Org. Reactions iii. 42 We find..that a primary or secondary carbonium ion extracts a hydrogen atom with a pair of electrons from an alkane so as to form a secondary or tertiary carbonium ion. 1972[see primary a. 6 f (iii)]. 1972Norman & Waddington Mod. Org. Chem. vi. 82 The order of stability of carbonium ions is tertiary > secondary > primary.
j. Meteorol. Said of a subsidiary depression taking place on the border of a primary cyclone. Cf. B. 10.
1876R. H. Scott Weather Charts 76 It is not often, however, that we find the secondary depressions so clearly marked as in fig. 15.
k. Applied to bodily characteristics which are peculiar to one sex but are not essential to reproduction; sometimes the sexual ducts and organs are also included. Cf. primary a. 6 h.
1780J. Hunter in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. LXX. 529 It is my intention at present to extend my inquiry on this subject no farther than as to what relates to that resemblance which one sex bears to that of another in those distinguishing properties which I term secondary... There is often a change of the secondary properties of one sex into another. Ibid. 530 The male..loses that resemblance which he before bore to the female in various secondary properties, exclusive of what relates to the organs of generation. Ibid. 531 A change of those secondary characters. 1859C. Darwin Orig. Species v. 156, I think it will be admitted..that secondary sexual characters are very variable. 1871, etc. [see primary a. 6 h]. 1926H. M. Kyle Biol. Fishes xii. 290 It is amongst the freshwater Teleosts..that the secondary sexual characters are most developed... Usually it is the pectoral fins that are longer in the male. 1977Steen & Price Human Sex & Sexuality iv. 59 Androgens, of which testosterone is the principle one, control the development of secondary sex characteristics (distribution of hair, quality of voice, skeletal form, sebaceous gland activity).
l. Geol. Of a mineral: that is not an original constituent of the rock; formed by the alteration or replacement of primary constituents of the rock.
1886[see primary a. 6 i]. 1897G. P. Merrill Treat. Rocks iii. iii. 249 Those dikes containing so large a proportion of secondary epidote as to be of a dull greenish hue are almost invariably more enduring than the granites. 1931A. Johannsen Descr. Petrogr. Igneous Rocks I. ii. 28 Secondary minerals may be introduced by the addition of material such as boron, fluorine, etc., to form tourmaline, topaz, fluorite, etc. 1974Flint & Skinner Physical Geol. vi. 94/2 Water combines with the remaining aluminum silicate radical to create the clay mineral kaolinite... The resulting kaolinite we call a secondary mineral, because it was not present in the original rock.
m. secondary shaft = layshaft.
1888[see layshaft]. 1902A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors x. 205 Causing the secondary shaft..to be rotated. 1926H. T. Rutter Mod. Motors II. vii. 261 Parallel to the gear-shaft in the gear box is another shaft, which is called the ‘lay’ shaft, ‘secondary’, or countershaft.
n. secondary spectrum: a fringe of colours bordering an image formed by a lens corrected for two wavelengths and due to the noncoincidence of the foci of other wavelengths.
1893W. E. Baxter tr. H. van Heurck's Microscope 370 The final upper lens, which is also a triplet, is used to destroy the secondary spectrum. 1932Hardy & Perrin Princ. Optics vi. 115 This residual chromatism gives rise to a fringe of color surrounding the image of an extended object, which is known as the secondary spectrum. 1978R. Kingslake Lens Design Fund. iv. 75 The fact that achromatizing a lens for two colors fails to unite the other colors is known as secondary spectrum; it should not be confused with the secondary chromatic aberration.
o. Physics and Astr. Of, pertaining to, or designating radiation that has been produced by the interaction of other (primary) radiation with matter. Of cosmic rays: produced in the earth's atmosphere by the impact of primary rays.
1898Sci. Abstr. I. 128 The secondary rays emitted by the metal..pass some centimetres through the air. 1921J. Scott-Taggart Thermionic Tubes i. 11 Under some conditions the electron bombardment liberates a number of secondary electrons attached to the atoms of the plate. 1938[see primary a. 6 k]. 1944Electronic Engin. XVI. 372/1 In order to avoid or minimise secondary emission it is necessary that grid structures shall be maintained reasonably cool during the operating life of a valve. 1959[see primary a. 6 k]. 1964M. Gowing Britain & Atomic Energy 1939–1945 i. 39 When the uranium oxide was bombarded with fast neutrons the initial fission did not propagate itself because the secondary neutrons lost energy. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia V. 200/1 Secondary cosmic rays consist mainly of subatomic particles that are short-lived..; they cannot have come far and are thus known to have been produced within the atmosphere.
p. secondary poverty: effective poverty due to waste, inefficiency, or some other drain on resources, rather than to insufficiency of means.
1901B. S. Rowntree Poverty p. viii, Families whose total earnings would be sufficient for merely physical efficiency were it not that some portion of it is absorbed by other expenditure... Poverty falling under this head is described as ‘secondary’ poverty. 1909M. F. Davies Life in Eng. Village xii. 146 These people..appear to have a struggle to keep going, and their incomes do not probably exceed the limit of secondary poverty. 1970M. Rein in P. Townsend Concept of Poverty ii. 60 If the diet is to..avoid building into its definition a confusion between primary and secondary poverty, then the standards of economy must be relaxed and a more realistic assumption of human error accepted.
q. Designating action taken by workers on strike to prevent other firms from doing business with the strikers' employers; esp. applied to a boycott or the picketing of the premises of firms not otherwise involved in the dispute. orig. U.S.
1909Pacific Reporter XCVIII. 1083/1 This is the argument commonly advanced to establish the illegality of what has been called..a ‘secondary’ rather than a ‘primary’ boycott. 1916L. Wolman Boycott in Amer. Trade Unions i. 142 The secondary boycott is distinctly different in effect from the simple strike; since..it inflicts injury upon an innocent third party. 1938Atlantic Reporter CXCV. 379/2 The Legislature..never contemplated..‘secondary picketing’. Ibid. 378/1 Secondary picketing is illegal. 1942Yale Law Jrnl. May 1209 Secondary picketing against the employer's vendee, is the only effective means of publicizing the facts of a labor contest. 1979Daily Tel. 13 Jan. 1/2 The Freight Transport Association said secondary picketing had been reduced in some areas, but expressed concern about the position in [the] Midlands where the dispute was unofficial. 1980Illustr. London News Mar. 19/1 The Law Lords referred to their judgment in the case of McShane v Express Newspapers, in which they had decided that secondary blacking on the part of journalists, on the instruction of their union, fell within the immunity granted under section 13 of the 1974 Act.
r. Designating an earthquake S wave (see S 6).
1919, etc. [see primary a. 4 h].
s. secondary industry: industry that converts the materials provided by primary industry (see primary a. 6 n) into commodities and products for the consumer.
1930Economist 19 July 107/2 The design behind the former movement is clearly to enable nascent secondary industries to compete in the home market. 1944[see light a.1 4 c]. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Aug. 127/3 The tending of land, livestock, and crops has figured so prominently in the lives of New Zealanders—and will continue to do so despite the growth of secondary industries. 1977D. M. Smith Human Geogr. viii. 232 The mineral or crop may be exported in its raw state for processing in Europe or North America, thus depriving the producing country of a possible basis for building up secondary industry.
t. secondary air: air supplied to a combustion zone where combustion with primary air is occurring.
1931Engineering 9 Jan. 40/2 Complete combustion to CO2 takes place at the end of the chamber, when an enveloping stream of secondary air meets the first stream. 1951Cohen & Rogers Gas Turbine Theory vii. 195 If devices are used to increase the turbulence and so distribute the secondary air more uniformly throughout the burning gases, the combustion efficiency will be improved but at the expense of increased pressure loss.
u. Of radar: relying on signals transmitted automatically by aircraft in response to signals reaching it from the radar.
1945R. Watson-Watt in Nature 15 Sept. 323 Radar in war fell into three convenient categories, each of which has come to stay in the peace... Secondary radar requires that small measure of co-operation which is involved in the fitting and switching on of an otherwise automatic responder. 1961Engineering 6 Jan. 1/2 What secondary radar does for the controller on the ground is to give him identification of aircraft as they come within range. 1967New Scientist 19 Oct. 151/2 Air traffic control is increasingly making use of secondary radar.
v. secondary structure (Biochem.), the three-dimensional form that the chain of a polynucleotide or polypeptide molecule assumes as a result of non-covalent bonds between neighbouring amino-acid residues.
1952[see primary a. 6 v]. 1960Nature 8 Oct. 99/2 Ribonucleic acid is a single-stranded molecule the secondary structure of which arises from intramolecular interactions. 1974[see primary a. 6 v]. 1977D. E. Metzler Biochemistry ii. 102/2 The value of β is always positive but that of τ can be negative, the secondary structure (Watson-Crick helix) being fully formed but with left-handed superhelical turns present.
4. a. Belonging to the second order in a series of subdivisions or ramifications. Chiefly Bot.
1796Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) III. 780 Fructifications near the rib of the 2dary wings. 1861R. Bentley Man. Bot. 122 Adventitious or Secondary Root.—This name is applied to all roots which are not produced by the direct elongation of the radicle of the embryo. Ibid. 193 When the floral axis is thus branched, it is better to speak of the main axis as the primary axis.., its divisions as the secondary axes.., and their divisions as the tertiary axes. 1880C. E. Bessey Botany 147 Where the secondary leaves (leaflets) grow from an extremely short axis. 1883Huxley Pract. Biol. xii. 157 Each of the hairs..is..seen to be covered over its whole surface with innumerable very fine secondary hairs; these are shortest near the base of the primary hair. 1973H. C. Bold Morphol. Plants (ed. 3) xxx. 570/2 Branches of the radicle are secondary roots; all other roots are adventitious.
b. Belonging to the second stage in a process of compounding or combination; consisting of two primary elements. secondary colours: see colour n. 2.
1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 467 By the term Secondary Compound is meant a combination of salifiable bases or primary compounds with each other. Ibid., The secondary compounds..may be arranged under the five following classes. 1831Brewster Optics vii. 69 Any mixtures or combinations of any of them [sc. primary colours] are called secondary colours. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 178/1 The primary or simple, and the secondary or mixed colours.
c. secondary road: a road of a class lower than that of a main road; a minor road.
1903in Parl. Papers 1904 XXIV. 279 (Cd. 1793) p. vi, Roads of this class are known in different parts of the country as Secondary Roads, Contribution or Contributory Roads, ‘Grant in aid’ Roads, &c. 1929A. Huxley Let. 1 Dec. (1969) 321 Even the secondary roads were tolerable. 1938E. Ambler Cause for Alarm xiv. 228 The only roads we'll have to worry about are..secondary roads. 1959T. S. Eliot Elder Statesman iii. 88 It was late at night. A secondary road. I ran over an old man lying in the road. 1974J. Thomson Long Revenge iv. 45 He turned off into the network of secondary roads.
5. With reference to temporal sequence: Pertaining to a second period or condition of things; adventitious, not primitive. Chiefly in certain modern scientific and technical uses: see below.
†a. gen.
1471Ripley Comp. Alch. Rec. in Ashm. Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652) 188 The Altytude of thy Bodys hyde..In every of thy Materyalls dystroyyng the fyrst qualyte: And secundary qualytes more gloryose repare in them anon.
b. Geol. In early use, applied (with some notion of sense 3) to partially crystalline rocks, often containing the remains of life on the earth. Now, Belonging to the second division of stratified rocks; of or pertaining to the strata between the Palæozoic or Primary, and the Tertiary; = Mesozoic.
1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 192 Rocks are generally divided by geologists into two grand divisions, distinguished by the names of primary and secondary... The secondary rocks, or strata, consist only partly of crystalline matter; contain fragments of other rocks or strata; often abound in the remains of vegetables and marine animals; and sometimes contain the remains of land animals. 1818W. Phillips Outl. Min. & Geol. (ed. 3) 86 Rocks which include organic remains, must have been formed after the shells they contain; and therefore not being considered primitive, they are by some termed secondary rocks; whence the term used by geologists of primary and secondary formations. 1833Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 324 By ‘secondary’, we mean those stratified rocks older than the tertiary, which contain distinct organic remains. 1882Geikie Text-bk. Geol. vi. iii. i. 759 The Mesozoic or Secondary series.
c. Biol. Belonging to or directly derived from the second stage of development or growth.
1857Henfrey Bot. §659 The walls of almost all cells soon exhibit a departure from the original simple condition, arising from the formation of new lamellæ,..all over, or over particular parts of the inside of the primary membrane. These are distinguished as secondary layers. 1860Gosse Hist. Brit. Sea-Anemones Introd. 19, I have found a small round aperture in each primary and secondary septum. 1880Bessey Bot. 408 These new cells are developed on the one hand into tracheides, which compose the secondary wood, and on the other into parenchyma and fibrous tissue, composing the secondary cortex.
d. Surg., etc. Performed or occurring after a definite time or occurrence. secondary amputation: amputation performed after suppuration has set in. secondary hæmorrhage: hæmorrhage occurring several days after a wound or operation.
1837R. Liston Pract. Surg. 325 Secondary hæmorrhage will sometimes follow when reaction has been established. 1850Ogilvie, Secondary amputation. 1889MacCormac Surg. Operat. ii. 140 Secondary or consecutive operations are those performed after the acute inflammatory symptoms have subsided and suppuration has been fully established. 1891Moullin Surg. 1371 Amputation..may be primary (within twenty-four hours); intermediary (before suppuration); or secondary (after suppuration).
e. Path. Characteristic of or pertaining to the second stage or period of a disease, esp. of syphilis.
1722Quincy Lex. Phys.-Med. (ed. 2), Secundary 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. 1786J. Hunter Venereal Dis. (1810) 431 To ascertain whether her secondary ulcers were infectious. 1799Beddoes in Med. Jrnl. I. 101 The symptoms were what are called secondary, and the disease in its most rooted and obstinate state. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 677 True epilepsy may occur in the so-called ‘secondary’ stage of syphilis.
f. secondary education or secondary instruction: that between the primary or elementary education and the higher or university education; secondary school, one in which such education is given; also secondary modern school: a secondary school of a kind established by the Education Act of 1944, offering a general education to children not selected for grammar or technical schools (cf. central school s.v. central a. 4 and modern school s.v. modern a. 2 e); also (in colloq. use) ellipt. as secondary modern (freq. attrib.).
1809R. L. Edgeworth Ess. on Professional Educ. i. 41 In the secondary schools for boys of nine or ten.., the principles of general grammar should be explained. 1835Southern Lit. Messenger I. 275 Others classify them into 1st primary schools..2nd secondary schools, for the rudiments of Arithmetic, Geography, English Grammar, and further progress in reading and writing. 1861M. Arnold Pop. Educ. France Introd. 39 The public secondary schools of France. 1863― in Macm. Mag. VIII. 355/1 The Royal Commissioners have thought themselves precluded..from making a thorough inquiry into the system of secondary instruction on the Continent. 1876J. Grant Burgh. Sch. Scot. ii. ii. 128 Schools in which elementary and secondary instruction were formerly given. 1882M. Arnold Irish Ess. 130 Schools giving secondary education, as it is called—that fuller and higher instruction which comes after elementary instruction. 1892in Parl. Papers IX. 373 This Act may be cited as the Secondary School Teachers Registration Act, 1892. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 663/2 The school which seeks to retain its pupil to the age of sixteen or seventeen, and to prepare him to enter a skilled trade or one of the minor professions, is a secondary or intermediate school. 1926W. H. Hadow et al. Rep. Consult. Comm. Educ. Adolescent (Board of Educ.) 266 The expression ‘secondary school’ was borrowed from the French ‘école secondaire’, which was used apparently for the first time in the Rapport et projet de décret sur l'organisation générale de l'instruction publique, submitted to the Legislative Assembly by Condorcet in April, 1792. 1937Burlington Mag. Sept. 107/2 No student..can possibly acquire more than a secondary-school smattering in the subject. 1943C. Norwood et al. Curriculum & Examinations in Secondary Schools (Board of Educ.) i. iii. 15 At the age of 11+, or earlier in some cases, a child would pass into one of the three types of secondary education which we have postulated, secondary Grammar School, secondary Technical School, secondary Modern School. 1955Punch 30 Mar. 404/2 ‘The thing that makes me nervous,’ I said tentatively, ‘is if they fail their 11-plus and land up in a Secondary Modern.’ 1956H. Loukes Secondary Modern i. 45 They are not to be regarded, these secondary modern children, as a backward group. 1961M. Kelly Spoilt Kill ii. 103 He taught maths in a secondary modern somewhere down south. 1976Yorkshire Evening Press 9 Dec. 13/6 Derwent Secondary Modern School, York, was entered and {pstlg}6.50 stolen. 1976Evening Post (Nottingham) 14 Dec. 6/2 His early education finished at 14 when he left the Player Secondary School. 1982Guardian 26 Apr. 3/2 Critics say it is a back door way of re-introducing grammar and secondary modern schools.
g. Archæol. secondary burial or secondary interment: a burial of human remains in a site used for burial at an earlier time (see also quot. 1960); Secondary Neolithic: (of or pertaining to) that part of the Neolithic period in Britain marked by the fusion of native Mesolithic cultural elements with those of immigrant European agricultural peoples.
1865J. Lubbock Pre-Historic Times iv. 110 It appears reasonable to conclude that these interments belong to the ante-metallic period; especially when..we find several secondary interments, plainly belonging to a later age. 1877W. Greenwell Brit. Barrows 13 These secondary interments have been made either by placing the body on the surface of an existing barrow..or by making an excavation into it. Secondary burials occur in all parts of a barrow. 1954S. Piggott Neolithic Cultures i. 15 These Secondary Neolithic cultures, as I have called them, were to form the basis of the ensuing British Bronze Age. 1960K. M. Kenyon Archæol. in Holy Land iv. 86 The burials as we find them were secondary. That is to say, the bones were only placed in their present position after the flesh had largely decayed. 1963E. S. Wood Collins Field Guide Archaeol. i. iv. 60 The secondary Neolithic is now appearing more complicated than it looked a few years ago. 1963H. N. Savory in Foster & Alcock Culture & Environment iii. 26 It is therefore no longer necessary to envisage a narrow horizon on which Primary and Secondary Neolithic and ‘Beaker’ elements can scarcely be disentangled. 1977Kwang-chih Chang Archaeol. Anc. China (ed. 3) viii. 406 Three ways to dispose of the dead were distinguished..: cremation and ash urns; interment of the dorsal and stretched type; and probably secondary burials.
h. secondary succession (Ecol.): (see quot. 1905).
1905F. E. Clements Research Methods in Ecol. iv. 247 Generally speaking, all successions on denuded soils are secondary... The great majority of secondary successions owe their origin to floods, animals, or the activities of man, and they agree in occurring upon decomposed soils of medium water-content. 1932Fuller & Conard tr. Braun-Blanquet's Plant Social. xi. 279 Fires are always followed..by a secondary succession, which tends anew towards the climax. 1973P. A. Colinvaux Introd. Ecol. vi. 77 Secondary succession is best understood by considering what happens to a farm when it is abandoned.
i. secondary hardening (Metallurgy): a further hardening which occurs in some previously hardened steels when they are tempered; so secondary hardness.
1915Edwards & Kikkawa in Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. XCII. 12 The temperature at which this secondary hardening begins is progressively raised with increasing percentages of tungsten. Ibid., As regards the temperature at which the maximum secondary hardness is obtained..for the steel with no tungsten this is 494°. 1937Discovery May 155/2 The tempering of high speed steel is primarily undertaken to give maximum secondary hardness. 1949P. C. Carman Chem. Constitution & Properties of Engin. Materials v. 192 On tempering, the hardness decreases slightly between 300° and 500°C., and then secondary hardening takes place between 500° and 600°C. 1967A. H. Cottrell Introd. Metall. xxv. 517 The steel is tempered at 650°C to produce secondary hardening by precipitation of alloy carbides.
j. Psychol. In various phrases. secondary conditioned reflex: a reflex transferred from the original stimulus to one associated with it; similarly secondary conditioned stimulus; secondary conditioning: conditioning in which the response is transferred to a subsequent, associated stimulus; similarly secondary reinforcement, secondary reinforcer, secondary reward.
1927G. V. Anrep tr. Pavlov's Conditioned Reflexes iii. 34 The appearance of a black square in the dog's line of vision is now used as yet a further stimulus, which is to be given the character of a secondary conditioned stimulus. 1938B. F. Skinner Behav. Organisms ix. 245, I am inclined to doubt the reality of secondary conditioning of a respondent in general. 1940Hilgard & Marquis Conditioning & Learning iii. 63 Secondary rewards such as approval, money, prestige and so forth. 1944B. Malinowski Sci. Theory of Culture xii. 138 The secondary reinforcement becomes attached to the instrumental performance as a whole, and to all its component parts. 1957E. R. Hilgard Introd. Psychol. (ed. 2) x. 242/1 A feature of secondary reinforcement that is very important for human social behavior is its wide application. Ibid., There is also experimental evidence in support of the principle that secondary reinforcers have wide generality. 1976Howard Jrnl. XV. i. 12 The relics of past experiences, surviving through the mechanism of secondary reinforcement. 1977R. A. Rescorla in Davis & Hurwitz Operant-Pavlovian Interactions vi. 155 No increase in response rate was produced by this supposed secondary reinforcer.
k. secondary recovery, the recovery of oil by means of special techniques from reservoirs which have been substantially depleted; freq. attrib.
1940P. D. Torrey in E. DeGolyer Elements Petroleum Industry xiii. 289 The two most commonly employed secondary recovery methods are water-flooding and gas⁓repressuring. 1945L. M. Fanning Our Oil Resources iv. 96 In most instances secondary-recovery operations are more costly than primary operations. 1971I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth xxiii. 330/2 Oil is obtained at this site by a technique of secondary recovery which involves the injection of water under pressure. 1973C. J. May in Hobson & Pohl Mod. Petroleum Technol. (ed. 4) v. 174 Of perhaps more general interest is the application of secondary recovery methods to reservoirs which have been largely depleted by natural forces.
6. Connected with what is second in local position.
a. secondary feather, secondary quill: a feather growing from the second joint of a bird's wing. secondary wing: one of the hind wings of an insect.
1768Pennant Brit. Zool. (1776) II. 437 The tips of the secondary feathers white. 1802Montagu Ornith. Dict. Expl. Techn. Terms, Secondary quill-feathers. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. 39 The secondary wings are sometimes smaller than the primary. 1837Penny Cycl. VII. 367/2 The greater wing-coverts and secondary quills are greenish-black.
b. secondary constriction (Cytology): a chromosomal constriction not associated with the centromere.
1932C. D. Darlington Recent Adv. Cytol. ii. 34 There are also found in many chromosomes ‘secondary’ constrictions which have no relationship with any present spindle attachment. 1957C. P. Swanson Cytol. & Cytogenetics v. 131 The secondary constrictions seen in somatic metaphase chromosomes generally arise as the result of nucleolar formation. 1975[see satellite n. 9].
B. n. [elliptical use of adj. Freq. in pl.]
1. a. gen. One who acts in subordination to another; a delegate or deputy; also a thing which comes second or subordinate in importance. Now rare.
1595Shakes. John v. ii. 80, I am too high-borne to be proportied To be a secondary at controll. 1603― Meas. for M. i. i. 47 Old Escalus Though first in question, is thy secondary. Take thy Commission. 1635R. Brathwait Arcad. Princ. ii. 56 Causing Epimonos, her Secondary, to advance himselfe before her, shee willed him to returne the manner of his recovery. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. IV. 346 From being secondaries in the quarrel at length becoming principals. 1841Emerson Meth. Nature (1844) 20 A certain admirable wisdom, preferable to all other advantages, and whereof all others are only secondaries and indemnities. 1858J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 202 They are not principals,..but only secondaries to the Editor, in the commission of this error.
b. A cathedral dignitary of second rank.
1436E.E. Wills (1882) 105 To euery secundary & clerc of the chirch iiijd. 1616Cheque Bk. Chapel Royal (Camden) 8 John Greene a secondary of the churche of Exon. 1778Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry II. 242 In the following stanza, where he [Barclay] wishes to take on board the eight secondaries, or minor canons, of his college. 1852Hook Ch. Dict. (1871) 707 Secondaries is a general name for the inferior members of cathedrals, as vicars choral, &c.
c. An officer of the corporation of the City of London. † Also, an official in certain government offices and law courts: see quot. 1607.
1461Rolls of Parlt. V. 467/2 Secundarie in the Office of oure prive Seall. a1600in H. Hall Soc. Eliz. Age (1886) 178 The Secondary of the Court for rettorne of 2 wrytts 4s. 1603Stow Surv. Lond. 538 The Shiriffes of London, in the yeare 1471, were appointed..to haue..6 Clarkes, to wit, a Secondary, a Clarke of the Papers, and 4 other Clarkes. 1607J. Cowell Interpr., Secundarie (secundarius) is the name of an Officer next vnto the chiefe Officer: as the Secundarie of the fine Office: the Secundarie of the Counter,..Secundarie of the office of the priuie seale, anno 1. Ed. 4. cap. 1. Secundaries of the Pipe two: Secundarie to the Remembrancers two, which be Officers in the Exchequer. Camden. pag. 113. 1642C. Vernon Consid. Exch. 45 Which is not to be allowed of upon Record in the Pipe, by the first Secondary there, untill [etc.]. 1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1738/4 [He] appointed the Common-Serjeant, the Town-Clerk, the two Secondaries, and the four Attorneys of the Mayors Court,..to take the Poll. 1698Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 345 Mr. Aston, secondary to the master of the Kings bench office,..is dead. 1766Entick London IV. 47 The secondary, whose office is to return writs, mark warrants, impannel juries for the courts both above and below, and also for the sessions. 1828Archbold Forms & Entries (ed. 2) Pref. 6 For the Rules of the Common Pleas, I am indebted to Mr. Griffiths and Mr. Hewlett, Secondaries of that court. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Secondaries' Court, a small-debt court in the city of London. 1892Standard 6 Feb. 3/6 Mr. Roderick, the Secondary [of the City of London],..kept watch over the proceedings throughout the poll.
2. Short for secondary planet (see A. 3 d).
a1721[see primary n. 2]. 1788Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) II. 494/1 The action of the primary planets upon their secondaries. 1852Hind Astron. Vocab. 46 The moon is a secondary to the earth.
3. Short for secondary circle: see A. 3 e.
1715tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 220 These Hour Circles are the same in Position, with the Circles of Declination;..because they are Secondaries to the Equator. 1786–7Bonnycastle Astron. 434 Secondary circles of the sphere, are those circles which pass through the poles of some great circle: thus the meridian and hour circles are secondaries to the equinoctial, &c. 1889J. Casey Spherical Trig. i. 4 A great circle passing through the poles of another circle (great or small) is called a secondary to that circle.
4. Short for secondary colour: see A. 4 b.
1854Fairholt Dict. Terms Art s.v. Secondary Colours, The same result ensues when two secondaries are mixed in equal strength; thus Olive results from the union of green and violet.
5. Path. in pl. Secondary symptoms (of syphilis).
1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxix. 393 Some of these patients..have been pronounced to labour under secondaries. 1898J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. IX. 361 After the first and second [infection] definite secondaries followed.
6. Geol. The secondary series of rocks, or any of the secondary formations.
In recent Dicts.
7. a. Ornith. Short for secondary feather.
1768Pennant Brit. Zool. (1776) II. 420 All the other wing feathers, except the secondaries, are dusky. 1815Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. IX. i. 5 Coverts and secondaries green. 1872Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 36 The Secondaries..are those remiges that are seated on the forearm.
b. Ent. Short for secondary wing.
1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 336 Secondary (Secundariæ), the posterior wings are so denominated if the superior wings, when at rest, are not placed upon them.
†8. Philos. Short for secondary quality. Obs.
1656Stanley Hist. Philos. v. Doctr. Plato iv. (1687) 182/1 Intellection likewise must be two-fold, one of Primaries, the other of Secondaries.
9. Electr. Short for secondary coil or wire. Also, a secondary circuit, current, etc.
1837M. Faraday in Ann. Electr., Magnetism, & Chem. I. 199 Why do secondaries almost annihilate the terminal effects of primitives? 1869Eng. Mech. 17 Dec. 335/2 The secondary is wound..in vertical layers insulated by discs of sheet ebonite. 1891Nature 25 June 187/2 The discharge tube in these experiments is made to form the secondary of what is essentially an induction coil. 1896[see primary n. 5]. 1923E. W. Marchant Radio Telegr. & Teleph. v. 67 If the ratio of transformation is made too great, the primary circuit may be tuned for quite a different wave-length from the secondary. 1947R. Lee Electronic Transformers & Circuits i. 5 The right-hand winding is connnected to a load and is called the secondary. 1967[see primary n. 5].
10. Meteorol. Short for secondary depression.
1887Abercromby Weather 312 A secondary which would develop thunder in summer in Great Britain would only produce heavy rain in winter.
11. Physics and Astr. A secondary ray or particle, esp. a secondary cosmic ray.
1921Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. VII. 17 Practically no secondaries have a velocity of more than 5 volts, even when the exciting primary electrons have velocities of 300 volts. 1932,1942[see primary n. 8]. 1964Cambr. Rev. 24 Oct. 48/2 A shower of secondaries of total energy ⩾ ε. 1975D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. vi. 113 The yield..drops at higher energies, since high⁓energy electrons penetrate deeper in the material and the secondaries generated there are unable to reach the material surface with enough energy to be emitted.
12. Gram. = adjunct n. 5 b.
[1914: see adjunct n. 5 b.] 1924Jespersen Philos. Gram. xviii. 252 (heading) Secondaries and tertiaries. 1928― Internat. Lang. ii. 97 The definite article is a secondary and therefore uninflected in number or gender. 1940― S.P.E. Tract liv. 157 We thus distinguish between clause primaries, clause secondaries, and clause tertiaries. 1959M. Schlauch Eng. Lang. in Mod. Times viii. 221 In this system a leading term..is a primary; its direct modifier (e.g. an adjective) is a secondary.
13. Path. An additional tumour arising from cells carried to the site from the initial tumour.
1952Raven & Hancock Cancer in Gen. Practice xxii. 153 No treatment is effective except in the case of prostatic, and occasionally breast, secondaries which may respond to androgens or oestrogens. 1969Bethell & Burg tr. Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward ii. ii. 12 She could not come to terms with the possibility that radioactive gold might exist somewhere while her son's secondaries were penetrating his groin. 1977Proc. R. Soc. Med. LXX. 199/2 Patients with hypercalcaemia and breast cancer usually have widespread osteolytic bone secondaries.
14. U.S. Football. The defensive backfield.
[1912Collier's 23 Nov. 11/2 He hears people about him rattling away about ‘Minnesota shifts’, ‘secondary defense’, and so on.] 1955Sports Illustr. 12 Sept. 31/2 Four of them are ready to leap back into the secondary as line⁓backers. 1972J. Mosedale Football ii. 18 Dutch is like a rabbit in a brush heap when he gets into the secondary. 1980Washington Star 13 Aug. 65 The Redskins are confident their secondary is in fine shape without White... ‘We're going to be fine in the secondary,’ Beathard said. ‘To hell with him.’
15. Short for secondary school or secondary modern school. colloq.
1962L. Davidson Rose of Tibet 7 ‘Where does he teach?’ ‘He used to at the Edith Road Girls' Secondary in Fulham.’ 1975‘J. Bell’ Victim xiv. 148 The passenger was a girl of twelve from a local comprehensive. Which led back to a London secondary in a northern suburb.
▸ Med. Designating or relating to medical care of a more specialist nature than that provided at the primary-care level (see primary adj.), esp. care provided by a specialist or consultant in a general hospital. Freq. in secondary care.
1920Times 28 May 12/3 It is proposed to combine preventative and curative medicine locally in primary health centres, staffed by general practitioners, and centrally in secondary health centres staffed by consultants and specialists. 1972S. M. Shortell Model of Physician Referral Behavior viii. 100 Price may be playing an important role in the allocation of patients from primary care practitioners to secondary care practitioners. 1996Pulse 20 Apr. 76/1 Giving your vascular surgeon accurate information on the severity of your patient's claudication will streamline access to secondary care.
▸ Designating smoke inhaled involuntarily from tobacco being smoked by others, regarded as a health risk (esp. in secondary smoke); (also) designating inhalation of this kind (esp. in secondary smoking). Cf. passive smoking n. at passive adj. and n. Special uses.
1975N.Y. Times Mag. 23 Nov. 94/2 Elderly persons, those with a heart condition, infants and young children are particularly susceptible to the rigors of what the Surgeon General of the United States terms ‘secondary smoke inhalation’. 1978Environmental Psychol. & Nonverbal Behavior 3 126 Results showed that the secondary smoke exposure provoked subjects in both the negative and positive evaluation conditions to be reliably more aggressive. 1987Aviation Week (Nexis) 16 Feb. 134 The recent Surgeon General's report on the health hazards of secondary smoking has prompted this letter. 1996F. Popcorn Clicking ii. 104 Those [cigarettes] that hardly burn at all, thus avoiding the dangers of secondary smoke.
▸ In the context of academic research or writing: designating or relating to analytical or critical commentary on material which forms the primary subject of study; designating a text with another text as its subject. Freq. contrasted with primary adj. 16.
1844Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 1 117 Were it true,..as Humboldt states on secondary authority, this theory would have some historical support. 1864Times 26 Mar. 12/3 He uses it [sc. a commentary on a text] as a secondary source only, verifying its statements by reference to original authorities. 1953J. Madge Tools Social Sci. ii. 96 The first search is for relevant secondary documents—that is, for reports made by previous investigators. 1991Afr. Affairs Oct. 640 The author makes extensive use of both primary and secondary sources. 2003S. Brown Free Gift Inside 196 An extensive secondary literature, comprising..‘readers’, ‘companions’, critiques, parodies..etc., is developing. |