| 释义 |
▪ I. secret, a. and n.|ˈsiːkrɪt|
Also 4 secrette, 5–6 secrete, (5 sekret), 6 secreet, secrett, (seycrette, seacreate), Sc. secreit, sacreit, 6–7 secreate, 7 seacret, (secrit).
[a. F. secret adj. and n. (OF. also secré: see secre a. and n.), ad. L. sēcrētus adj. (neut. sēcrētum used subst., a secret), orig. pa. pple. of sēcernĕre to separate, divide off: see secern v. Cf. Pr. secret, Sp. secreto, Pg. secreto, segredo, It. secreto, segredo (all used as adj. and n.).]
A. adj.
1. Kept from knowledge or observation; hidden, concealed.
a. Predicatively (esp. in to keep secret): Kept from public knowledge, or from the knowledge of persons specified; not allowed to be known, or only by selected persons.
1399Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 61 Lete ȝoure conceill corette it [sc. this treatise]..ffor ȝit it is secrette. 1474[see 2]. 1481in E.E. Gilds 317 Ye shal not dyscouer þ⊇ counsell of þ⊇ bretherynhod or of þ⊇ crafte, þt ye have knowlych of, þt shold be sekret wtyn ouer-selfe. 1485Caxton Paris & V. (1868) 3 Parys kept his love secret. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 72, I kept nothing secret from your Ambassadours. 1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 47 The Renegados..kept his death secret. 1799R. Sickelmore Agnes & Leonora II. 164 It was as much to their interest as my own to keep the affair secret. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. xxvii, The task in which he was engaged was to be kept most strictly secret. 1879‘Edna Lyall’ Won by Waiting xxx, Bertha's flight must be kept secret.
b. Of a place: Removed from the resort of men; retired, remote, lonely, secluded, solitary; hence, affording privacy or seclusion. Also rarely of time. Chiefly arch.
1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxv. 1 In secreit place this hyndir nycht, I hard [etc.]. a1586Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 32 To..plant goodnesse euen in the secretest cabinet of our soules. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. iii. 91 Put them in secret holds. 1604Drayton Moyses i. 12 Softly she [i.e. Pharaoh's daughter] walkes downe to the secret flood,..In the coole streames to check the pampred blood. 1667Milton P.L. i. 6 Sing, Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 662 Let not Sleep my closing Eyes invade In open Plains, or in the secret Shade. 1773Cowper Shrubbery 19 They seek, like me, the secret shade. 1820Shelley Skylark 44 Soothing her love-laden Soul in secret hour. 1830Tennyson Poet 10 With echoing feet he threaded The secretest walks of fame. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & Ital. Note-bks. (1871) II. 31 Powers took us into a room apart—apparently the secretest room he had—and showed us some tools..of his own..invention. 1900G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impr. 203 To exchange opinions..no longer through whispers in the secret chambers, but through open talk in drawing-rooms and even ball-rooms.
†c. Of a person, etc.: Secluded from observation. Chiefly pred. Obs.
1528Gardiner in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. xlvii. 90 Being compelled for want of apparel to keep ourselves secret one whole day. 1588Greene Pandosto (1607) B 1, Franion being secret in his chamber, began to meditate with himselfe in these termes. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. iv. 48 In this Citty will I stay, And liue alone as secret as I may. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 206 When they are secret and alone by themselues, they will practise leaping, dancing, and other strange feats. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 522 So all ere day-spring, under conscious Night Secret they finish'd.
d. Of actions, negotiations, agreements, etc.: Done or entered into with the intention of being concealed; clandestine. † Also rarely of movements: Stealthy.
1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV (1550) 13 b, He caused hym by secrete iourneys in the nyght to be conueyed to Middelham Castell in Yorkeshire. 1563Mirr. Mag., Ld. Hastings lxxxix, So can god reape vp secrete mischiefs wrought, To the confusyon of the workers thought. 1611Bible Ps. lxiv. 2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked. 1635W. Austin Medit. 103 Secret therefore, must Abstinence be. 1642D. Rogers Naaman 428 Shall I make conscience of smaller, secreter offences, and shall I not much more abhor the grosser. a1700Evelyn Diary 14 Oct. 1670, The Treasurer, who put into my hands those secret pieces and transactions concerning the Dutch war. 1705Shaftesbury Let. to Le Clerc 8–13 Feb. in N. & Q. Ser. i. (1851) III. 98/1 [Lord Shaftesbury] entrusted him [Locke] with his secretest negotiations. 1710Steele Tatler No. 138 ⁋1 Secret Kindnesses done to Mankind are as beautiful as secret Injuries are detestable. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 89, I heard secret treadings and mutterings. 1799Paget in P. Papers (1896) I. 152, I am led to think that there are Secret Articles in the Treaty of Campo Formio that are Monstrous. 1819Shelley Cenci iii. i. 320, I wasted The sum in secret riot. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xv, Rebecca..owned there was a secret attachment. 1903Morley Gladstone I. vi. vii. 366 All the highest abstract arguments were against secret voting.
e. Of doctrines, ceremonies, language, signs, methods of procedure, remedies, and the like: Kept from the knowledge of the uninitiated.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 What so euer secrete doctryne of perfeccyon you take or lerne of this poore treatyse. 1809G. Roland Art Fencing (1823) 142, I am frequently asked..Whether there are not certain secret thrusts, which Professors reserve for themselves. Ibid. 143 Others..have pretended to sell them secret passes, applicable on all occasions. 1825Scott Betrothed ii, They..were initiated into their order by secret and mystic solemnities.
f. Of feelings, passions, thoughts: Not openly avowed or expressed; concealed, disguised; also, in stronger sense, known only to the subject, inward, inmost. Hence said of the heart, soul, etc.
1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxxiv. 40 Go follow thame, quha will inconstance leir; Secreit invy [etc.]. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John i. 47–9 Jesus yet declaring..how he knew the thoughts of men, were they neuer so secret. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 1065 Nor shall he smile at thee in secret thought. 1601― Twel. N. i. iv. 14, I haue vnclasp'd To thee the booke euen of my secret soule. 1659Hammond On Ps. xvii. 3 Paraphr. 85 The searcher of the secretest thoughts. 1721De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 135, I had a secret joy at the news. 1742Gray Eton 67 Or Jealousy with rankling tooth, That inly gnaws the secret heart. 1818Shelley Julian 341 My secret groans must be unheard by thee. 1825Scott Talism. vii, Holding them in his secret soul little better than the Saracens. 1862H. Spencer First Princ. i. i. §5 (1875) 19 That the theological party regard Science with so much secret alarm. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. ii, You will all of you execrate Lady Tippins in your secret hearts.
†g. Abstruse, recondite; beyond ordinary apprehension or beyond unaided human intelligence. Of a person or thing: Pertaining to or dealing with mystical or occult matters. Obs.
1535Coverdale Ps. l. 6 Thou..hast shewed me secrete wyszdome. 1582N. Lichefield tr Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xxix. 72 b, The Pilots (being not as yet acquainted with the secret signification of a spowte)..thought the same to bee a signe of faire weather. 1605Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 48 How now you secret, black, & midnight Hags? What is't you do? 1610― Temp. i. ii. 77, I..to my State grew stranger, being transported And rapt in secret studies. 1655Stanley Hist. Philos. ii. iv. (1687) 66/2 Pericles..could easily reduce the exercise of his mind from secret abstrusive things to publick popular causes. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. ii. lxxx. 361 Menante..is very diligent in prying into the very secretest passages of Pernassus. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. i. (1840) 3 They took it for granted that those seers dealt in all secret matters. 1775Harris Philos. Arrangem. Wks. (1841) 325 Such, too, are those more secret operations of bodies, whether magnetic or electric.
h. Of a committee, conclave, etc.: Conducted with secrecy; that keeps its deliberations unknown to the public. Also secret session (orig. U.S.), a meeting of a legislative or deliberative body, conducted in secret.
1667Milton P.L. i. 795 The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim In close recess and secret conclave sat. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 66 He early suggested to the King the expediency of appointing a secret committee of Roman Catholics. 1872W. Bagehot Eng. Const. (ed. 2) p. xlvii, This objection might be easily avoided by requiring that the discussion upon treaties in Parliament like that discussion in the American Senate should be ‘in secret session’, and that no report should be published of it. 1916H. H. Asquith in Hansard Commons 27 Nov. 37, I think it would be premature to consider this question till it has been decided whether a Secret Session should be held. 1940W. S. Churchill Secret Session Speeches (1946) 17 The reason why I asked the House to go into Secret Session was not because I had anything particularly secret or momentous to say. 1946G. B. Shaw Geneva (ed. 2) 4 All threatening news was mentioned only in secret sessions of parliament, hidden under heavy penalties.
i. Hidden from sight; not discernible or visible; unseen (chiefly poet.). Also secret dovetail (Joinery): (see quot. 1972).
1559Mirr. Mag., Ld. Clifford 5 Nought so secrete but at length is spied. 1577Kendall Flowers of Epigr. 6 b, So by the subtile secret baite the selie beast is taen. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 174 Those that care and keepe your Royall Person From Treasons secret Knife. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. iv. 145 Ye Boys, who pluck the Flow'rs,..Beware the secret Snake that shoots a Sting. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 433 With secret course, which no loud storms annoy, Glides the smooth current of domestic joy. 1781Cowper Charity 369 Some [rills]..down the sloping hills, Winding a secret or an open course. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam x. xix. 4395 The men..Drew forth their secret steel, and stabbed each ardent youth. 1882W. J. Christy Joints 168 Mitred Dovetail Joint... It is also designated secret dovetail. 1963F. Hilton Adv. Carpentry & Joinery x. 180/2 Two members are jointed using a secret dovetail and the third stub-tenoned, with the surfaces mitred. 1972Gloss. Terms Timber (B.S.I.) 52 Secret dovetail, a dovetailed angle in which dovetails are used but do not show on the face of either member.
j. secret parts, † secret members: the external organs of sex.
1577Kendall Flowers of Epigr. 23 The Stockdoues secrete parts make lumpishe, dull, and dedde: Shunne hym to eate. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 239 Guil. Faith, her priuates, we. Ham. In the secret parts of Fortune? 1644Reg. Privy Council Scot. Ser. ii. VIII. 101 They causit thair officers..search our bodies and secreitt memberis for witch⁓markis. 1664Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 12 A Nest of a Bird made like the secret parts of a man.
k. Of a door, chamber drawer, passage, or mechanical contrivance: Designed to escape observation or detection. secret ink: ‘invisible’ or ‘sympathetic’ ink.
Hence secret springer, one who makes secret springs.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. iv. 10 The English..Went through a secret Grate of Iron Barres, In yonder Tower, to ouer-peere the Citie. 1737Hoppus Salmon's Country Build. Estim. (ed. 2) 110 Secret Pad-Locks. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho liv, Pointing out to her a secret drawer. 1807Crabbe Birth of Flattery 35 But by a secret spring the wall would move. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxvii, Put away in what they call the secret drawers of the desk. 1852― Esmond iii. xii, As characters written with secret ink come out with the application of fire. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 667 Secret passages were made from dwelling to dwelling. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Secret-springer, one who puts in watch-springs. 1888Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere xlvi, A young ‘secret springer’, to use the mysterious terms of the trade [sc. watch-making].
†l. Of a sound: Little audible. Obs. rare.
1670W. Clarke Nitre 28 Being fired in the open air, it [gunpowder] maketh but a flash, and a more secret noise.
m. Of an agent: That works in secret. Of a person: That is secretly (what is expressed by the n.).
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. i. i. 150 A secret and villanous contriuer against mee his naturall brother. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 7 [O that] our first Parents had bin warnd The coming of thir secret foe. 1700Dryden Pal. & Arc. ii. 560 There saw I how the secret Fellon wrought. 1700― Sigism. & Guisc. 46 Resolv'd..to be..A seeming Widow, and a secret Bride. 1726Swift Gulliver i. v, Others, who were my secret Enemies, could not forbear some Expressions, which by a side-wind reflected on me.
n. quasi-adv. Apart; secretly, in secret. Also Comb. with adjs., as secret-breathed, secret-dimpling, secret-smiling, secret-stimulating, secret-tripping.
1539in W. A. J. Archbold Somerset Relig. Houses (1892) 81 He went to hys chambre, were he callyd me secrett un to hym. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 15 Be secret false: what need she be acquainted? a1605Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxiv. 28 Secreit to meit. 1724Eusden Ovid's Amours ii. v. 12 The secret-tripping Dame. 1726Pope Odyss. xix. 1 [Ulysses] Consulting secret with the blue-ey'd Maid. 1742Young Nt. Th. vii. 410 Nor is thy Life, O Virtue! less in Debt To Praise, thy secret-stimulating Friend. 1780S. J. Pratt Emma Corbett (ed. 4) III. 156 The secret-breathed prayer. 1820Keats Isabel xliii, She had devised How she might secret to the forest hie. 1925Blunden Eng. Poems 83 Black was the secret-dimpling stream. 1928― Retreat 33 Thus the bright-templed rhyme Before the secret-smiling author came.
†o. in secret wise, secretly. (Cf. secre a. 3 b.)
1563Homilies ii. xvii. Rogation Wk. i. 232 Only I woulde wyshe your affection inflamed in secrete wyse within your selfe. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 198 The Scottes..in secret wise came downe into the marches of Yorkshire.
p. secret life: a private life of a nature concealed from the common observer; spec. one consisting of covert sexual dealings.
1880(title) My secret life. 1927E. M. Forster Aspects of Novel v. 113 Happiness and misery exist in the secret life, which each of us lives privately. 1928Galsworthy Swan Song iii. vii. 272 A secret life and Lippinghall! Long, long might that conjunction be deferred! 1973L. Cooper Tea on Sunday xxvii. 207 Did you know that Holdsworth has a secret life?.. Lisa..saw him just going out of the bar with a glamour girl. 1976C. Bermant Coming Home i. vii. 107 My secret life was now revealed to my parents.
2. a. Of a person: † Reserved or reticent in conduct or conversation (obs.); not given to indiscreet talking or the revelation of secrets; silent as to any matter, uncommunicative, close.
c1440Generydes 720, I haue founde yow..At all tymes full secrete and full trew. 1474Caxton Chesse ii. ii. (1883) 27 That she be secrete and telle not suche thynges as ought to be holden secrete. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xli. 8 Be secreit, trew, incressing of ȝour name. 1571Campion Hist. Irel. ii. ix. (1633) 106 Ormond was secret and drifty. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 60, I am to breake with thee of some affaires..wherein thou must be secret. 1599― Much Ado i. i. 212, I can be secret as a dumbe man. 1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 96 The Nuncio [commanded] them both to be secret of what had past. 1625Bacon Ess., Simulation (Arb.) 508 But if a Man be thought Secret, it inuiteth Discouerie;..as in Confession, the Reuealing is not for worldly vse, but for the Ease of a Mans Heart, so Secret Men come to the Knowledge of Many Things, in that kinde. 1732Fielding Miser v. xiii, Were I not secret, lud have mercy upon many a virtuous woman's reputation in this town. 1825Scott Talism. xxviii, ‘My master bid me be secret’, said the squire. 1874Motley Barneveld I. i. 101 Sully was as secret as the grave. 1893Leland Mem. I. 242 It was in the hands of so few persons, who were all absolutely secret and trustworthy.
absol.1785C. Wilkins tr. Bhagavad-vita x. 64 Amongst the secret I am silent.
b. fig. of silence, night, etc.
1556J. de Flores' Aurelio & Isab. A 8, The secrete silence of the darcke night. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 203 Bring thee Cords..Which..Must be my conuoy in the secret night. 1820Shelley Sensit. Pl. iii. 25 The noonday sun..Mocking the spoil of the secret night.
†3. That is entrusted with a person's private or secret affairs; that is a confidant; intimate with.
1470–85Malory Arthur xi. ii. 574 He was receyued worshipfully with suche peple to his semyng as were aboute Quene Queneuer secrete. c1477Caxton Jason 34 b, The fair Myrro and one woman which was secrete with her, departed from thens. 1533Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 126 To ane secret man quhilk brocht writtingis to the Kingis grace. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xxix. 90 He was secret with y⊇ duke. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 223 He was more secret with Quene Isabell the kings mother, then was to Gods pleasure or the kings honour. 1591Savile Tacitus, Agricola (1622) 201 During the time of his sickenesse there came.. both of his secretest seruants and neerest physitians to see him. 1648[see private a. 10].
4. In various specific collocations.
a. Secret Council Sc., the Scottish Privy Council: see council n. 7.
1546Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 26 My Lord Governour and Lordis of Secrete Counsel. c1580Satir. Poems Reform. xliii. (Compl. upon Fortoun) 205 Sacreit counsell can not be content To suffer lordshippis in equalitie. 1678Fountainhall Hist. Notices (Bannatyne Club) I. 186 The Secret Councell would have given him ane reprivall.
b. secret seal = secre seal: see secre a. 2. Also = privy seal.
1377–93[see secre a. 2]. 1378Rolls of Parlt. III. 44/1 Pur Brief, ou lettre de Grant ou Prive Seal, ou del Secret Seal, ou autre mandement. 1445in Charters Glasgow (1906) II. 440 Because I had na sele of myne awn, I have procurit with instance the secrete sele of the burgh of Lithqw to be toput.
c. (a) secret service. Services rendered to a government, the nature of which cannot be disclosed to the public, but which are paid for from a fund set apart for the purpose; hence an organization which performs this function; spec. (U.S.) a government department concerned with national security. Also attrib., as secret service fund, secret service money; secret-service agent, secret service man, one employed on secret service by government. Also transf.
1737Gentl. Mag. VII. 531/2 The prodigious Increase of secret Service Money in the late Reign. 1808G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 256 He would give a sum of 6,000l, or 7,000l., out of foreign secret-service. 1809Canning Ibid. I. 264 The S.S. fund is..for secret services—services that cannot be explained or avowed. 1817T. L. Peacock Melincourt III. 140 We shall all be blown up in a body—sinecures, rotten boroughs, secret-service men [etc.]. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xv. 189 A large expenditure appeared every year, under the head of secret-service money. 1859Atlantic Monthly Feb. 163/2 The Secret Service was doubled..while half Paris must have been under arrest. 1867L. C. Baker Hist. U.S. Secret Service 34 There is nothing in the Secret Service that demands a violation of honor, or a sacrifice of principle, beyond the ordinary rules of warfare. 1900Westm. Gaz. 25 May 7/3 Secret-service agent Brown took the accused man in charge [at San Francisco]. 1906Daily Chron. 2 Nov. 10/2 One of the chief racing bodies..has a force of secret-service men to gather information that could never reach the Turf authorities if they sought it as Turf authorities. 1939T. S. Eliot Old Possum's Bk. Pract. Cats 34 And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say: ‘It must have been Macavity!’ 1972Police Rev. 10 Nov. 1445/1 The principal mission of the United States Secret Service today is safeguarding the lives of the President of the United States, the Vice-President, and many other important personalities in public life. 1981A. Price Soldier no More vii. 93 I've got it... You're in the Secret Service.
(b) secret agent, a person engaged on secret service, esp. espionage.
a1715[see guard n. 7 a]. 1837J. P. Henderson Let. 5 Nov. in Diplomatic Corresp. Texas (Amer. Hist. Assoc.) (1911) III. 827 The Government of the United States..[sent] a secret agent to Texas to enquire into her situation, power etc. 1893S. Weyman Gentleman of France II. xviii. 136 You are here as the secret agent of the King of Navarre. 1907Conrad (title) The secret agent. 1939G. Greene Confidential Agent i. ii. 67 In melodrama a secret agent was never tired. 1973W. Fairchild Swiss Arrangement ix. 114 Lisa laughed suddenly. ‘I never thought I'd be going to bed with a secret agent,’ she said.
(c) secret police, a police organization operating in secret, spec. one owing allegiance to the state or government and used for political purposes. Also secret policeman.
1823F. Burney Waterloo Jrnl. in Jrnls. & Lett. (1980) VIII. 394 Buonaparte..trusted in the address of that mental diving machine, his secret police, for warding off any hazard. 1863‘Ouida’ Held in Bondage I. x. 233 The world has a trick of serving, like the Swiss Guard and the secret police, whichever side is uppermost and pays them best. 1910A. Bennett Clayhanger ii. xiv. 257 Some concealed emissary of the Russian secret police. 1938E. Ambler Cause for Alarm vii. 119 The Ovra..has become a regularly constituted secret police force. 1973D. Miller Chinese Jade Affair xviii. 176 The woes of being a secret policeman during the visits of V.I.P. personalities. 1981G. Priestland Priestland's Progress ii. 38 Paul..had begun life as a religious secret policeman commissioned to stamp out the Church.
d. secret society, an organization formed to promote some cause by secret methods, its members being sworn to observe secrecy.
1829Scott Anne of G. xxvi, It was countersigned in red ink, with the badges of the Secret Society, a coil of ropes and a drawn dagger... The extent and omnipresence of these Secret Associations. 1874C. W. Heckethorn Secret Societies 4 Secret societies may be classed under the following heads: 1. Religious... 2. Military... 3. Judiciary... 4. Scientific... 5. Civil... 6. Political. 1888A. Johnston in Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 784 A widespread secret society, the ‘Ku-Klux-Klan’.
e. secret list chiefly Mil., a register of research work or developments about which information may not be disclosed. Also transf.
1933Meccano Mag. Feb. 109/1 As the aeroplane is on the Air Ministry Secret List, performance figures are not yet available for publication. 1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment ii. v. 269 The war research which they are doing..is still on the secret list. 1955E. Waugh Officers & Gentlemen i. x. 129 There's an agitation..to take you off the secret list. Heroes are urgently required to boost civilian morale. 1977‘J. D. White’ Salzburg Affair vii. 63 A missile projector, brand new..and still on the secret list.
f. secret weapon, a weapon (often of potentially decisive force) classified as secret. Also fig. and transf.
1936E. Ambler Dark Frontier i. vi. 91 He once told me that in these days there was no such thing as a secret weapon. 1939W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 150 The magnetic mine..may perhaps be Herr Hitler's much vaunted secret weapon. 1953E. Simon Past Masters ii. 78 See the candid camera at work, that misnamed secret weapon. 1962Listener 2 Aug. 160/2 The formidable Signor Mattei, who is Italy's anything but secret weapon. 1980A. Scholefield Berlin Blind ii. 75 Ah, the secret weapons... They are going to bring England to her knees.
5. attrib., as secret-natured, secret-tongued.
1596R. L[inche] Diella (1877) 75 When secret-tongued night puts on her mistie sable-coloured vayle. 1728[Fielding] Masquerade 16 'Tis this, which sets the Chymist on, To search that secret-natur'd Stone.
B. n.
I. Something kept secret.
1. Something unknown or unrevealed or that is known only by initiation or revelation; a mystery; chiefly pl., the hidden affairs or workings (of God, Nature, Science, etc.).
1390Gower Conf. III. 54 Was nevere yet so wys a clerk, Which mihte knowe..the secret which god hath set Ayein a man mai noght be let. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 84 Glorious Philosophers..to whom ys geuyn þe knowynge of secretez of sciencez, þat were hyd to alle men. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 10 That is ane office of ane angel, to revele the secretis of God. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 In the whiche there be innumerable secretes of nature. 1630Davenant Just Italian v. i, Jealous Nature hath lock'd her secrets in a Cabinet. 1667Milton P.L. v. 569 For how shall I..unfold The secrets of another world, perhaps Not lawful to reveal? 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) II. 35 Nature has kept us at a great distance from all her secrets. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xlvii, Many devout ministers and professors in times past had enjoyed downright revelation, like the blessed Peden and Lundie..wha entered into the secrets. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xxi. 18 When Science reaches forth her arms To feel from world to world, and charms Her secret from the latest moon? 1872Ruskin Eagle's Nest §79 Think of the vain research..of those who have tried to penetrate the secrets of life, or of its support.
2. In Liturgical use: A prayer or prayers said by the celebrant in a low voice after the Offertory and before the Preface. See secreta1.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 33 Sche wolde selden come at cherche, and þan unneþ sche wolde abyde þe secretes of þe messe. 14..Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 122 And aftur þe fyrste orysoun Þer ys an-oþur of gret Renoun Þat to þe sowle ys wonþur swete, Menne calle hit þe secrete. a1540Barnes Wks. (1573) 357/2 Pope Gelasius..appointed that the Priestes should say the Secretes, the Cannon, and the Prefaces with their armes stretched abroad. 1844Catholic Weekly Instr. 86 The prayers called secrets, (so called because they are silently offered,) follow, and are a second collect.
3. a. Some fact, affair, design, action, etc., the knowledge of which is kept to oneself or shared only with those whom it concerns or to whom it has been confided; something that cannot be divulged without violation of a command or breach of confidence. Frequently with an adj. prefixed, esp. as an intensive, as a dead secret, entire secret, profound secret.
1450–80tr. Secreta Secret. lix. 35 Þat no man be so prive with him, forto se þe lettris of thi secretz. 1484Caxton Fables of æsop iv. iii, The shepherd..sayd paye me of that I haue kepte the secrete. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 154 b, Certen Senatours had disclosed their secretes. 1590Sir R. Williams Brief Disc. War 16 There is also one Secretarie..who..knowes all the secret onlie that passeth betwixt the King & the Captain general. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 2 Sir Thurio, giue vs leaue (I pray) a while, We haue some secrets to confer about. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 152 Quhome he..in al his secreitis admitted. 1601Shakes. All's Well iv. i. 93 O let me liue, And all the secrets of our campe Ile shew, Their force, their purposes. a1700Evelyn Diary 28 June 1683, Who was now again admitted to the councils and cabinet seacrets. 1701G. Stanhope Augustine's Medit. ii. iv. (1720) 123 The Gift is evident, and is the Giver a secret? 1743Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Montagu 20 Nov. (1893) II. 121 Reasons..for keeping it an entire secret. 1805[see dead a. 31, profound a. 3 b]. 1825Scott Betrothed v, The monk, in alluding to the secrets of the confessional, had gone a step beyond what the rules of his order..permitted. 1837Lockhart Scott II. ii. 42 It is an old saying, that wherever there is a secret there must be something wrong. 1854‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green ii. xi, His writing for the prize poem had been a secret. 1879C. M. Yonge Cameos Ser. iv. v. 59 He kept his marriage a secret. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 450/2 This device has never been patented, but is a secret. 1890J. Middlemass Two False Moves I. xv. 224 Much that she had heard that day must be kept a dead secret. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert xxvii. 363 If you were to keep this letter a secret from him.
b. In the Biblical phrase, the secrets of the (one's) heart.
Not in Wyclif, who has ‘hid thinges’ (Vulg. abscondita).
1535Coverdale Ps. xliv. 21 Shulde not God fynde it out? for he knoweth the very secretes of the hert. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John i. 47–9 Nathanaell..who was perswaded, that the secretes of the hearte was open to god onely. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 306 Thy bosome shall partake The secrets of my Heart. 1635W. Austin Medit. 103 The Secrets of his heart none knowes; but he, that made it.
c. an open secret: something which is ostensibly a secret, but which requires little effort or penetration to discover. Also secret of Polichinelle = secret de Polichinelle.
1828Carlyle in Foreign Rev. II. iii. 101 The ‘open secret’ is no longer a secret to him, and he knows that the Universe is full of goodness; that whatever has being has beauty. 1853C. Brontë Villette III. xxiii. 336, I wanted to prove to Miss Lucy that I could keep a secret... How many times has she saucily insinuated that all my affairs are the secret of Polichinelle! 1879F. Pollock in W. K. Clifford Lect. Introd. i. 1 It is an open secret to the few who know it, but a mystery..to the many, that Science and Poetry are own sisters. 1882L. Stephen Swift iv. 74 The mask [of anonymity] was..a sufficient protection against legal prosecution, but in reality covering an open secret.
4. a. A method or process (of an art, etc.) hidden from all except the initiated.
1486Oath of Barber-Surgeons in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xv. 273 And the secretes and counsell of the same arte, ye shall trewlie kepe and Layne. 1555Eden Decades Contents, Of certeyne secreates touchynge the arte of saylynge. 1572L. Mascall Plant. & Graff. (1592) To Rdr., Declaring of diuers waies of planting and Graffyng,..with shewing of diuers commodities and secrets heerein. a1700Evelyn Diary 14 Dec. 1650, An imposter that had like to have impos'd upon us a pretended secret of multiplying gold. 1742Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 97 The balance of power is a secret in politics. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 528 What secret did the Asiatics possess to raise cities so vast and so populous? 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxix, Our nation..can cure wounds,..and in our own family, in particular, are secrets which have been handed down since the days of Solomon.
†b. Hence, an infallible prescription, a specific.
1558Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. (1568) 24 a, This is a very rare secrete against suche a disease. 1669Salmon Bate's Dispens. 559/2 It is a Secret against a Gonorrhœa. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. vii. 247 The idea that satiating the servants of the public with wealth is a secret for rendering them honest.
c. (Const. of.) That which accounts for something surprising or extraordinary; the essential thing to be observed in order to secure some end.
1738Swift Pol. Conversat. ii. 121 Few People know the Secret of this. 1846Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 146 The only secret of success is to feel and confess yourself nothing, that God may make you everything. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 58 So strangely were good and evil intermixed in the character of these celebrated brethren; and the intermixture was the secret of their gigantic power.
†5. A place of concealment; a secret place; a hiding-place, place of retreat. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 268/2 Secrete a prevy place, requoy. 1583Leg. Bp. St. Androis 774 in Satir. Poems Reform. xlv, Vpon ane dyke doun was he sett Into a secreit out of sicht. 1596Spenser F.Q. vi. xii. 24 Into their cloysters now he broken had..And searched all their cels and secrets neare. 1635W. Austin Medit. 103 God himselfe is an invisible Spirit..he hides himselfe in Clowdes, and dwelleth in Secrets.
†6. pl. = secret parts (see A. 1 j). Also sing.
1535Coverdale Deut. xxv. 11 Yf..the wyfe put forth hir hande, and take him by the secretes. 1552Lyndesay Monarche i. 986 Than..thay..maid thame Breikis of leuis grene, That thair secreitis suld nocht be sene. 1579–80North Plutarch, Romulus (1595) 34 They..run..starke naked (sauing they haue a cloth before their secrets). 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 73 Their secret hangeth forth more then at other times. 1656Heylin Surv. France 237 Those..had the secrets of nature..filled with gun-powder, and so blown into ashes. 1758J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) Dict. B b 8, The upper Part of a Woman's Secret.
7. Antiq. ‘A coat of mail concealed under one's usual dress’ (Jam.).
1578–9Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 105 With daggis, pistolettis, Jakis, and secreitis of plait. 1600Gowrie Conspiracy D 2 b, The Earle bade him putte on his secret and plaite sleeues, for he had an hey-land man to take. 1609Skene Reg. Maj., Treat. 151 [They] quha sall resort, or repaire within his Majesteis palace,..armed with Iakis, Secreitis, or corsleits, vnder their coats, doublets, or vtherwaies, sallbe apprehended. 1643Sc. Acts Chas. I (1870) VI. 43/2 That þej provyde jackes or secreites lances and steill bonnettes and swordes. 1820Scott Monast. xxiv, A short doublet of buff, under which was in some places visible that light shirt of mail which was called a secret, because worn instead of more ostensible armour, to protect against private assassination. 1825― Talism. xxviii. 1828― F.M. Perth iv. 1853James Agnes Sorel (1860) I. 149, I think it were as well if you wore a secret beneath your ordinary dress.
8. Phrases.
a. (Properly the adj. used absol.) in secret [= L. in secreto, F. en secret]: in private, not openly or in public; secretly. † at one's secret: to oneself, privately. † of secret: of a secret character.
1474Caxton Chesse ii. ii. (1883) 28 And thus euery wyf tolde hit to other in secrete. 1483― G. de la Tour h vij, And..the kyng..sayd att his secrete that he myght not be wrothe with his wyf. 1526Tindale Matt. vi. 4 Thy father which seith in secret. [So later versions.] 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 382 Drunkards..kepe nothing in secrete, but..blab abroad in the hearing of all men, whatsoever. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 236 One word in secret. 1588Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 143 He..passed alongest, but not in such secret but that hee was discouered. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 206, I return'd With tokens thus and thus..: nay some markes Of secret on her person. 1616Chapman Musæus 260 Loose acts done In surest secret: in the open Sunne And euery Market place, will burne thine eares. 1781Cowper Expost. 722 My soul shall sigh in secret. 1877Tennyson Harold v. ii, Some held she was his wife in secret.
b. (Chiefly in senses 3–4.) to be in (rarely † on) the secret, to be one of the participants in a secret; † to be of secrets with, to share the confidence or secrets of (a person); to let (a person) into the secret, to confide (to him) the secret (of an affair, trade); hence slang (see quots. a 17002, 1801); to make a secret of (something), to make (it) a matter of concealment, to keep (it) to oneself.
1535St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 228 We have in warde,..Dam Jenet Ewstace, which was thErle of Kildares aunt, and most of secrets with him. 1680Burnet Rochester (1692) 28 Even those who were on the secret, and saw him in these shapes, could perceive nothing by which he might be discovered. 1697Vanbrugh æsop ii. i, It's a good trade..: let a lad be but diligent, and do what he's bid, he shall be let into the secret, and share part of the profits. a1700Evelyn Diary 22 July 1674, In a short time let him so into the seacret of affaires, that [etc.]. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Secret, let into the Secret, when one is drawn in at Horse⁓racing, Cock-fighting, Bowling, and other Sports or Games, and Bit. 1703[see let v.1 11 a (d)]. 1724De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 79 Before I was let into the Secret, as 'tis called, which is indeed nothing but the knavish Part of the Sport [of Horseracing]. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. i. 29 You may make a Secret of it, but we can spell, and put together. 1801Nelson Let. in Sotheby's Catal. 15 June 1897, 17 As I am not in the secret, and feel I have a right to speak out. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 453 James, who had from the first been in the secret of his brother's foreign politics. 1885F. M. Peard Near Neighbours II. i. 18 Nor had he made the least secret of his intention to use all means to hold her.
9. attrib. and Comb., as (objective) secret-keeper, secret-monger; secret-graph (nonce-wd.), a code for communicating secrets.
1799in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. III. 329 Instruct ladies to form a perfect *secret-graph by the arrangement of Patches.
1741Richardson Pamela (ed. 3) II. 273 Thou has the Air of a *Secret-keeper of that sort. 1904Edin. Rev. Jan. 56 Earth, the secret keeper of birth and of death.
1754–64Smellie Midwifery I. 257, A selfish *secret-monger. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 38 Itinerant empyrics and secret-mongers.
† II. 10. A private counsellor, secret adviser. Obs. rare—1.
a1513Fabyan Chron. lxviii. (1533) 25 b/1 When he [sc. Constantyne] awoke he called this vysyon to mynde, and tolde vnto his secretes, by whose counsayll he commaunded the sygne of the crosse to be..set in his baners.
▪ II. † ˈsecret, v. Obs.
[f. secret n.
In the inflected forms it is not easy to distinguish between ˈsecret and secrete v.]
trans. To keep secret, conceal, hide.
1595Drake's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 25 Your loves, I thinke, can pardon these faltes, and secret them from the vewe of others. 1596Raleigh Discov. Guiana 21 A large chart..which I shall most humbly pray your Lo. to secret, and not to suffer it to passe your own hands. 1619W. Sclater Exp. 1 Thess. (1630) 398 Things that hee [God] hath pleased to secret vnto himselfe. 1625Bacon Ess., Simulation (Arb.) 506 If a Man..can discerne, what Things are to be laid open, and what to be secretted. 1693W. Freke Sel. Ess. xxvi. 155 The seueral Methods of Secreting our Sense in writing. a1734North Exam. i. i. §xvi. (1740) 23 Can any Thing but a Monster in common Sense argue..that the Earl intended to secret the Sense of his Words.
Hence ˈsecreting vbl. n.
1616Bacon Adv. to Villiers Wks. 1872 VI. 41 There is great care to be used for the councillors themselves to be well chosen, so there is of the clerks of the council, for the secreting of their consultations. |