| 释义 |
▪ I. sect, n.1|sɛkt|
Also 4–6 secte, 5 sekte, 6 sekt, seacte, pl. sextes, Sc. pl. sekkis.
[a. F. secte (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), or directly ad. L. secta following (used as cognate object in sectam sequi, to follow a particular course of conduct, to follow a person's guidance or example), hence a party or faction, a philosophical sect or school, a class or profession (in med.L. also the distinctive costume of a class or order of men), f. sequ- root of sequī to follow: for the formation cf. sectārī to pursue. The L. word was adopted also in other Rom. langs.: Sp., Pg. secta, It. setta.
It has been maintained that L. secta is the fem. pple. of secāre to cut, an ellipsis for via secta, from the phrase viam secāre (after Gr. τέµνειν ὁδόν) to make (lit. ‘to cut’) one's way. Formally this would be quite possible; but secta does not occur in the physical sense of ‘way’, nor does it appear that via secta was ever in use; and some of the uses of secta are more satisfactorily accounted for by derivation from sequī than from secāre.]
†1. A class or kind (of persons). Obs.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame 1432 (Fairf.) Alderfirste, loo, ther I sighe,..Hym of Secte saturnyne, The Ebrayke Iosephus. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xvi. 13 How þis couetise ouer-cam alle kynne sectes, As wel lerede as lewede. c1400Rom. Rose 5745 Eke in the same secte are set Alle tho that prechen for to get Worshipes, honour, and richesse. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas iii. i. (1494) i viij b, The sect of pouert hath a protection From all statutes to go at lyberte. 1515Barclay Egloges iii. (1570) B vj b, Flatterers and hostlers, and other of this sect Are busy in thy chamber. 1540Palsgr. Acolastus ii. i. I j, Of whose secte .i. suite or sorte of profession we..set forth abrode into the market stede many clientes. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 932 The which act and priuilege did nourishe and encrease aboundauntly the sect and swarme of theeues and murderers. 1628Burton Anat. Mel., Democr. to Rdr. (ed. 3) 15 [Of Physicians] I know many of their Sect [edd. 1, 2, of them] which haue taken Orders, in hope of a Benefice.
†b. A religious order. Obs.
Properly a use of sense 1; but Wyclif affects to take it in sense 4, as if the orders (esp. the mendicant orders) were new religions, competing with the ‘sect’ of Christ.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 446 Þes foure sectis newe brouȝt in, as emperour clerkis, munkis & chanouns & þes foure ordris freris, disturblen moost þis fiȝtinge chirche & putten it fro þe cours of crist. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii. 293 Þoȝ men soȝt al sectes [v.r. þe sektis] of sistren & of breþeren. 1402Jack Upland 106 Why stele ye mens children for to make hem of youre secte? c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 416 Þat he suld be of haly secte. 1533Gau Richt Vay (1888) 104 Our halie fader ye paip and his bischopis giffis ane part of ye spulze quhilk thay reiff fra ye pwir to thir forsaid sekkis. 1574tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 36 Wicked sectes haue bin brought into the worlde vnder the names of Austin, Bernard, Francis, Dominik and others. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. ix. li. (1612) 231 Ignatius then conceited had his sect, And crau'd Confirmance of the pope. 1779G. Keate Sketches fr. Nat. (ed. 2) I. 142 As I think that there are only two houses of La Trappe existing, it may not be improper to mention, that this sect was first founded about a century ago, with the sanction of Pope Innocent the Eleventh. 1814Cary Dante, Parad. iii. 108, I..Made promise of the way her sect enjoins.
†c. The (human) race. Obs. rare.
c1400Rom. Rose 4859 Ne were ther generacioun Our sectis strene for to save. 1578Banister Hist. Man iii. 42 The Articulation of the head with the Vertebres..diuine nature y⊇ mother of humane sect, hath shewed therin more care.
d. Sex. Now only in illiterate use.
A special use of sense 1; possibly suggested by the similarity in sound with sex. In mod.Eng. it may have originated afresh as an artificial pronunciation of sek (a singular evolved from the apparent plural sex) on the part of speakers of dialects that have final (k) for (kt).
c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 1171 For the wyues loue of Bathe Whos lyf and al hire secte god mayntene In heigh maistrie. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love ii. ii. (Skeat) I. 139 She me hath had so greet in worship, that I nil for nothing in open declare, that in any thing ayenst her secte may so wene. a1592Greene Alphonsus v. Wks. (Grosart) XIII. 400 Although it be a shame For knights to combat with the female sect. 1608Middleton Mad World ii. vi, 'Tis the easiest Art and cunning for our sect to counterfeit sicke. 1624Heywood Gunaik. i. 6 Their controversie was to be determined by Tyresias, (one that had beene of both sects). 1738[G. Smith] Cur. Relat. II. v. 77 These Robbers without Regard to Sect or Decency, stript all the Company stark naked. 1776Pratt Pupil Pleas. (1777) I. 173 The most artfullest of his sect. 1824Scott St. Ronan's xv, ‘Ye have skeel of our sect, sir,’ replied the dame. 1861Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 204 [Street-photographer loq.] A lady don't mind taking her bonnet off..before one of her own sect.
†2. Distinctive costume (of a class or order). Also transf. the ‘garb’ or guise (of humanity). Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 237 Many tyme god hath ben mette amonge nedy peple, Þere neuere segge hym seigh in secte of þe riche. Ibid. xiv. 258 He bereth þe signe of pouerte, And in þat secte owre saueoure saued al mankynde. 1393Ibid. C. viii. 130 And sitthe in oure secte as hit semed, þow deydest, On a fryday, in forme of man feledest oure sorwe.
†3. Body of followers or adherents. Obs.
1450Rolls of Parlt. V. 204/2 The said John Newport and other of his secte..so thretening the Kingis pepil of the Ile [etc.]. 1512W. Knight in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 195 Sr William Sands and a few of his secte were in the contrarie opynyon of me. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxxx. 216 The prouost and his sect exhorted hym therto. 1590–91Reg. Privy Council Scot. IV. 562 The..crafty practizes of Mr James Gordoun, fader bruthir to the Erll of Huntlie, and utheris of his sect. 1621Gude & Godlie B. App. i. 234 Cum heir my Elect, and my awin sweit Sect, Ȝour hyre sall not be in weir. [1647N. Bacon Disc. Gov. Eng. i. lxvii. (1739) 169 Et inde producit sectam suam; that is, he brings his sect or suit, or such as do follow or affirm his complaint.] 1667Milton P.L. vi. 147 [Abdiel speaks.] My Sect thou seest, now learn too late How few somtimes may know, when thousands err.
4. A religious following; adherence to a particular religious teacher or faith.
†a. Applied to any of the main religions of the world, as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam; the principles, or the adherents collectively, of any one of these faiths. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 9 (Corpus) As of þe secte of which þat he was born he kepte his lay to which þat he was sworn. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 129 Whan þat false prophete Machometys..wroot and brouȝt yn þe false lawe and secte of Saracins. 1390Gower Conf. II. 182 And thus in thilke time tho Began the Secte upon this Erthe, Which of believes was the ferthe. c1450Myrr. our Ladye 85 Of what secte or contre so euer they be, hethen or crysten, sarasen or Iewe. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 73 b/1 Kynge Salamon louyd ouermoche..straunge wymen of other sectes. 1530Rastell Bk. Purgat. iii. xv. (fin.), Wolde to God that thou were of our holy secte and crysten beleve. 1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 14 Ye Soldan or chefe ruler hereof is of Mahumets secte, as are ye Turkes. a1575tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden No. 36) 74 Preaching the woord of Godd and sincere secte of Christe. 1592Kyd Sol. & Pers. iii. i. 38 How did the Christians vse our Knights? Bru. As if that we and they had been one sect. 1600R. Carr tr. Mahumetan Hist. 19 Abagan..tooke vpon him the supersticion of the sect of Mahumet. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xx. 73 Whilest these wicked Miscreants [sc. Mohammedans] fortifie themselves in their devilish Sect, let us trust in our Lord. 1716Prideaux O. & N. Test. Connected (1718) I. i. iii. 139 At this time [an. 522] all the idolatry of the world was divided between two sects, that is, the worshippers of images, who were called the Sabians, and the worshippers of fire, who were called the Magians.
b. † (a) A system of belief or observance distinctive of one of the parties or schools into which the adherents of a religion are divided; sometimes spec. a system differing from what is deemed the orthodox tradition; a heresy. Obs. (b) A body of persons who unite in holding certain views differing from those of others who are accounted to be of the same religion; a party or school among the professors of a religion; sometimes applied spec. to parties that are regarded as heretical, or at least as deviating from the general tradition.
the Clapham Sect: a name applied derisively early in the 19th c. to a coterie of persons of Evangelical opinions and conspicuous philanthropic activity, some of whom lived at Clapham; among the chief members were Wilberforce, Zachary Macaulay, and Henry Thornton.
13..S. Ambrose 276 (MS. Vernon) in Horstm. Alteng. Leg. (1878) 12 Wiþ heretykes of þe secte of Arrian. 1382Wyclif Acts xxvi. 5 For vp [v.r. that bi] the moost certeyn secte of oure religioun, I lyuede a Farisee. 1390Gower Conf. I. 15 This new Secte of Lollardie. c1449Pecock Repr. v. iii. 497 Aftir the daies of the Apostlis roosen also manye vntrewe sectis of Cristen men, as the sect of Valentynyanys. 1526Tindale 1 Cor. xi. 19 For there must be sectes amonge you. 1530Cromwell in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 187 They wyll not discent from the Lutheran sekt. 1542–3Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 1 The damnable opinions of the secte of the anabaptistes. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 81 They that love sectes are in dede worthy of punyshement. 1577T. Vautrollier Luther on Ep. Gal. 221 The Jewes assured them selues that the Church..should shortly be ouerthrowne: the which by an odious name they called a Sect. 1603Drayton Bar. Wars iv. liv, And in her Sects, Religion lay confounded. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iii. 81 Doe not I know you [Cromwell] for a Fauourer Of this new Sect? 1625Bacon Ess., Viciss. Things ⁋5 When the Religion formerly receiued, is rent by Discords;..you may doubt the Springing vp of a New Sect. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 69 The Millenaries, a sect of learned, and criticall Christians, who expect in the last thousand years of the Church, the cream of all militant perfection. a1727Newton Chronol. Amended vi. (1728) 349 He reformed the religion of the Persians, which before was divided into many sects. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 170 The church was distracted by the Nestorian and Monophysite sects. 1844J. Stephen in Edinb. Rev. LXXX. 251 The Clapham Sect. 1859FitzGerald Omar xliii, The Grape that can with Logic absolute The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute. 1879L. Stephen Hours in Library Ser. iii. 288 The Clapham Sect, amongst whom he [Macaulay] had been brought up.
c. In modern use, commonly applied to a separately organized religious body, having its distinctive name and its own places of worship; a ‘denomination’. Also, in a narrower sense, one of the bodies separated from the Church. the sects: applied by Anglicans to the various bodies of Dissenters, by Roman Catholics to all forms of Protestantism.
1577–87Holinshed Hist. Eng. i. ii. 3/1 They (of all the other sects before specified) were suffered onlie to continue vnabolished. 1651H. More Mastix his Lett. in Enthus. Tri. etc. (1656) 306 That Sect which are called Quakers. 1673Temple Observ. United Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 58 In Amsterdam..almost all Sects, that are known among Christians, have their publick Meeting-places. 1676Glanvill Ess. v. 24 The common practice (at least among the Sects) of declaring against Reason as an Enemy to Religion. 1776Adam Smith W.N. v. i. (1869) II. 377 Almost every different congregation might have made a little sect by itself, or have entertained peculiar tenets of its own. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxxi. But with all the more severe prejudices and principles of his sect, Bide-the-bent possessed a sound judgment. 1828Macaulay Ess., Hallam ⁋19 We might say that the massacre of St. Bartholomew was intended to extirpate, not a religious sect, but a political party. 1836Arnold in Stanley Life & Corr. (1845) II. 23 Almost all who profess to value Christianity seem when they are brought to the test to care only for their own sect. 1836H. Rogers J. Howe iii. (1863) 46 It might be said of the latter years of the Commonwealth, that there were almost as many sects as worshippers. 1857Toulmin Smith Parish 436 The church is not a building for the service of any sect. 1872Morley Voltaire (1886) 4 To each alike of the countless orthodox sects his name is the symbol for the prevailing of the gates of hell.
d. abstr. (Cf. party n. 6 b.)
1865Lecky Ration. (1878) II. 104 The spirit of sect, or an attachment not to abstract principles, but to a definite and organised ecclesiastical institution, is a spirit essentially similar to patriotism.
5. The system or body of adherents of a particular school of philosophy.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 359 He [Aristotle] brouȝte up þe secte þat is i-cleped Peripatetica. 1579–80North Plutarch, Brutus (1595) 1070 Cassius being in opinion an Epicurian,..spake..thus. In our sect, Brutus, we haue an opinion, that [etc.]. a1591H. Smith Arrow agst. Atheists (1637) 18 Three of the most learned that ever professed the Platonicke sect. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 279 The Sect Epicurean. 1693Dryden Persius i. Argt., Our Poet was a Stoick Philosopher; and..all his Moral Sentences..are drawn from the Dogma's of that Sect. 1704Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) 399 The Chaldæan Philosophers were divided into Sects, but the Distinction arose from the Nature of their Studies. 1798Ferriar Eng. Historians 244 Some of the ancient philosophical sects, received their denominations from their places of instruction. 1868Farrar Seekers after God, Seneca Introd. 5 The purest and most exalted philosophic sect of antiquity was ‘the sect of the Stoics’.
6. transf. (from senses 4 and 5). A school of opinion in politics, science, or the like; also, more or less jestingly, applied to a group of persons who attach importance to some peculiar crotchet about matters of social custom or the like.
1605Shakes. Lear v. iii. 18 Lear...And wee'l weare out In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones, That ebbe and flow by th' Moone. 1609B. Jonson Epicœne Prol., But in this age, a sect of Writers are, That, onely, for particular likings care, And will taste nothing that is populare. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. iii. 18 The Atheists upon this occasion are divided into Sects. 1712Steele Spect. No. 479 ⁋5 Socrates, who is by all Accounts the undoubted Head of the Sect of the Hen-peck'd, own'd..that [etc.]. 1776Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. (1869) II. 420 That sect of men of letters in France who call themselves the economists. 1788Trifler No. 9. 113 The first sect on which I shall recommend you to try your skill..are Old Maids. 1792Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 450 A sect has shown itself among us, who declare they espoused our constitution..as a step to an English constitution. 1821Shelley Epipsych. 149, I never was attached to that great sect, Whose doctrine is, that each one should select Out of the crowd a mistress or a friend, And all the rest..commend To cold oblivion. 1821–30Ld. Cockburn Mem. (1856) 367 The Whigs gave him a public dinner on the 21st of February, at which about 300 attended—the largest convocation of the sect that had yet taken place. 1837Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) I. 175 The doctrine made a sect among astronomers. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xvii. 197 This I am sure will seem strange to the various sects of pathologists and theorists. 1899W. S. Lilly 1st Princ. Politics 135 Socialism is rather a sect than a party.
†b. With pseudo-etymological reference: A ‘section’ of mankind. Obs.
1708–9Swift Let. to Abp. King 6 Jan., But the world is divided into two sects, those that hope the best, and those that fear the worst. a1764Lloyd Poet 254 There were two sects—the Bad, the Good.
†c. transf. Way of thinking, turn of mind. Obs.
1580–3Greene Mamillia i. (1592) 2 b, Yet he could haue a quiet conscience, til he might see her of the same sect, and as deadly to hate it [court life], as he did loth it.
†7. = sept (Irish). Obs. rare.
1536St. Papers Hen. VIII (1834) II. 328 There are another sect of the Borkes, and divers of the Irisshery, towardes Slygoo. 1540Ibid. III. 235 Thos sectes of people called the Cavenaghes.
†8. Law. sect of court (med.L. secta curiæ): ‘Suit and Service done by Tenants at the Court of their Lord’ (J. Harris Lex. Techn. 1710, II).
1546Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) II. 245 To the erle of Comberland for secte of courte for the lande in Skipton. 1546Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 13 Sir William Malyory knight for lande in Nunwike and secte of Courte xiij d. John Norton for Fre Ferme and secte of Courte xiij d. 1571Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 89 With power to..continew court or courtis of Justiciarie..; sectis to mak be callit; absentis to amerchiat. 1578Ibid. III. 13.
9. attrib. and Comb., as sect-ascendancy, † sect-follower, sect-founder, sect-leader, † sect-maker, † sect-master (= sect-founder); sect-forming, sect-ridden adjs.
1903Q. Rev. Apr. 570 To the pre-Reformation policy of race-ascendency was added, under Elizabeth, that of *sect-ascendency.
1556Olde Antichrist 102 b, To gratifie his owne *secte folowers.
1891Ch. Times 28 Aug. 824/1 The *sect-forming, dislocating career of the subsequent centuries.
1861J. Edkins in Mrs. Edkins Chinese Scenes (1863) 273 He receives revelations, becomes a *sect-founder.
a1711Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 389 *Sect-Leaders their own Visions may impose. 1896Q. Rev. Jan. 91 The actual methods adopted by the Hindu sect-leaders.
1530Tindale Prol. 1 Cor., Ther came immediatly false Apostles & *sectemakers, drue euery man disciples after hym. 1656Trapp Expos. Acts xv. 36 Seducers and sect-makers.
1565Allen Def. Purg. 14 They doo not folowe these *Secte masters, as scholares moued by any probability of theire teachers persuation. a1708T. Ward Eng. Ref. i. (1716) 73 As if the Holy Isaac were An Heretick or Sect-Master.
1840Mill Diss. & Disc. (1859) I. 444 This *sect-ridden country.
▪ II. sect, n.2 rare.
[? ad. L. sectum, neut. pa. pple. of secāre to cut. Cf. set n.]
? A cutting from a plant; in quots. fig.
1604Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 336 Our carnall Stings, or vnbitted Lusts: whereof I take this, that you call Loue, to be a Sect, or Seyen. 1864Swinburne Atalanta 1686 The son lies close about thine heart,..Eats thee and drinks thee..thyself, a sect of thee.
▪ III. † sect, v.1 nonce-wd.
[f. sect n.1]
a. trans. To treat as a sect.
b. to sect it: to behave as a sect.
1656S. H. Gold. Law 13 Would you that Prelacy and Priesthood should perk up again, and under pretense of Religion,..be-heretick, and sect you, and then dissect you by persecutions? Ibid. 81 The Priests of all sorts sect it, so do all religious persons faction and party it.
▪ IV. † sect, v.2 Obs.
[f. L. sect-, ppl. stem of secāre to cut.]
trans. To cut or divide (into equal parts).
1657Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 245 Its leaves are sected into slender parts. 1697G. K. Disc. Geom. Problems 10 He who understands..to sect any angle into 3. 5. 6. as is above shewed, will by the like Method and Praxis be able to sect any angle into 7. 8. 9. 10. &c. equal parts. Ibid., How a Semicircle may be sected into any number of equal parts. 1882G. A. Sala Amer. Revisited II. ii. 19 Almost every thoroughfare in the city being sected and intersected by lines for horse-cars. |