secretaryn.¹adj.

Brit.

/ˈsɛkrᵻt(ɛ)ri/, U.S.

/ˈsɛkrəˌtɛri/

Forms: Middle English–1600s secretarie, Middle English– secretairye, ( secretrary), Middle English–1500s secretarye, secretory, secretorie, (1500s Scottish secrittary), Middle English– secretary.

Etymology: < medieval Latin sēcrētārius a secretary, notary, scribe, etc., a title applied to various confidential officers (properly an adj.), < sēcrētum secret n.: see -ary suffix¹ 2 (The equivalent late Latin title was ā sēcrētīs .) Compare French secrétaire (whence secretaire n.¹, secretar n.), Provençal secretari, Spanish secretario, Portuguese secretario, Italian secretario, segretario.

A. n.¹

†a. One who is entrusted with private or secret matters; a confidant; one privy to a secret. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [noun] > friend > confidant

privya1325

secretarya1387

counsel-keeper1600

confident1619

secretara1628

trustee1641

troutc1661

confidante1709

confidant1741

society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a companion or associate > [noun] > one privy to something secret

secretarya1387

privy1548

symmyst1607

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 387 Þanne his secretarie [L. secretarius] tolde hym what he hadde i-seie and i-doo.

c1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. cvi At þe leste be he to þe trewe secretary, no þinge addand, no letiland, in þinges þat þou sendys hym.

c1400 N. Love tr. Bonaventura Mirror Life Christ (Gibbs MS.) xl. lf. 88 Takyng wyth hym hys þre specyall secretaryes þat is to say petyre and james and john.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 451/1 Secretary, manne of privyte [v.r. of priui counsel], secretarius.

c1440 Gesta Romanorum (Harl.) xliii. 171 There come to him [the Emperor] a Secretarie, þat was nye of his counseill.

1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert xxiii. 97 For to þat pryuyte he desyred no moo secretaries but God and seyntis.

1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxiii. f. 190 She..that was the secretarie of hir infortunate mariage.

1590 T. Lodge Rosalynde (1592) N 2 b Reueale it she durst not, as daring in such matters to make none her secretarie.

a1592 R. Greene Frier Bacon (1594) sig. G4^v Raphe tels all, you shall haue a good secretarie of him.

1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales Chaucer 114 This Wife of Bath was too full of Chinks to be a good Secretary.

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xvi. 261 My good woman,..a faithful secretary to her sex's foibles.

†b. figurative of things personified. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1587 R. Greene Euphues sig. D4 For they knew if euer (as time is a bad secretary) their adulterous practises should come to the eares of Polumestor, a worse mishappe then death should be allotted for their ingratefull mischiefe [etc.].

1592 T. Kyd Spanish Trag. iii. sig. E2 The night, sad secretary to my mones.

1615 S. Daniel Hymens Triumph iv. i, in Wks. (1718) I. 131 Yonder spreading Beech Which often hath the Secretary been To my sad Thoughts.

1648 King Charles I Let. 31 July in Wks. (1662) i. 350 Lest it may be imagined that desire of Liberty should now be the only Secretary to My thoughts.

†c. Applied to those entrusted with the secrets or commands of God, or of a god. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > inspiration or revelation > prophecy > [noun] > person

witiec897

prophetOE

secretary1599

Tirthankara1835

Mlimo1896

Umlimo1896

1599 in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. i. 209 The mercifull God..commaunded his secretarie Abraham to build him an house in Mecca.

1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. 1 Their Priests, whom they [the Britons] accounted the onely Secretaries that God had on earth.

1657 P. Heylyn Ecclesia Vindicata ii. iii. §14. 164 There was no order and command of Moses, or of any other of Gods Secretaries.

a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) ii. 210 Thoth, the secretary of Osiris.

in extended use.1641 J. Milton Reason Church-govt. 41 But were it the meanest under-service, if God by his Secretary conscience injoyn it, it were sad for me if I should draw back.

d. secretary of nature n. one acquainted with the secrets of Nature.This doubtless originally belonged to sense A. 2, being suggested by the title γραμματεὺς τῆς ϕύσεως, applied (in Suidas) to Aristotle; but in the following examples the word is taken in its etymological sense.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > systematic knowledge, science > [noun] > scientist

man of science1482

natural philosopher?1541

secretary of nature1580

artsman1632

experimental philosopher1651

artist1665

scientific1738

sciencist1778

scientist1834

scientician1841

scientiate1847

scient1854

sciencer1871

natural scientist1872

specialist1918

boffin1945

1580 G. Harvey Three Proper Lett. B iij b The soundest Philosophers in deede, and very deepest Secretaries of Nature, holde..an other assertion.

1583 R. Greene Mamillia i. f. 21^v I cannot but maruel that among al these secretaries of nature, there haue neuer byn found any which haue enterprised to search out the essence and perfect nature of loue.

1635 H. Valentine Foure Sea-serm. 24 It is reported of Aristotle that great Secretary of Nature, that [etc.].

1648 Hunting of Fox 19 Solinus, and other Secretaries of nature.

1690 C. Ness Compl. Hist. & Myst. Old & New Test. I. 29 Solomons wisdom..made him natures secretary.

a. One whose office it is to write for another; spec. one who is employed to conduct or assist with correspondence, to keep records, and (usually) to transact various other business, for another person or for a society, corporation, or public body.In early use applied almost solely to the officer who conducted the correspondence of a king; apparently often employed with some mixture of the etymological sense A. 1. private secretary: a secretary employed by a minister of state or other high official for the personal correspondence connected with his official position; also applied to a secretary in the employ of a particular person (as distinguished from the secretary to a society, etc.). Also spec. in various civil service and parliamentary sub-ministerial posts: Parliamentary Private Secretary: see parliamentary private secretary n. at parliamentary adj. and n. Compounds; Permanent Secretary: see permanent secretary n. at permanent adj. and n. Compounds; Second (or Third) Secretary: a senior civil servant in the Treasury immediately subordinate to the permanent (or second) secretary. Secretary of Embassy or Legation: an official of an embassy or diplomatic mission ranking next to the ambassador or envoy, and empowered to some extent to supply his place in his absence.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > office > holder of office > public officials > [noun] > clerk or secretary

scribea1382

secretary14..

secretara1525

clerk1526

county clerk1618

mutsuddy1683

society > communication > record > written record > compiler or keeper of written records > [noun] > others

secretary14..

remembrancer1523

rapporteur1653

tally-writer1786

messenger1793

memorandist1866

toll-clerk1878

shorthand typist1901

progress clerk1916

filing clerk1922

secretary bird1969

society > communication > writing > writer > [noun] > professional writer > one employed to write for another

secretary14..

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > non-manual worker > [noun] > clerical > secretarial

notarya1382

secretaire1390

secretary14..

munshi1622

sec.1641

Clerk of the Chamber1670

secy.1801

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > civil service > [noun] > civil servant > specific grades of British

permanent secretary1785

abstracter1857

abstractor1859

permanent under-secretary1859

principal1867

second division1897

abstractor clerk1901

permsec1908

secretary1932

Perm.S.1942

under-secretary1959

14.. Sir Beues (Kölbing) 58/2 (MS. C) Kyng Armyne..cawsyd hys secretory a lettyr to make.

1433 J. Lydgate Legend St. Edmund iii. 163 Burchardus..That of seyn Fremund whilom was secretarye.

1455 Rolls of Parl. V. 317/2 For the Office of oure Secretarie of Fraunce.

1465 in Manners & Househ. Expenses Eng. (1841) 167 My mastyre paid to the Kynges secretory, for makenge of a lettre fro the Kynge into Wales, for my lord, vj. s. viij. d.

a1500 Assembly of Ladies 553 Tak these billës to the secretary.

a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clxxxvi. f. cix^v The kynge was aboute to delyuer this letter to his Scribe or Secretory.

1541 T. Elyot Image of Gouernance Pref. sig. aii Which boke was first writen in the greke tung by his secretary named Eucolpius.

1576 A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. 338 (margin) He meaneth the Byshop of Yorke, to whom this Burbanco was secretarie.

1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII ii. ii. 116 Cardinall, Prethee call Gardiner to me, my new Secretary .

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Secretary, one that is employ'd in Writing Letters, Dispatches, &c. for a Prince, Nobleman, or particular Society: Also one that attends upon an Ambassadour, Envoy, or Resident for that purpose. The King's Secretaries, certain Officers that Sign the Dispatches of the Seal; also the Clerks of the King's Chamber and Closet.

1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. IV. 237 The secretary of legation to that city.

1819 F. MacDonogh Hermit in London II. 186 We have quill-drivers termed secretaries to such and such a firm.

1821 (title) The Secretary's Assistant; exhibiting the various and most correct modes of Superscription, Commencement and Conclusion of Letters to Persons of every degree of Rank.

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xvi. 142 Nicholas..wanted to know whether there was any such post as secretary or amanuensis to a gentleman to be had.

1845 Proc. Philol. Soc. 1 6 The Rules drawn up for the regulation of the Society were then read by the Secretary.

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxv. 214 The Secretary of the Treasury's ante-chamber.

1883 ‘Ouida’ Wanda I. 64 One letter her secretary could not answer for her.

1932 Whitaker's Almanack 329/1 Treasury... Permanent Secretary and Head of H.M. Civil Service, Sir Warren Fisher... Second Secretary, Sir Richard V. N. Hopkins.

1939 Whitaker's Almanack 433/1 Second Sec., Sir Richard V. N. Hopkins... Joint Third Secretaries, Sir Frederick Phillips..; Sir Alan Barlow.

1964 Ld. Bridges Treasury xv. 145 The next rank in the Treasury is known as Second Secretary, which is the equivalent of a Permanent Secretary in other major departments.

1964 Ld. Bridges Treasury xv. 146 The next rank in the Treasury is Third Secretary which is the equivalent of a Deputy Secretary in a major department.

1976 J. Morgan in R. Crossman Diaries II. 200 Philip Allen (K.C.B. 1964) was Second Secretary to the Treasury 1963–6.

b. transferred and figurative.

ΚΠ

1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. viii. §9. 49 b The Apostles wer y^e certaine & authentike secretaries [L. amanuenses] of the Holy ghost.

1591 T. Nashe in Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella Introd. Fayre sister of Phœbus, and eloquent secretary to the Muses, most rare Countesse of Pembroke.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State v. ii. 364 Charles knew well that Necessity, her Secretary, endited her speech for her.

1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. vi. i. sig. Mm7 Those orders of hers, in which she employ'd not Rhetorick for her Secretary, could not be so much as listen'd to, much less obey'd.

†c. One who writes (on a particular occasion) for another. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1592 Greenes Groats-worth of Witte sig. C Wordes to court her you shall not want, for my selfe will be your secretarie.

†d. One skilled in letter-writing. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-writer

secretary1587

epistler1592

epistolizer1615

letter writer1615

epistoler1620

epistolographer1687

scribe1712

epistolist1743

epistolarian1807

epistolographist1818

epistolean1819

1587 J. Hooker Chron. Ireland 160/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II The gouernor, who was a verie good secretarie, and could pen a letter verie excellentlie well, did draw a letter.

†e. In the titles of books on the art of letter-writing. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > book on letter-writing

secretary1586

1586 A. Day (title) The English Secretorie. Wherein is contayned, a perfect method, for the inditing of all manner of Epistles and familiar Letters.

1715 (title) A new Academy of complements; or the Lover's Secretary..in divers examples of writing and inditing letters.

a. In the official designations of certain ministers presiding over executive departments of state. Secretary of State n. (the title of) (a) a minister presiding over one of the executive departments of a government; (b) U.S. the head of the Department of State (see department n. 3c(b)).The occurrence of the title ‘(Principal) Secretary of State (†Estate)’ under Queen Elizabeth may be taken as indicating the beginning of the development by which the king's secretary (in sense A. 2) became a minister invested with governing functions. Throughout the 17th cent. there were two officials jointly holding the office of Secretary of State, and in the 18th cent. the number varied between two and three; till near the close of this period the two (or two of the three) were distinguished as ‘Principal Secretary of State for the Southern Province’ and ‘Principal Secretary of State for the Northern Province’, with reference to the division between them of the control of foreign relations (see quot. 1755); but with regard to internal administration no division of functions was formally recognized. At the end of the 18th cent. there were three Secretaries of State, and shortly afterwards the division of functions between them was recognized in their official designation, as ‘Secretary of State for Home Affairs’, ‘for Foreign Affairs’, and ‘for the Colonies’. In 1854 a Secretary of State for War was added, and 1858 a Secretary of State for India. The Secretaries of State are often more briefly called the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary, etc. The Chief Secretary for Ireland (officially styled the Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, and informally the Irish Secretary), and the Secretary for Scotland (first appointed in 1885) were not secretaries of state, but had similar functions, and were (c 1911) members of the cabinet. The Secretary at War (down to 1855, when the office was united with that of the Secretary of State for War) was the parliamentary representative of the army, and had some degree of control over its finance. There have been numerous changes (too complex to set down here) in the nomenclature and duties of Secretaries of State since the nineteenth century. Since 1945, principal Secretaries of State have included the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Secretary), Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Foreign Secretary), Industry, Defence, Employment, and Northern Ireland. The title Chief Secretary (to the Treasury) was introduced in 1961: it is a ministerial appointment as opposed to the various civil servant Treasury Secretaries. The principal Secretary of State (usually the Home Secretary ) is sometimes referred to as the ‘First Secretary’.In the U.S., the Secretary of State corresponds approximately to the British Foreign Secretary. Other cabinet ministers, heads of executive departments, are the Secretary of the Treasury, of War, of the Navy, of the Interior, of Agriculture. Each state of the Union has also its Secretary of State (or a corresponding officer with some other title). In recent years, the nomenclature of senior U.S. cabinet ministers has (as with their counterparts elsewhere) been subject to extensive changes.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government minister > [noun] > minister in British government > types of

first secretary1562

Secretary of State1589

Minister of State1595

Minister without Portfolio1831

1589 R. Hakluyt tr. in Princ. Navigations i. 189 Our Secretarie of estate.

1601 in T. Rymer & R. Sanderson Fœdera (1715) XVI. 421 Sir Robert Cecill Knighte our Principall Secretarie.

1603 in T. Rymer & R. Sanderson Fœdera (1715) XVI. 497 The Right Honorable Sir Robert Cecyll Knight Principall Secretary to her Majestie.

1620 in R. Sanderson Rymer's Fœdera (1717) XVII. 212 Sir Robert Naunton Knight one of our principall Secretaries of State.

1641 Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia sig. C2 I Come now to the next, which was Secretary William Cecill.

1693 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) III. 175 Mr. Clerk, secretary at war.

1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 50 The two Secretaries of State (who were not in those days Officers of that magnitude they have been since, being only to make Dispatches upon the conclusion of Councils, not to govern, or preside in those Councils) were S^r John Coke..And S^r Dudley Carleton.

1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 17 Jan. (1948) I. 168 I will speak to George Granville, secretary at war, to make him a captain.

1755 Chamberlayne's St. Great Brit. (ed. 38) i. 85 Secretaries of State... The Correspondence with all Parts of Great Britain is, without Distinction, managed by either of the Secretaries... But as for the Foreign Affairs, all the Nations..are by them divided into Two Provinces, the Northern, and Southern; of which the Northern is usually under the Junior Secretary, and contains Scandinavia, &c. The Southern under the Senior, and contains Flanders, France, &c. At present (Anno 1752) the Case is just the Reverse.

1775 E. Burke Speech Amer. Taxation 13 Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies.

1789 Deb. Congr. U.S. 26 Sept. (1834) 90 I likewise nominate Thomas Jefferson, for Secretary of State.

1846 J. K. Polk Diary 20 Mar. (1910) I. 293 Forty or fifty persons..called; among them the Russian Minister, the Secretary of State, [etc.].

1863 Act 26 & 27 Victoria c. 12 §1 From and after the passing of this Act the Office of Secretary at War shall be..abolished.

1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea (ed. 3) II. 72 (note) According to the practice which was in force up to the summer of 1854, the Secretary of State for the Colonies was also the ‘Secretary of War’... In peace-time (thanks to the labours of the ‘Horse Guards’, the office of the Secretary at War, the Ordnance, and several other offices) the duties of the Colonial Secretary, in his character as Secretary of War, were very slight.

a1910 ‘M. Twain’ Autobiography (1924) I. 236 He had been ambassador, brilliant orator,.. admirable Secretary of State.

1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet i. iii. 74 A gold-filled diploma from the Secretary of State at Jackson saying for all men to know by these presents, greeting, that them twenty thousand goats..is goats.

1961 Times 10 Oct. 12/1 As Chief Secretary (a title used for the first time) Mr. Brooke will come under the general policy direction of the Chancellor.

1962 Hansard Commons 19 July 632 The Prime Minister: My right hon. Friend the First Secretary of State will act as Deputy Prime Minister.

a1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 610 Oh dear, it is a panjandrum committee—the Prime Minister, First Secretary, Foreign Secretary, the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Labour for some reason, myself.

1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 20 June 8- a/4 Nixon, whom Bill Rogers (secretary of state from 1969 to 1973) referred to as the world's youngest elder statesman, had acquired enormous stature in world affairs.

b. Mr. Secretary: used before the name of a secretary of state, or as a title instead of his name. Now only official and Historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government minister > [noun] > minister in British government > types of > title

Mr. Secretary1576

1576 in J. Nichols Progresses Queen Elizabeth (1823) II. 42 Mr. Secretary. Mr. Threasurer. Mr. Comptroller.

1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII v. ii. 34 [Scene, A Councell Table... Cromwell at lower end, as Secretary.] Chan. Speake to the businesse, M. Secretary; Why are we met in Councell?

1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 30 Aug. (1948) I. 348 On Saturday I go to Windsor with Mr. secretary.

1760 Rec. Colony Rhode Island (1861) VI. 243 A letter from Mr. Secretary Pitt.

1911 Times 23 Feb. 15/5 The Speaker asked who were prepared to bring in the Bill. Mr. Asquith.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Secretary Churchill, Mr. Secretary Haldane, Mr. Pease, the Attorney-General, and myself.

4. Short for secretary hand, type: see B.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [noun] > legal

court-handa1616

chancery-hand1660

law-hand1731

secretary1770

charter-hand1888

society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > style of type > [noun] > type face or font > black letter or Gothic > types of

German text1658

secretary1770

lettre bâtarde1822

bastarda1840

Old English1849

Victoria black1888

Fraktur1904

Schwabacher1922

1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 42 The character itself was a rude old Gothic mixed with Secretary.

1778 Mores Diss. Typogr. Founders 4 And first Mr Caxton—his letter originally was of the sort called Secretary.

1784 T. Astle Origin & Progress Writing v. 146 In the sixteenth century, the English lawyers engrossed their conveyances and legal instruments in characters called Secretary, which are still in use.

1969 M. B. Parkes Eng. Cursive Bk. Hands 1250–1500 p. xx One of the outstanding features of the history of English handwriting in the fifteenth century is the gradual infiltration of this new script, which in its English form we now call ‘secretary’, into all classes of books and documents, until by the sixteenth century it had become the principal script in use in this country.

1978 Bodl. Libr. Rec. IX. 324 The writing exercises..are confined in the rectos of the pages, except for practice alphabets in secretary and in a text hand on ff. 30b and 57b respectively.

5. A writing-desk, a secretaire. Now chiefly U.S.After French secrétaire, probably a transferred use; cf. however secretary n.²

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > desk > [noun]

deskc1405

lectern1509

dess1552

book desk1686

prie-dieu1687

bureau1698

secretary1803

toys1816

secretaire1818

consulting-desk1823

slope1833

box-desk1860

roll-top1884

type-desk1901

partners' desk1925

partners' pedestal desk1930

console1944

society > communication > writing > writing materials > other writing equipment > [noun] > writing desk

writing desk1598

writing tablea1613

scritory1616

scrutoire1665

scriptor1666

bureau1698

escritoire1707

secretaire1771

secretary1803

bonheur du jour1820

table desk1820

bureau plat1887

1803 T. Sheraton Cabinet Dict. 303 Secretary. This term..among cabinet makers..is applied to certain pieces of furniture to write at.

1805 Times 7 Nov. 4/4 Genuine household furniture, and valuable Effects..consisting of.. Excellent mahogany secretary and bookcase.

1815 Niles' Weekly Reg. 9 36/1 Sideboards, secretaries, bureaus, and other articles of cabinet furniture.

1819 A. Constable Let. 21 Mar. in J. Constable Corr. (1962) I. 178 The secretary in the White Room sold for 9 pounds or guineas, I forget which.

1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. §2096 Writing-Tables, or Secretaries.

1858 G. MacDonald Phantastes i. 2 An old secretary, in which my father had kept his private papers.

1865 G. W. Bagby Writings (1885) II. 27 When you come to open his ‘secretary’..you will find his bonds, accounts..lying about loose.

1893 C. G. Leland Memoirs I. 227 My first thought was for this money, so I hurried to get the key of the secretary in which it was.

1975 D. Ramsay Descent into Dark ii. 68 Anita..was..stripping the finish from a maple secretary with a blowtorch.

1980 A. N. Wilson Healing Art xi. 129 There was a grandfather clock, and a roll-top secretary.

6. The secretary bird (see secretary bird n. at Compounds 2).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > [noun] > family Sagittariidae (secretary bird)

serpent-eater1731

secretary1781

secretary bird1781

crane-vulture1885

Serpentarius1893

1781 tr. P. Sonnerat Voy. Spice-Isl. 19 The Secretary, with a crest down back of the neck.

1850 R. Gordon-Cumming Five Years Hunter's Life S. Afr. II. xxx. 279 When the tree fell, out from its nest rolled a young secretary.

B. adj.

As the distinctive epithet of a style of handwriting used chiefly in legal documents from the 15th to the 17th cent. Hence applied to a kind of black-letter type imitating this.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [adjective] > others

bastard1524

secretary1571

Gothical1612

Gothicc1660

Longobardic1677

Lombardic1697

Langobardic1724

longhand1729

rustic1768

Lombard1833

Carlovingian1853

mogigraphic1857

Carolingian1881

Beneventan1882

hand-printed1882

insular1908

script1920

1571 J. De Beau Chesne & J. Baildon (title) A booke containing divers sortes of hands, as well the English as French secretarie with the Italian, Roman, chancelry & court hands.

1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1370/2 One written in the secretarie hand..and the other in the Roman hand.

1594 H. Plat Jewell House 41 The Secretarie small a, hath six partes before it bee made uppe.

1649 Duke of Newcastle Country Captaine ii. i Papers defild with court hand and long dashes or secretary lines, that straddle, more then Frenchmen.

1701 H. Wanley Let. 11 July in Philos. Trans. 1704–5 (Royal Soc.) 24 2000 Like as many Antient People, who do yet continue to write the Roman and Secretary Hands, which were more fashionable 50 or 60 years ago, than now.

1710 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1889) III. 86 The French is printed in a secretary character.

1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 67 Don't you see by the Settness of some of these Letters, and a little Secretary Cut here and there,..that it is the Hand of a Person bred in the Law-way?

1845 Black Catal. Ashm. MSS. 104 The other MS. contained in this volume was written in the time of Q. Elizabeth, in the secretary-hand.

1877 F. C. Price Facsimiles Caxton, Memoir When Caxton started in England his whole stock of type consisted of two founts, a church or text type and a secretary type.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.

† secretary-craft n. Obsolete

ΚΠ

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Kent 75 None alive did better ken the Secretary Craft, to get Counsels out of others, and keep them in himself.

secretary desk n. (now only U.S.)

ΚΠ

1798 Hull Advertiser 28 July 2/1 Eight fashionable secretary desks.

1967 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 23 Apr. (1970) 509 Mr. Hoes showed me a secret drawer in the secretary desk.

secretary-interpreter n.

ΚΠ

1904 D. B. W. Sladen When we were Lovers in Japan ii. xii The Secretary-Interpreter at the Legation.

secretary-office n.

ΚΠ

1821 W. Scott Kenilworth III. xv. 302 We will..place the boy in our Secretary-office.

b. (Appositively.)

secretary-treasurer n.

ΚΠ

1920 Constit. Santa Barbara (Calif.) Club Officers..Secretary-Treasurer William Wyles.

1979 Yale Alumni Mag. Apr. (Suppl.) cn 11/2 He is a past president and secretary-treasurer of the American Association of Law Schools.

secretary-typist n.

ΚΠ

1939 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 13/2 (advt.) Secretary-shorthand-typist, good correspondent, required immediately for engineer.]

1957 S. Smith Not waving but Drowning 34 Dark was the day for Childe Rolandine the artist When she went to work as a secretary-typist.

1976 Milton Keynes Express 2 July 4/4 His wife, a secretary-typist, had left for work.

C2.

secretary bird n. (also †secretaries bird) (a) a raptorial bird of South Africa, Serpentarius secretarius; said to be so called from a tuft of feathers at the back of the head which have a fanciful resemblance to pens stuck behind the ear; also called secretary-falcon, secretary-vulture; (b) [bird n. 13] , a punning term for a young woman employed as a secretary.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > [noun] > family Sagittariidae (secretary bird)

serpent-eater1731

secretary1781

secretary bird1781

crane-vulture1885

Serpentarius1893

society > communication > record > written record > compiler or keeper of written records > [noun] > others

secretary14..

remembrancer1523

rapporteur1653

tally-writer1786

messenger1793

memorandist1866

toll-clerk1878

shorthand typist1901

progress clerk1916

filing clerk1922

secretary bird1969

1781 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. i. 20 Secretary Vulture.

1797 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 236/2 Secretaries bird,..classed by Latham under the genus Vultur.

1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. II. 191 An engagement between the Secretary Falcon and a Serpent.

1824 Goldsmith's Nat. Hist. III. xxiv. Index 437 Secretary-bird devours serpents.

1870 P. Gillmore tr. L. Figuier Reptiles & Birds 611 The Secretary Bird (Serpentarius secretarius,..) has a widely-opening bill, very crooked and very powerful.

1969 W. Douglas-Home (title) The secretary bird.

1974 I. Murdoch Sacred & Profane Love Machine 50 Since Pinn had become what she called a ‘secretary bird’ she had become much smarter.

1976 M. Deakin & J. Willis Johnny go Home xvi. 184 Even London's ‘Secretary Birds’..have problems finding somewhere to live.

secretary-general n. (see quots. 1701, 1861); also spec. the title of the principal official of a Communist party or of some international organizations (as the United Nations).

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > office > holder of office > public officials > senior or chief public officials > [noun] > secretary general

general secretary1782

secretary-general1934

1701 London Gaz. No. 3713/3 The Sieur de Capistron, Secretary-General of the French Galleys.

1861 J. W. B. Money Java I. 238 The Secretariat.—The Governor-General is further assisted by a Secretary-General, who has under him three secretaries of Government, and a large staff of clerks.

1934 B. W. Maxwell Soviet State iii. 42 In theory the Political Bureau is appointed by the Central Committee; in reality the Secretary-General of the Party, if he is powerful enough, makes the selection. This is the case at present, since Stalin is the Secretary-General.

1949 T. Lie Road to Peace 1 (heading) Secretary-General of the United Nations.

1954 E. H. Carr Interregnum 336 Speculating what the secretary-general would report at the next party congress.

1968 U.N. Security Council Proc. 10 in Parl. Papers 1967–8 (Cmnd. 3757) XLII. 229 The Secretary-General deplores any resort to force to settle international problems, wherever it may occur, in contravention of the Charter of the United Nations.

secretary-generalship n.

ΚΠ

1959 Economist 9 May 506/1 According to one view of secretary-generalship.

1977 Westindian World 3 June 10/1 The whole trend of his Secretary-Generalship so far..is to place the Commonwealth firmly in its global setting.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	secretary
释义	secretaryn.¹adj. Brit. /ˈsɛkrᵻt(ɛ)ri/, U.S. /ˈsɛkrəˌtɛri/ Forms: Middle English–1600s secretarie, Middle English– secretairye, ( secretrary), Middle English–1500s secretarye, secretory, secretorie, (1500s Scottish secrittary), Middle English– secretary. Etymology: < medieval Latin sēcrētārius a secretary, notary, scribe, etc., a title applied to various confidential officers (properly an adj.), < sēcrētum secret n.: see -ary suffix¹ 2 (The equivalent late Latin title was ā sēcrētīs .) Compare French secrétaire (whence secretaire n.¹, secretar n.), Provençal secretari, Spanish secretario, Portuguese secretario, Italian secretario, segretario. A. n.¹ 1. †a. One who is entrusted with private or secret matters; a confidant; one privy to a secret. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [noun] > friend > confidant privya1325 secretarya1387 counsel-keeper1600 confident1619 secretara1628 trustee1641 troutc1661 confidante1709 confidant1741 society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a companion or associate > [noun] > one privy to something secret secretarya1387 privy1548 symmyst1607 a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 387 Þanne his secretarie [L. secretarius] tolde hym what he hadde i-seie and i-doo. c1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. cvi At þe leste be he to þe trewe secretary, no þinge addand, no letiland, in þinges þat þou sendys hym. c1400 N. Love tr. Bonaventura Mirror Life Christ (Gibbs MS.) xl. lf. 88 Takyng wyth hym hys þre specyall secretaryes þat is to say petyre and james and john. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 451/1 Secretary, manne of privyte [v.r. of priui counsel], secretarius. c1440 Gesta Romanorum (Harl.) xliii. 171 There come to him [the Emperor] a Secretarie, þat was nye of his counseill. 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert xxiii. 97 For to þat pryuyte he desyred no moo secretaries but God and seyntis. 1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxiii. f. 190 She..that was the secretarie of hir infortunate mariage. 1590 T. Lodge Rosalynde (1592) N 2 b Reueale it she durst not, as daring in such matters to make none her secretarie. a1592 R. Greene Frier Bacon (1594) sig. G4^v Raphe tels all, you shall haue a good secretarie of him. 1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales Chaucer 114 This Wife of Bath was too full of Chinks to be a good Secretary. 1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xvi. 261 My good woman,..a faithful secretary to her sex's foibles. †b. figurative of things personified. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1587 R. Greene Euphues sig. D4 For they knew if euer (as time is a bad secretary) their adulterous practises should come to the eares of Polumestor, a worse mishappe then death should be allotted for their ingratefull mischiefe [etc.]. 1592 T. Kyd Spanish Trag. iii. sig. E2 The night, sad secretary to my mones. 1615 S. Daniel Hymens Triumph iv. i, in Wks. (1718) I. 131 Yonder spreading Beech Which often hath the Secretary been To my sad Thoughts. 1648 King Charles I Let. 31 July in Wks. (1662) i. 350 Lest it may be imagined that desire of Liberty should now be the only Secretary to My thoughts. †c. Applied to those entrusted with the secrets or commands of God, or of a god. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > inspiration or revelation > prophecy > [noun] > person witiec897 prophetOE secretary1599 Tirthankara1835 Mlimo1896 Umlimo1896 1599 in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. i. 209 The mercifull God..commaunded his secretarie Abraham to build him an house in Mecca. 1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. 1 Their Priests, whom they [the Britons] accounted the onely Secretaries that God had on earth. 1657 P. Heylyn Ecclesia Vindicata ii. iii. §14. 164 There was no order and command of Moses, or of any other of Gods Secretaries. a1727 I. Newton Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) ii. 210 Thoth, the secretary of Osiris. in extended use.1641 J. Milton Reason Church-govt. 41 But were it the meanest under-service, if God by his Secretary conscience injoyn it, it were sad for me if I should draw back. d. secretary of nature n. one acquainted with the secrets of Nature.This doubtless originally belonged to sense A. 2, being suggested by the title γραμματεὺς τῆς ϕύσεως, applied (in Suidas) to Aristotle; but in the following examples the word is taken in its etymological sense. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > systematic knowledge, science > [noun] > scientist man of science1482 natural philosopher?1541 secretary of nature1580 artsman1632 experimental philosopher1651 artist1665 scientific1738 sciencist1778 scientist1834 scientician1841 scientiate1847 scient1854 sciencer1871 natural scientist1872 specialist1918 boffin1945 1580 G. Harvey Three Proper Lett. B iij b The soundest Philosophers in deede, and very deepest Secretaries of Nature, holde..an other assertion. 1583 R. Greene Mamillia i. f. 21^v I cannot but maruel that among al these secretaries of nature, there haue neuer byn found any which haue enterprised to search out the essence and perfect nature of loue. 1635 H. Valentine Foure Sea-serm. 24 It is reported of Aristotle that great Secretary of Nature, that [etc.]. 1648 Hunting of Fox 19 Solinus, and other Secretaries of nature. 1690 C. Ness Compl. Hist. & Myst. Old & New Test. I. 29 Solomons wisdom..made him natures secretary. 2. a. One whose office it is to write for another; spec. one who is employed to conduct or assist with correspondence, to keep records, and (usually) to transact various other business, for another person or for a society, corporation, or public body.In early use applied almost solely to the officer who conducted the correspondence of a king; apparently often employed with some mixture of the etymological sense A. 1. private secretary: a secretary employed by a minister of state or other high official for the personal correspondence connected with his official position; also applied to a secretary in the employ of a particular person (as distinguished from the secretary to a society, etc.). Also spec. in various civil service and parliamentary sub-ministerial posts: Parliamentary Private Secretary: see parliamentary private secretary n. at parliamentary adj. and n. Compounds; Permanent Secretary: see permanent secretary n. at permanent adj. and n. Compounds; Second (or Third) Secretary: a senior civil servant in the Treasury immediately subordinate to the permanent (or second) secretary. Secretary of Embassy or Legation: an official of an embassy or diplomatic mission ranking next to the ambassador or envoy, and empowered to some extent to supply his place in his absence. ΘΚΠ society > authority > office > holder of office > public officials > [noun] > clerk or secretary scribea1382 secretary14.. secretara1525 clerk1526 county clerk1618 mutsuddy1683 society > communication > record > written record > compiler or keeper of written records > [noun] > others secretary14.. remembrancer1523 rapporteur1653 tally-writer1786 messenger1793 memorandist1866 toll-clerk1878 shorthand typist1901 progress clerk1916 filing clerk1922 secretary bird1969 society > communication > writing > writer > [noun] > professional writer > one employed to write for another secretary14.. society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > non-manual worker > [noun] > clerical > secretarial notarya1382 secretaire1390 secretary14.. munshi1622 sec.1641 Clerk of the Chamber1670 secy.1801 society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > civil service > [noun] > civil servant > specific grades of British permanent secretary1785 abstracter1857 abstractor1859 permanent under-secretary1859 principal1867 second division1897 abstractor clerk1901 permsec1908 secretary1932 Perm.S.1942 under-secretary1959 14.. Sir Beues (Kölbing) 58/2 (MS. C) Kyng Armyne..cawsyd hys secretory a lettyr to make. 1433 J. Lydgate Legend St. Edmund iii. 163 Burchardus..That of seyn Fremund whilom was secretarye. 1455 Rolls of Parl. V. 317/2 For the Office of oure Secretarie of Fraunce. 1465 in Manners & Househ. Expenses Eng. (1841) 167 My mastyre paid to the Kynges secretory, for makenge of a lettre fro the Kynge into Wales, for my lord, vj. s. viij. d. a1500 Assembly of Ladies 553 Tak these billës to the secretary. a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clxxxvi. f. cix^v The kynge was aboute to delyuer this letter to his Scribe or Secretory. 1541 T. Elyot Image of Gouernance Pref. sig. aii Which boke was first writen in the greke tung by his secretary named Eucolpius. 1576 A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. 338 (margin) He meaneth the Byshop of Yorke, to whom this Burbanco was secretarie. 1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII ii. ii. 116 Cardinall, Prethee call Gardiner to me, my new Secretary . View more context for this quotation 1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Secretary, one that is employ'd in Writing Letters, Dispatches, &c. for a Prince, Nobleman, or particular Society: Also one that attends upon an Ambassadour, Envoy, or Resident for that purpose. The King's Secretaries, certain Officers that Sign the Dispatches of the Seal; also the Clerks of the King's Chamber and Closet. 1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. IV. 237 The secretary of legation to that city. 1819 F. MacDonogh Hermit in London II. 186 We have quill-drivers termed secretaries to such and such a firm. 1821 (title) The Secretary's Assistant; exhibiting the various and most correct modes of Superscription, Commencement and Conclusion of Letters to Persons of every degree of Rank. 1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xvi. 142 Nicholas..wanted to know whether there was any such post as secretary or amanuensis to a gentleman to be had. 1845 Proc. Philol. Soc. 1 6 The Rules drawn up for the regulation of the Society were then read by the Secretary. 1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxv. 214 The Secretary of the Treasury's ante-chamber. 1883 ‘Ouida’ Wanda I. 64 One letter her secretary could not answer for her. 1932 Whitaker's Almanack 329/1 Treasury... Permanent Secretary and Head of H.M. Civil Service, Sir Warren Fisher... Second Secretary, Sir Richard V. N. Hopkins. 1939 Whitaker's Almanack 433/1 Second Sec., Sir Richard V. N. Hopkins... Joint Third Secretaries, Sir Frederick Phillips..; Sir Alan Barlow. 1964 Ld. Bridges Treasury xv. 145 The next rank in the Treasury is known as Second Secretary, which is the equivalent of a Permanent Secretary in other major departments. 1964 Ld. Bridges Treasury xv. 146 The next rank in the Treasury is Third Secretary which is the equivalent of a Deputy Secretary in a major department. 1976 J. Morgan in R. Crossman Diaries II. 200 Philip Allen (K.C.B. 1964) was Second Secretary to the Treasury 1963–6. b. transferred and figurative. ΚΠ 1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. viii. §9. 49 b The Apostles wer y^e certaine & authentike secretaries [L. amanuenses] of the Holy ghost. 1591 T. Nashe in Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella Introd. Fayre sister of Phœbus, and eloquent secretary to the Muses, most rare Countesse of Pembroke. 1642 T. Fuller Holy State v. ii. 364 Charles knew well that Necessity, her Secretary, endited her speech for her. 1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. vi. i. sig. Mm7 Those orders of hers, in which she employ'd not Rhetorick for her Secretary, could not be so much as listen'd to, much less obey'd. †c. One who writes (on a particular occasion) for another. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1592 Greenes Groats-worth of Witte sig. C Wordes to court her you shall not want, for my selfe will be your secretarie. †d. One skilled in letter-writing. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-writer secretary1587 epistler1592 epistolizer1615 letter writer1615 epistoler1620 epistolographer1687 scribe1712 epistolist1743 epistolarian1807 epistolographist1818 epistolean1819 1587 J. Hooker Chron. Ireland 160/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II The gouernor, who was a verie good secretarie, and could pen a letter verie excellentlie well, did draw a letter. †e. In the titles of books on the art of letter-writing. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > book on letter-writing secretary1586 1586 A. Day (title) The English Secretorie. Wherein is contayned, a perfect method, for the inditing of all manner of Epistles and familiar Letters. 1715 (title) A new Academy of complements; or the Lover's Secretary..in divers examples of writing and inditing letters. 3. a. In the official designations of certain ministers presiding over executive departments of state. Secretary of State n. (the title of) (a) a minister presiding over one of the executive departments of a government; (b) U.S. the head of the Department of State (see department n. 3c(b)).The occurrence of the title ‘(Principal) Secretary of State (†Estate)’ under Queen Elizabeth may be taken as indicating the beginning of the development by which the king's secretary (in sense A. 2) became a minister invested with governing functions. Throughout the 17th cent. there were two officials jointly holding the office of Secretary of State, and in the 18th cent. the number varied between two and three; till near the close of this period the two (or two of the three) were distinguished as ‘Principal Secretary of State for the Southern Province’ and ‘Principal Secretary of State for the Northern Province’, with reference to the division between them of the control of foreign relations (see quot. 1755); but with regard to internal administration no division of functions was formally recognized. At the end of the 18th cent. there were three Secretaries of State, and shortly afterwards the division of functions between them was recognized in their official designation, as ‘Secretary of State for Home Affairs’, ‘for Foreign Affairs’, and ‘for the Colonies’. In 1854 a Secretary of State for War was added, and 1858 a Secretary of State for India. The Secretaries of State are often more briefly called the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary, etc. The Chief Secretary for Ireland (officially styled the Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, and informally the Irish Secretary), and the Secretary for Scotland (first appointed in 1885) were not secretaries of state, but had similar functions, and were (c 1911) members of the cabinet. The Secretary at War (down to 1855, when the office was united with that of the Secretary of State for War) was the parliamentary representative of the army, and had some degree of control over its finance. There have been numerous changes (too complex to set down here) in the nomenclature and duties of Secretaries of State since the nineteenth century. Since 1945, principal Secretaries of State have included the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Secretary), Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Foreign Secretary), Industry, Defence, Employment, and Northern Ireland. The title Chief Secretary (to the Treasury) was introduced in 1961: it is a ministerial appointment as opposed to the various civil servant Treasury Secretaries. The principal Secretary of State (usually the Home Secretary ) is sometimes referred to as the ‘First Secretary’.In the U.S., the Secretary of State corresponds approximately to the British Foreign Secretary. Other cabinet ministers, heads of executive departments, are the Secretary of the Treasury, of War, of the Navy, of the Interior, of Agriculture. Each state of the Union has also its Secretary of State (or a corresponding officer with some other title). In recent years, the nomenclature of senior U.S. cabinet ministers has (as with their counterparts elsewhere) been subject to extensive changes. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government minister > [noun] > minister in British government > types of first secretary1562 Secretary of State1589 Minister of State1595 Minister without Portfolio1831 1589 R. Hakluyt tr. in Princ. Navigations i. 189 Our Secretarie of estate. 1601 in T. Rymer & R. Sanderson Fœdera (1715) XVI. 421 Sir Robert Cecill Knighte our Principall Secretarie. 1603 in T. Rymer & R. Sanderson Fœdera (1715) XVI. 497 The Right Honorable Sir Robert Cecyll Knight Principall Secretary to her Majestie. 1620 in R. Sanderson Rymer's Fœdera (1717) XVII. 212 Sir Robert Naunton Knight one of our principall Secretaries of State. 1641 Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia sig. C2 I Come now to the next, which was Secretary William Cecill. 1693 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) III. 175 Mr. Clerk, secretary at war. 1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 50 The two Secretaries of State (who were not in those days Officers of that magnitude they have been since, being only to make Dispatches upon the conclusion of Councils, not to govern, or preside in those Councils) were S^r John Coke..And S^r Dudley Carleton. 1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 17 Jan. (1948) I. 168 I will speak to George Granville, secretary at war, to make him a captain. 1755 Chamberlayne's St. Great Brit. (ed. 38) i. 85 Secretaries of State... The Correspondence with all Parts of Great Britain is, without Distinction, managed by either of the Secretaries... But as for the Foreign Affairs, all the Nations..are by them divided into Two Provinces, the Northern, and Southern; of which the Northern is usually under the Junior Secretary, and contains Scandinavia, &c. The Southern under the Senior, and contains Flanders, France, &c. At present (Anno 1752) the Case is just the Reverse. 1775 E. Burke Speech Amer. Taxation 13 Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies. 1789 Deb. Congr. U.S. 26 Sept. (1834) 90 I likewise nominate Thomas Jefferson, for Secretary of State. 1846 J. K. Polk Diary 20 Mar. (1910) I. 293 Forty or fifty persons..called; among them the Russian Minister, the Secretary of State, [etc.]. 1863 Act 26 & 27 Victoria c. 12 §1 From and after the passing of this Act the Office of Secretary at War shall be..abolished. 1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea (ed. 3) II. 72 (note) According to the practice which was in force up to the summer of 1854, the Secretary of State for the Colonies was also the ‘Secretary of War’... In peace-time (thanks to the labours of the ‘Horse Guards’, the office of the Secretary at War, the Ordnance, and several other offices) the duties of the Colonial Secretary, in his character as Secretary of War, were very slight. a1910 ‘M. Twain’ Autobiography (1924) I. 236 He had been ambassador, brilliant orator,.. admirable Secretary of State. 1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet i. iii. 74 A gold-filled diploma from the Secretary of State at Jackson saying for all men to know by these presents, greeting, that them twenty thousand goats..is goats. 1961 Times 10 Oct. 12/1 As Chief Secretary (a title used for the first time) Mr. Brooke will come under the general policy direction of the Chancellor. 1962 Hansard Commons 19 July 632 The Prime Minister: My right hon. Friend the First Secretary of State will act as Deputy Prime Minister. a1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 610 Oh dear, it is a panjandrum committee—the Prime Minister, First Secretary, Foreign Secretary, the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Labour for some reason, myself. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 20 June 8- a/4 Nixon, whom Bill Rogers (secretary of state from 1969 to 1973) referred to as the world's youngest elder statesman, had acquired enormous stature in world affairs. b. Mr. Secretary: used before the name of a secretary of state, or as a title instead of his name. Now only official and Historical. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > government minister > [noun] > minister in British government > types of > title Mr. Secretary1576 1576 in J. Nichols Progresses Queen Elizabeth (1823) II. 42 Mr. Secretary. Mr. Threasurer. Mr. Comptroller. 1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII v. ii. 34 [Scene, A Councell Table... Cromwell at lower end, as Secretary.] Chan. Speake to the businesse, M. Secretary; Why are we met in Councell? View more context for this quotation 1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 30 Aug. (1948) I. 348 On Saturday I go to Windsor with Mr. secretary. 1760 Rec. Colony Rhode Island (1861) VI. 243 A letter from Mr. Secretary Pitt. 1911 Times 23 Feb. 15/5 The Speaker asked who were prepared to bring in the Bill. Mr. Asquith.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Secretary Churchill, Mr. Secretary Haldane, Mr. Pease, the Attorney-General, and myself. 4. Short for secretary hand, type: see B. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [noun] > legal court-handa1616 chancery-hand1660 law-hand1731 secretary1770 charter-hand1888 society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > style of type > [noun] > type face or font > black letter or Gothic > types of German text1658 secretary1770 lettre bâtarde1822 bastarda1840 Old English1849 Victoria black1888 Fraktur1904 Schwabacher1922 1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 42 The character itself was a rude old Gothic mixed with Secretary. 1778 Mores Diss. Typogr. Founders 4 And first Mr Caxton—his letter originally was of the sort called Secretary. 1784 T. Astle Origin & Progress Writing v. 146 In the sixteenth century, the English lawyers engrossed their conveyances and legal instruments in characters called Secretary, which are still in use. 1969 M. B. Parkes Eng. Cursive Bk. Hands 1250–1500 p. xx One of the outstanding features of the history of English handwriting in the fifteenth century is the gradual infiltration of this new script, which in its English form we now call ‘secretary’, into all classes of books and documents, until by the sixteenth century it had become the principal script in use in this country. 1978 Bodl. Libr. Rec. IX. 324 The writing exercises..are confined in the rectos of the pages, except for practice alphabets in secretary and in a text hand on ff. 30b and 57b respectively. 5. A writing-desk, a secretaire. Now chiefly U.S.After French secrétaire, probably a transferred use; cf. however secretary n.² ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > desk > [noun] deskc1405 lectern1509 dess1552 book desk1686 prie-dieu1687 bureau1698 secretary1803 toys1816 secretaire1818 consulting-desk1823 slope1833 box-desk1860 roll-top1884 type-desk1901 partners' desk1925 partners' pedestal desk1930 console1944 society > communication > writing > writing materials > other writing equipment > [noun] > writing desk writing desk1598 writing tablea1613 scritory1616 scrutoire1665 scriptor1666 bureau1698 escritoire1707 secretaire1771 secretary1803 bonheur du jour1820 table desk1820 bureau plat1887 1803 T. Sheraton Cabinet Dict. 303 Secretary. This term..among cabinet makers..is applied to certain pieces of furniture to write at. 1805 Times 7 Nov. 4/4 Genuine household furniture, and valuable Effects..consisting of.. Excellent mahogany secretary and bookcase. 1815 Niles' Weekly Reg. 9 36/1 Sideboards, secretaries, bureaus, and other articles of cabinet furniture. 1819 A. Constable Let. 21 Mar. in J. Constable Corr. (1962) I. 178 The secretary in the White Room sold for 9 pounds or guineas, I forget which. 1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. §2096 Writing-Tables, or Secretaries. 1858 G. MacDonald Phantastes i. 2 An old secretary, in which my father had kept his private papers. 1865 G. W. Bagby Writings (1885) II. 27 When you come to open his ‘secretary’..you will find his bonds, accounts..lying about loose. 1893 C. G. Leland Memoirs I. 227 My first thought was for this money, so I hurried to get the key of the secretary in which it was. 1975 D. Ramsay Descent into Dark ii. 68 Anita..was..stripping the finish from a maple secretary with a blowtorch. 1980 A. N. Wilson Healing Art xi. 129 There was a grandfather clock, and a roll-top secretary. 6. The secretary bird (see secretary bird n. at Compounds 2). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > [noun] > family Sagittariidae (secretary bird) serpent-eater1731 secretary1781 secretary bird1781 crane-vulture1885 Serpentarius1893 1781 tr. P. Sonnerat Voy. Spice-Isl. 19 The Secretary, with a crest down back of the neck. 1850 R. Gordon-Cumming Five Years Hunter's Life S. Afr. II. xxx. 279 When the tree fell, out from its nest rolled a young secretary. B. adj. As the distinctive epithet of a style of handwriting used chiefly in legal documents from the 15th to the 17th cent. Hence applied to a kind of black-letter type imitating this. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [adjective] > others bastard1524 secretary1571 Gothical1612 Gothicc1660 Longobardic1677 Lombardic1697 Langobardic1724 longhand1729 rustic1768 Lombard1833 Carlovingian1853 mogigraphic1857 Carolingian1881 Beneventan1882 hand-printed1882 insular1908 script1920 1571 J. De Beau Chesne & J. Baildon (title) A booke containing divers sortes of hands, as well the English as French secretarie with the Italian, Roman, chancelry & court hands. 1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1370/2 One written in the secretarie hand..and the other in the Roman hand. 1594 H. Plat Jewell House 41 The Secretarie small a, hath six partes before it bee made uppe. 1649 Duke of Newcastle Country Captaine ii. i Papers defild with court hand and long dashes or secretary lines, that straddle, more then Frenchmen. 1701 H. Wanley Let. 11 July in Philos. Trans. 1704–5 (Royal Soc.) 24 2000 Like as many Antient People, who do yet continue to write the Roman and Secretary Hands, which were more fashionable 50 or 60 years ago, than now. 1710 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1889) III. 86 The French is printed in a secretary character. 1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 67 Don't you see by the Settness of some of these Letters, and a little Secretary Cut here and there,..that it is the Hand of a Person bred in the Law-way? 1845 Black Catal. Ashm. MSS. 104 The other MS. contained in this volume was written in the time of Q. Elizabeth, in the secretary-hand. 1877 F. C. Price Facsimiles Caxton, Memoir When Caxton started in England his whole stock of type consisted of two founts, a church or text type and a secretary type. Compounds C1. General attributive. a. † secretary-craft n. Obsolete ΚΠ a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Kent 75 None alive did better ken the Secretary Craft, to get Counsels out of others, and keep them in himself. secretary desk n. (now only U.S.) ΚΠ 1798 Hull Advertiser 28 July 2/1 Eight fashionable secretary desks. 1967 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 23 Apr. (1970) 509 Mr. Hoes showed me a secret drawer in the secretary desk. secretary-interpreter n. ΚΠ 1904 D. B. W. Sladen When we were Lovers in Japan ii. xii The Secretary-Interpreter at the Legation. secretary-office n. ΚΠ 1821 W. Scott Kenilworth III. xv. 302 We will..place the boy in our Secretary-office. b. (Appositively.) secretary-treasurer n. ΚΠ 1920 Constit. Santa Barbara (Calif.) Club Officers..Secretary-Treasurer William Wyles. 1979 Yale Alumni Mag. Apr. (Suppl.) cn 11/2 He is a past president and secretary-treasurer of the American Association of Law Schools. secretary-typist n. ΚΠ 1939 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 13/2 (advt.) Secretary-shorthand-typist, good correspondent, required immediately for engineer.] 1957 S. Smith Not waving but Drowning 34 Dark was the day for Childe Rolandine the artist When she went to work as a secretary-typist. 1976 Milton Keynes Express 2 July 4/4 His wife, a secretary-typist, had left for work. C2. secretary bird n. (also †secretaries bird) (a) a raptorial bird of South Africa, Serpentarius secretarius; said to be so called from a tuft of feathers at the back of the head which have a fanciful resemblance to pens stuck behind the ear; also called secretary-falcon, secretary-vulture; (b) [bird n. 13] , a punning term for a young woman employed as a secretary. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > [noun] > family Sagittariidae (secretary bird) serpent-eater1731 secretary1781 secretary bird1781 crane-vulture1885 Serpentarius1893 society > communication > record > written record > compiler or keeper of written records > [noun] > others secretary14.. remembrancer1523 rapporteur1653 tally-writer1786 messenger1793 memorandist1866 toll-clerk1878 shorthand typist1901 progress clerk1916 filing clerk1922 secretary bird1969 1781 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. i. 20 Secretary Vulture. 1797 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 236/2 Secretaries bird,..classed by Latham under the genus Vultur. 1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. II. 191 An engagement between the Secretary Falcon and a Serpent. 1824 Goldsmith's Nat. Hist. III. xxiv. Index 437 Secretary-bird devours serpents. 1870 P. Gillmore tr. L. Figuier Reptiles & Birds 611 The Secretary Bird (Serpentarius secretarius,..) has a widely-opening bill, very crooked and very powerful. 1969 W. Douglas-Home (title) The secretary bird. 1974 I. Murdoch Sacred & Profane Love Machine 50 Since Pinn had become what she called a ‘secretary bird’ she had become much smarter. 1976 M. Deakin & J. Willis Johnny go Home xvi. 184 Even London's ‘Secretary Birds’..have problems finding somewhere to live. secretary-general n. (see quots. 1701, 1861); also spec. the title of the principal official of a Communist party or of some international organizations (as the United Nations). ΘΚΠ society > authority > office > holder of office > public officials > senior or chief public officials > [noun] > secretary general general secretary1782 secretary-general1934 1701 London Gaz. No. 3713/3 The Sieur de Capistron, Secretary-General of the French Galleys. 1861 J. W. B. Money Java I. 238 The Secretariat.—The Governor-General is further assisted by a Secretary-General, who has under him three secretaries of Government, and a large staff of clerks. 1934 B. W. Maxwell Soviet State iii. 42 In theory the Political Bureau is appointed by the Central Committee; in reality the Secretary-General of the Party, if he is powerful enough, makes the selection. This is the case at present, since Stalin is the Secretary-General. 1949 T. Lie Road to Peace 1 (heading) Secretary-General of the United Nations. 1954 E. H. Carr Interregnum 336 Speculating what the secretary-general would report at the next party congress. 1968 U.N. Security Council Proc. 10 in Parl. Papers 1967–8 (Cmnd. 3757) XLII. 229 The Secretary-General deplores any resort to force to settle international problems, wherever it may occur, in contravention of the Charter of the United Nations. secretary-generalship n. ΚΠ 1959 Economist 9 May 506/1 According to one view of secretary-generalship. 1977 Westindian World 3 June 10/1 The whole trend of his Secretary-Generalship so far..is to place the Commonwealth firmly in its global setting. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † secretaryn.² Forms: Also secretorie. Etymology: < late Latin sēcrētārium, < sēcrētum : see -ary suffix¹ 3. Obsolete. rare. A secret chamber or repository. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > a secret place, hiding place > [noun] > passage or chamber secretaryc1440 priest's hole1660 thalamus1850 serdab1877 coulisse1903 society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room generally > [noun] > private or inner room > secret room secretaryc1440 c1440 Alphabet of Tales 323 Saynt Martyn..went in-to his secretorie & doffid his cote. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 451/1 Secretary, or place in privy councelle [v.r. place of privyte or cowncel], secretarium. c1450 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi iii. xliii. 114 Þou owist to fle into þe secretary of þin herte, bisechinge inwardly þe helpe of god. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2021). secretaryv. Brit. /ˈsɛkrᵻt(ɛ)ri/, U.S. /ˈsɛkrəˌtɛri/ Etymology: < secretary n.¹ 1. transitive. To assist (someone) secretarially.Apparently an isolated use. ΚΠ 1927 Punch 26 Oct. 450/1 Poor old Henry..is in the soup again... He secretaries my uncle,..and as a rule we lunch together. 2. intransitive. To work as a secretary (esp. an office secretary). Also const. to. colloquial. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > working > [verb (intransitive)] > do clerical work to desk it1846 office1892 secretary1933 1933 P. G. Wodehouse Heavy Weather v. 73 Fellow named Carmody, who has been secretarying there. 1971 K. Dick Ivy & Stevie 55 Stevie..secretaried..to Sir Neville Pearson and Sir Frank Newnes. Derivatives ˈsecretarying n. ΚΠ 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Dec. 749/4 Dish-washing here, secretarying there, finally helping out as Bursar in a school dominated by the headmaster's demented wife. 1975 P. G. Winslow Death of Angel vi. 142 She got fed up with secretarying. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.¹adj.a1387n.²c1440v.1927
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secretaryn.1adj.

Compounds

† secretaryn.2

secretaryv.

Derivatives

secretaryn.¹adj.

† secretaryn.²