secularadj.n.
/ˈsɛkjʊlə/ A. adj.
I. Of or pertaining to the world.
1. Ecclesiastical.
a. Of members of the clergy: Living ‘in the world’ and not in monastic seclusion, as distinguished from ‘regular’ and ‘religious’. secular canon: see canon n.2 1. secular abbot: a person not a monk, who had the title and part of the revenues, but not the functions of an abbot.In early use frequently placed after the noun, as canon secular, priest secular.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > council > chapter > member of chapter > regular > [noun] > not
secular canonc1290
c1290 St. Edmund 393 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 442 At salesburi he was i-maket Canoun seculer.
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. 282 Canons þer were Seculers.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 27244 In scrift..enentes clergis seculers to þe preist at frain it feres o symony.
c1380 J. Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 73 And þus boþ clerkes seculers and þese newe religiouse forsaken þes two weies.
a1400 Minor Poems from Vernon MS xxxii. 1054 I þat am in Religioun, I naue no pouwer to ȝiue no mete, Ne drinke..Þerfore me were beter seculer.
1402 Polit. Poems (Rolls) II. 23 Why be ye evill apaid that secular priestes should preach the gospell?
a1513 H. Bradshaw Lyfe St. Werburge (1521) i. Prol. sig. m.ii From secular chanons to monkes religious.
1530 St. German's Secunde Dyaloge Doctour & Student xl. f. ciiv Goodes gotten by a chanon seculer by reason of hys chyrche..shall not go to hys successoure.
1548 in W. Page Certificates Chantries County of York (1895) II. 426 A seculer man, deane or incombent there.
1673 in O. Airy Essex Papers (1890) I. 138 I made use of some Fryers, who all ways have their litle wrangles wth ye secular Clergy.
1716 M. Davies Crit. Hist. 86 in Athenæ Britannicæ III Cardinal Rochefaucault being the Secular or Commendatory Abbot thereof.
1782 E. Burke Penal Laws against Irish Catholics in Wks. (1801) VI. 235 The secular clergy..are universally fallen into such contempt, that [etc.].
1806 J. Lingard Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church II. xi. 255 The conversion of the conventual clergy into secular canons.
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) II. vii. 85 The chapter was formed of secular canons.
1874 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. I. viii. §84 Before the middle of the eighth century..the secular were synodically divided from the monastic clerks.
1884 Manch. Examiner 25 Feb. 5/5 A few secular priests have been invited to co-operate with the resident clergy.
b. Of or pertaining to secular clergy.
ΚΠ
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 4/2 Reducing regular Monasteries, to a secular state.
1686 tr. J. Chardin Trav. Persia 96 It differs little from the secular Habit.
1831 W. Hamilton in Edinb. Rev. June 409 At the commencement of the fourteenth century..the number of the secular colleges [was], at the highest, only three.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) IV. xviii. 312 The minster of Saint Werburh, then a secular, but soon to become a monastic, house.
2. † b. transferred. Of or belonging to the ‘common’ or ‘unlearned’ people. Obsolete.
a. Belonging to the world and its affairs as distinguished from the church and religion; civil, lay, temporal. Chiefly used as a negative term, with the meaning non-ecclesiastical, non-religious, or non-sacred. secular arm (= medieval Latin brachium seculare, French le bras séculier): the civil power as ‘invoked’ by the church to punish offenders.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal power > [noun] > temporal or secular
secular armc1290
secularityc1380
temporality1393
temporalty1396
civil magistrate1535
society > faith > church government > laity > [adjective]
lewdc890
worldlyOE
of the world?c1225
secularc1290
layc1330
temporalc1340
borel1377
common?c1400
profane1474
laic1562
layit1563
laical1570
non-ecclesiastical1630
mundane1848
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > unspirituality > [adjective]
worldlyOE
dryc1175
fleshlyc1175
of the world?c1225
secularc1290
timely1340
of hencec1384
uttermore1395
worldisha1400
profane1474
humanc1475
mundanec1475
mundial1499
carnal?1510
seculary1520
unghostly1526
worldly-minded1528
sensual1529
earthly-minded1535
civil1536
subcelestial1561
worldly-witted1563
secular-minded1597
ghostlessa1603
lay1609
mundal1614
non-ecclesiastical1630
unspiritual1643
wilderness1651
worldly-handed1657
outward1674
timesome1674
apsychical1678
secularized1683
hylastic1684
choical1708
Sadducee1746
gay1798
unspiritualized1816
secularizing1825
unreligious1832
secularistic1862
apneumatic1864
Sadduceeic1875
this-worldly1883
this world1889
c1290 Beket 926 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 133 And also ȝe bez alȝare In seculer court to demen me: And þat nolde nouȝt wel fare.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 215 God..nele þet me maki uorewerdes ne noyses ne nyedes seculeres þerinne [i.e. His house].
c1380 J. Wyclif Wks. (1880) 384 Þai occupien not siche lordeschipis in propir, as seculer lordis done, but in comoun, like as the apostles.
c1380 J. Wyclif Wks. (1880) 385 As prisonynge & hangynge..the whiche sum-tyme bylongyd oonly to the seculer arme of þe chirche.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 97 Þat no man schulde accuse þe ministres of holy chirche to fore a seculer iuge.
1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 289 Simplicius the pope..ordeynede that noo clerke scholde receyve investiture..of the honde of a seculer lay man [Trevisa of a lewed man, L. de manu laici].
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 87 Kirk men suld pay tailles tributis and jnposiciouns to seclere kingis or princis.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 34 The tongue is the Iudge..; the rest of our faculties and powers, are but the secular executioners of his sentence.
a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie vii. xv, in Wks. (1662) 43 And divers Councils likewise there are, which have forbidden the Clergy to bear any Secular Office.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 517 Then shall they seek..Places and titles, and with these to joine Secular power, though feigning still to act By spiritual. View more context for this quotation
1673 W. Temple Observ. United Provinces v. 165 I intend not here to speak of Religion at all as a Divine, but as a mere Secular man.
1737 B. Franklin in Pennsylvania Gaz. 17–24 Nov. 1/1 Truth never fears the encounter: She scorns the aid of the secular arm.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 366 The elected bishop could neither be consecrated, nor receive any secular profits.
a1853 F. W. Robertson Serm. (1863) 4th Ser. ii. 20 We stigmatize first one department of life and then another as secular; and so religion becomes a pale, unreal thing.
1873 J. H. Newman Hist. Sketches III. iii. vi. 333 Bishops now were great secular magistrates, and..were involved in secular occupations.
1875 Ld. Tennyson Queen Mary iv. i. 182 A secular kingdom is but as the body Lacking a soul.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > [adjective]
landish1489
popil1531
popular1533
secular1589
plebeial1590
plebeian1602
vulgar1605
plebal1606
multitudinousa1616
gregarian1632
gregary1640
populous1657
roturière1791
demotic1831
vulgarian1833
demic1834
commonal1865
communal1878
folkish1938
plebby1962
pleb1972
1589 T. Nashe To Students in R. Greene Menaphon Epist. sig. **2v Oft haue I obserued..a secular wit that hath liued all daies of his life by what doo you lacke, to bee more iudiciall..than our quadrant crepundios.
1631 B. Jonson New Inne v. ii. 9 Hang him poore snip, a secular shop-wit!
c. Of literature, history, art (esp. music), hence of writers or artists: Not concerned with or devoted to the service of religion; not sacred; profane. Also of buildings, etc., Not dedicated to religious uses.
ΚΠ
?c1450 in G. J. Aungier Hist. & Antiq. Syon Monastery (1840) 297 Not medlynge ther speche with seculer fables and fryuoles.
1529 T. More Dialogue Heresyes iv, in Wks. 262/2 One..neither in holi scripture nor in seculare litterature vnlerned.
1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music Secular-Music... Whatever is composed for the theatre or chamber. An expression used in opposition to that of Sacred-Music.
1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod iii. ii. 120 The plays mentioned in the preceding pages, and especially the miracles and mysteries, differed greatly from the secular plays..acted by strolling companies.
1814 T. Chalmers Evid. Christian Revel. (1849) I. ii. iii. 193 Points in which the historians of the New Testament can be brought into comparison with the secular historians of the age.
1835 I. Taylor Spiritual Despotism iii. 85 The education of youth was entrusted not to them [the priests], but to the professors of secular arts—rhetoric and gymnastics.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 593 He says that, the bells of the horses, things simply secular, should bear the same inscription as the plate on the high priest's forehead.
1861 A. P. Stanley Lect. Eastern Church (1869) iii. 97 A secular building was fitted up as a temporary house of prayer.
1870 D. Rock Textile Fabrics (S. Kensington Mus.) Introd. p. lxxv One sample..shows her ability..with reference to her secular silks.
1874 H. R. Reynolds John the Baptist ii. 79 The supernatural conditions attributed in secular legend to the births of Buddha, Pythagoras and Plato.
d. Of education, instruction; Relating to non-religious subjects. (In modern use often implying the exclusion of religious teaching from education, or from the education provided at the public expense.) Of a school: That gives secular education.
ΚΠ
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection Pref. sig. aiiiv The argumentes of seculer doctrine be argumentes of reason.
1867 in G. Duff Pol. Surv. (1868) 50 This may be hoped for in the increase of liberal sound and secular education in the Ottoman dominions.
1875 H. E. Manning Internal Mission of Holy Ghost xiii. 377 The Holy See has always laid down..that secular and religious instruction shall never be parted in Education.
1876 J. Grant Hist. Burgh Schools Scotl. ii. xiii. 424 These persons maintain that the public Schools should be purely secular.
3. in combination.1899 T. Veblen Theory of Leisure Class xii. 314 The sacerdotal scheme of life..does not hold good for the clergy of those denominations which have..diverged from the old established schedule of beliefs or observances... Their manner of life..does not differ in an extreme degree from that of secular-minded persons.1930 A. Birrell Et Cetera 159 An equally veracious, though most secular~minded Presbyterian divine.1957 N. Frye Anat. Crit. 265 In the Anglo-Saxon congregation of Wulfstan there must have been a few secular-minded highbrows who were thinking..of the preacher's mastery of alliterative rhythm.absolute.1883 A. Edersheim Life Jesus II. 275 To the secular nothing is spiritual; and to the spiritual nothing is secular.
a. Of or belonging to the present or visible world as distinguished from the eternal or spiritual world; temporal, worldly. Also secular-minded adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > unspirituality > [adjective]
worldlyOE
dryc1175
fleshlyc1175
of the world?c1225
secularc1290
timely1340
of hencec1384
uttermore1395
worldisha1400
profane1474
humanc1475
mundanec1475
mundial1499
carnal?1510
seculary1520
unghostly1526
worldly-minded1528
sensual1529
earthly-minded1535
civil1536
subcelestial1561
worldly-witted1563
secular-minded1597
ghostlessa1603
lay1609
mundal1614
non-ecclesiastical1630
unspiritual1643
wilderness1651
worldly-handed1657
outward1674
timesome1674
apsychical1678
secularized1683
hylastic1684
choical1708
Sadducee1746
gay1798
unspiritualized1816
secularizing1825
unreligious1832
secularistic1862
apneumatic1864
Sadduceeic1875
this-worldly1883
this world1889
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective] > temporal or not spiritual
temporalc1380
secular1597
sublunary1609
temporarya1616
sublunarian1852
earthside1951
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxxvi. 223 Religion and the feare of God as well induceth secular prosperitie as euerlasting blisse in the world to come.
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 251 The Sun and Moon have either a Spiritual signification or a Secular.
1875 Gladstone in McCabe Life Holyoake II. 163 I do not believe that secular motives are adequate either to propel or to restrain the children of our race.
1883 T. H. Green Proleg. Ethics Introd. 1 Nor does it [moral philosophy] by any means confine itself to what are commonly counted secular or ‘positive’ considerations.
b. Caring for the present world only; unspiritual. rare.
ΚΠ
c1425 Orolog. Sapient. vii, in Anglia X. 388/9 If they were of so harde herte and seculere affeccyone þat [etc.].
1850 F. W. Robertson Serm. (1857) 3rd Ser. ii. 20 Esau..is called in Scripture a profane, that is, not a distinctly vicious, but a secular or worldly person.
4. Used for: Pertaining to or accepting the doctrine of secularism; secularistic. secular societies: the designation given to associations formed in various English towns from 1852 onwards to promote the spread of secularist opinions.
ΚΠ
1856 R. Owen in McCabe Life Holyoake (1908) I. 292 Your Secular Societies will do well to merge into this movement.
1870 G. J. Holyoake Princ. Secularism 47 We believe there is sufficient soundness in Secular principles to make way in the world.
1884 T. Cooper Men of the Time (ed. 11) 582/1 Mr. Holyoake is editor of the Present, a secular and co-operative review.
II. Of or belonging to an age or long period.
5. Occurring or celebrated once in an age, century, or very long period. secular games, secular plays, secular shows [Latin ludi saeculares] : in ancient Rome, games continuing three days and three nights celebrated once in an ‘age’ or period of 120 years. secular poem [Latin carmen saeculare] , a hymn composed to be sung at the secular games.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > frequency > infrequency > [adjective]
seld1398
seldom1483
rare1565
secular1599
unfrequent1611
straggling1618
infrequent1622
unobvious1643
far-between1743
rarish1772
unwonted1785
sporadic1842
low frequency1946
1599 R. Pont Newe Treat. Right Reckoning of Yeares 34 Supposing that they celebrate their secular solemnities at the precise end and periode of every hundreth yeare.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. viii. xlii. 221 The secular solemnities, exhibited by Claudius Cæsar, in the Circensian games.
1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 52 He restored againe..the Sæcular playes.
1696 B. Kennett Romæ Antiquæ Notitia ii. v. vii. 292 The famous Secular Poem of Horace was compos'd for this last Day, in the Secular Games held by Augustus.
1697 J. Evelyn Numismata iii. 62 To..divert the People..during the Secular Shews.
1706 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. 3 Apr. (O.H.S.) I. 215 A letter sent to our University from the University of Francfort..inviting them to celebrate the secular day of the Foundation of their University, wch will happen in this month, it being now just two Hundred years since that University was Founded.
1716 J. Addison Freeholder No. 46. ⁋1 When Augustus celebrated the secular year, which was kept but once in a century.
1790 E. Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) III. 418 Had a fortnight more been given to the philosopher, he might have celebrated his secular festival [sc. his hundredth birthday].
1862 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire VII. lxviii. 579 One man asserted that the secular fire would descend at the moment when..he should be seen transformed into a stork.
1869 G. Rawlinson Man. Anc. Hist. 509 M. Julius Philippus..celebrated the secular games in commemoration of the thousandth year from the founding of the city.
1884 Q. Rev. July 1 Changes in..the City..have been going on at a rate..unknown to any former generation, except those distant generations which have witnessed the rare and secular phenomena of siege, fire, and plague.
6. Living or lasting for an age or ages. Now chiefly with reminiscence of the scientific sense A. 7. Also (of trees, etc., after French séculaire), centuries old.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [adjective] > long-lasting or enduring
longeOE
longsomeeOE
long of lifeOE
lastinga1225
cleaving1340
continualc1340
dwellingc1380
long-livinga1382
everlastingc1384
long-duringa1387
long-lasting?a1400
long-liveda1400
broadc1400
permanable?c1422
perseverant?a1425
permanentc1425
perdurable?a1439
continuedc1440
abiding1448
unremoved1455
eternalc1460
long-continued1464
continuing1526
long-enduring1527
enduring1532
immortal1538
diuturn?1541
veterated1547
resiant?1567
stayinga1568
well-wearinga1568
substantive1575
pertinacious1578
extant1581
ceaseless1590
marble1596
of length1597
longeval1598
diuturnal1599
nine-lived1600
chronic1601
unexhausted1602
chronical1604
endurable1607
continuant1610
indeflourishing1610
aged1611
indurant1611
continuatea1616
perennious1628
seculara1631
undiscontinueda1631
continuated1632
untransitory1632
long-spun1633
momently1641
stative1643
outliving1645
constant1653
long-descended1660
voluminousa1661
perduring1664
perdurant1671
livelong1673
perennial1676
longeve1678
consequential1681
unquenched1703
lifelong1746
momentary1755
inveterate1780
stabile1797
persistent1826
unpassing1831
all-time1846
year-long1846
teak-built1847
lengthful1855
long-term1867
long haul1873
sticky1879
week-to-week1879
perenduring1883
long-range1885
longish1889
long-time1902
long run1904
long-life1915
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1958) IX. 173 If I had a Secular Glass, a Glass that would run an age.., it would not be enough to tell the godly man what his Treasure..is.
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 1707 And though her body die, her fame survives, A secular bird ages of lives. View more context for this quotation
1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 86 Slowsure Britain's secular might.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam xl. 63 I shall be thy mate no more, Tho' following with an upward mind The wonders that have come to thee, Thro' all the secular to be.
1870 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. (1873) 1st Ser. 253 We envy the secular leisures of Methusaleh.
1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. v. 103 The improvement of man is secular—not the work of an hour or of a day.
1876 R. F. Burton Two Trips Gorilla Land I. 36 A fern field surrounded by a forest of secular trees.
1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey 186 Mankind outlives saecular animosities, as a single man awakens from the passions of a day.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. III. cxv. 653 The centripetal forces are permanent and secular forces, working from age to age.
7. In scientific use, of processes of change: Having a period of enormous length; continuing through long ages.
a. Astronomy. Chiefly of changes in the orbits or the periods of revolution of the planets, as in secular acceleration, secular equation, secular inequality, secular variation. The terms secular acceleration, secular variation were formerly also used (with reference to the sense ‘century’ of Latin sæculum) for the amount of change per 100 years; similarly †secular precession (see quot. 1812). secular equation is also used more widely to designate any equation of the form |aij−bijλ| = 0 (i,j = 1,2, .., n), in which the left-hand side is a determinant and which arises in quantum mechanics.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [adjective] > long-lasting or enduring > of processes of change
secular1801
1801 Monthly Rev. 35 537 M. De La Place..found the secular equation of the moon to be due to the action of the sun on the moon.
1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. ix. 63 The secular precession, that is, the accumulated precessions of 100 years.
1814 J. Playfair Outl. Nat. Philos. II. ii. iii. 275 In the orbit of Mars, the eccentricity is diminishing. The secular variation of the greatest equation of the centre is—37″.
1834 M. Somerville On Connexion Physical Sci. (1849) iii. 16 Secular inequalities.
1862 A. Cayley Coll. Math. Papers (1890) III. 522 On the Secular Acceleration of the Moon's Mean Motion.
1937 E. C. Kemble Fund. Princ. Quantum Mech. x. 361 Its components must yield a nontrivial (i.e., nonvanishing) solution of the set of g equations Σn(Amn − aδmn)xn = 0... Such a solution exists only if the determinant of the coefficients vanishes, i.e., if a is a root of the so-called ‘secular’ equation det (A − aI) = ..0.
1974 G. B. Gill & M. R. Willis Pericyclic Reactions i. 21 To obtain the wave functions corresponding to these energies it is necessary to solve the secular equations using the appropriate values of E.
b. Geology, Physical Geography, Meteorology, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [adjective] > long-lasting or enduring > of processes of change > geological, meteorological, etc.
secular1833
1833 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. Gloss. Secular Refrigeration, the periodical cooling and consolidation of the globe, from a supposed original state of fluidity from heat.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxiii. 308 A secular elevation of the coastline.
1867 H. Macmillan Bible Teachings (1870) xvi. 320 Those grand secular tides which have punctually recurred every ten thousand years.
1871 J. Tyndall Fragm. Sci. xiii. 399 The earth's magnetic constituents are gradually changing their distribution. This change is very slow; it is technically called the secular change.
1872 H. Macmillan True Vine v. 176 The earth has its secular seasons as well as its annual.
1880 S. Haughton Six Lect. Physical Geogr. ii. 53 The contraction of the globe due to secular cooling.
1887 R. Abercromby Weather 312 Annual and Secular Variations.
8. Economics and Statistics. Of a fluctuation or trend: occurring or persisting over an unlimited period; not periodic or short-term.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [adjective] > long-lasting or enduring > of a fluctuation or trend
timeless1889
secular1895
1895 A. Marshall Princ. Econ. (ed. 3) I. v. v. 470 There are secular movements of normal price, caused by the gradual growth of knowledge, of population and of capital, and the changing conditions of demand and supply from one generation to another.
1926 L. D. Edie Econ. II. iv. 49 Economic fluctuations fall into four major types: seasonal, secular, cyclical, and residual.
1971 H. S. Shryock et al. Methods & Materials Demogr. II. xiii. 377/2 If the observations are made at different times of the year, seasonal movements may also be apparent. When we are trying to describe the growth of a population over a relatively longer period of time (for example, India from 1872 to 1961) we are generally interested in the secular trend only.
1973 Daily Tel. 15 Jan. 17/6 This is the first time the Government has had to pay so much for money but the secular trend of interest rates will stop rising only if the rate of inflation is brought down.
1976 Sci. Amer. Sept. 107/1 The secular trend of workers migrating out of agricultural jobs as a result of technological change in agriculture has recently slackened.
B. n.† 3. A centennial anniversary, centenary. rare.
1.
a. One of the secular clergy, as distinguished from a ‘regular’ or monk.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > [noun]
God's maneOE
priestOE
clerkc1050
secularc1290
vicary1303
minister1340
divinec1380
man of Godc1384
kirkmana1400
man of the churchc1400
cockc1405
Ecclesiastc1405
spiritual1441
ministrator1450
abbé1530
reverend1547
churchman1549
tippet-captain?1550
tippet knight1551
tippet man1551
public minister1564
reading minister1572
clergyman1577
clerk1577
padre1584
minstrel1586
spiritual1600
cleric1623
cassock1628
Levite1640
gownsman1641
teaching elder1642
ecclesiastic1651
religionist1651
crape1682
crape-gown-man1682
man in black1692
soul driver1699
secularist1716
autem jet1737
liturge1737
officiant1740
snub-devil1785
soul doctor1785
officiator1801
umfundisi1825
crape-man1826
clerical1837
God-man1842
Pfarrer1844
liturgist1848
white-choker1851
rook1859
shovel hat1859
sky pilot1865
ecclesiastical1883
joss-pidgin-man1886
josser1887
sin-shiftera1912
sin-buster1931
parch1944
c1290 Beket 2205 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 169 Ase heo strepten of his cloþes, al a-boue heo founde Clerkene cloþes..and..Monekene Abite with-Inne..So þat he was Monek with-Inne, and seculer with-oute.
c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. (1810) 243 & þer was scho inne four & fifty ȝere, Norised with Wynne, nunne and seculere.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 6230 He helpid seculers to putt oute Fra þe kirke, and monkes deuoute sette þare.
1544 J. Bale Brefe Chron. Syr I. Oldecastell 27 b The seculars and fryers coude not therin agre.
1544 J. Bale Brefe Chron. Syr I. Oldecastell 39 Both..seculars and relygyouse with dyuerse other expert menne.
1720 W. Kennett Monitions to Clergy of Peterborough ii. 49 Monks, who despised the settled Clergy, and called them Seculars, giving themselves the glorious Title of Religious.
1864 J. Bryce Holy Rom. Empire iii. 27 Endeavours to bring the seculars into a monastic life.
b. A Jesuit lay brother.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > lay brother or sister > [noun] > lay brother > Jesuit
secular1641
1641 R. Greville Disc. Nature Episcopacie 10 The others were like the Seculars among the Jesuites, And..did (as the Seculars do) perform the Civill part of those Religious Services.
c. (See quot. 1786.)
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > lay functionaries > chorister > [noun]
songereOE
childOE
clergionc1325
choristerc1360
chanterc1384
quirera1425
choirman1488
singing man1527
clerk1549
chorista1552
songman1599
singing boy1666
sing-man1691
white boy1691
white man1691
choirist1773
secular1786
chorister-boy1817
choirboy1843
1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music Seculars, those unordained officiates of any cathedral, or chapel, whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir.
2. One who is engaged in the affairs of the world as distinct from the church; a layman.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > [noun] > member of
worldhoodeOE
man of the worlda1225
secularc1425
idiot?c1430
layman?a1475
lay?1533
beardling1568
laic1596
terrestrial1602
layperson1972
c1425 St. Mary of Oignies i. i, in Anglia VIII. 135/30 Hir fader and modir, as maner is of seculers, wolde haue rayed hir wiþ delycate garmentis.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 77 Now bi new lawis, clerkis propriun to hemsilf temporal þingis as seclereis.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 115/3 The monkes that goon out of theyr..selles yf they conuerse longe with seculiers they muste nedes lese theyr holynesse.
1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (de Worde) ii. sig. A*.iiiv In many places be some counsellers & gouernours of courtes, as well seculers as ecclesyastykes.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 119 (margin) The seculars of the Realme in Scotland ar gouerned be the burgesse lawis.
1618 J. Hales Let. 28 Nov. 5 in Golden Remains (1659) The Clergie thought that if it pleas'd the Seculars it might be done.
1710 London Gaz. No. 4726/1 All the Inhabitants..as well Seculars as Ecclesiasticks.
1829 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. 2nd Ser. II. viii. 450 Seculars do not know half the wickedness of the world,..until their pastors lead them by the hand and show it them.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > particular time > an anniversary > [noun] > specific anniversaries
jubileec1386
quinquagenary1588
centenary1661
millennium1664
secular1706
coming of age1788
centennial1791
tricentenary1846
tercentenary1855
quinquennial1857
ter-millenary1864
sexcentenary1865
semi-centenary1870
bicentenary1872
septcentenary1873
quincentenary1877
sesquicentennial1880
quadricentennial1882
bicentennial1883
quatercentenary1883
tricentennial1883
tercentennial1884
quincentennial1885
octocentenary1888
quadrennial1890
quingentenary1892
octingentenary1893
ruby anniversary1893
semi-jubilee1893
septingentenary1893
millennial1896
millenary1897
quadringenary1905
quingenary1911
bimillenary1961
sesquicentenary1961
quasquicentennial1962
nongenary1966
octocentennial1994
1706 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. 20 June (O.H.S.) I. 263 King of Prussia's Letter to ye Queen about ye University's Celebration of ye Secular of Francfurt.
1706 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. 27 June (O.H.S.) I. 267.
1709 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. 27 Aug. (O.H.S.) II. 241, 242.
Draft additions January 2009
secular humanism n. a form of humanist theory and practice that rejects religious belief as a basis for moral judgement and action; cf. humanism n. 5b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > pragmatism > [noun] > humanism > branches of
scientific humanism1854
secular humanism1895
post-humanism1940
transhumanism1957
posthumanism1971
1895 E. Newman Gluck & Opera ii. ii. 215 What was religious mysticism in Bach, and religious humanism in Handel, became in Gluck the broadest secular humanism.
1930 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 17 May 5/6 Is secular humanism an adequate religion?
2001 Free Inq. Summer 64/3 We have affirmed that secular humanists can lead a moral life and be good citizens without religious faith. Secular humanism is an ethical, philosophical, and scientific outlook.
Draft additions January 2009
secular humanist adj. and n. (a) adj. of, relating to, or characteristic of secular humanism; (b) n. an advocate of or believer in the principles of secular humanism.
ΚΠ
1897 F. A. Gasquet Old Eng. Bible ix. 306 Secular humanist scholars altogether outside, if not distinctly at variance with, and antagonistic to, the religious orders.
1937 Philosophy 12 259 An ideal of human evolution which will be equally acceptable to, say,..philosophical anarchists, secular humanists, Fascist nationalists, and classless Communists.
1992–3 Free Inq. Winter 3/2 Why are secular humanists more content than theists with the homogenized, inoffensive, least-common-denominator education provided by many public schools?
2001 Interzone Feb. 45/1 Hints that what appears to the secular humanist eye to be merely jaw-flooringly dumb plotting is actually evidence of the hidden hand of God, Gaia, or some other as yet undetected midi-chlorean force for good.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.c1290