KJV Dictionary Definition: secret

secret

SE'CRET, a. L. secretus. This is given as the participle of secerno, but is radically a different word. The radical sense of seg is to separate, as in L. seco, to cut off; and not improbably this word is contracted into the Latin se, a prefix in segrego, separo, &c.

1. Properly, separate; hence, hid; concealed from the notice or knowledge of all persons except the individual or individuals concerned.

I have a secret errand to thee, O king. Judges 3.

2. Unseen; private; secluded; being in retirement.

There secret in her sapphire cell,

He with the Nais wont to dwell. Fenton.

3. Removed from sight; private; unknown.

Abide in a secret place, and hide thyself. I Sam. 19.

4. Keeping secrets; faithful to secrets entrusted; as secret Romans. Unusual.

5. Private; affording privacy.

6. Occult; not seen; not apparent; as the secret operations of physical causes.

7. Known to God only.

secrete

SECRE'TE, v.t.

1. To hide; to conceal; to remove from observation or the knowledge of others; as to secrete stolen goods.

2. To secrete one's self; to retire from notice into a private place; to abscend.

3. In the animal economy, to produce from the blood substances different from the blood itself, or from any of its constituents; as the glands. The liver secretes bile; the salivary glands secrete saliva.

secreted

SECRE'TED, pp. Concealed; secerned.

secreting

SECRE'TING, ppr. Hiding; secerning.

secretion

SECRE'TION, n.

1. The act of secerning; the act of the producing from the blood substances different from the blood itself, or from any of its constituents, as bile, saliva, mucus, urine, &c. This was considered 0by the older physiologists as merely separation from the blood of certain substances previously contained in it; the literal meaning of secretion. But this opinion is generally exploded. The organs of secretion are of very various form and structure, but the most general are called glands.

2. The matter secreted, as mucus, perspirable matter, &c.

secretness

SE'CRETNESS, n.

1. The state of being hid or concealed.

2. The quality of keeping a secret.

Definitions from Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
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