King James Bible Dictionary

Alms to be given in
Matthew 6:4

Prayer to be offered in
Matthew 6:6

Of others not to be divulged
Proverbs 25:9; Matthew 18:15

Unclassified scriptures relating to
Deuteronomy 29:29; Deuteronomy 31:21; 1 Samuel 16:7; 2 Samuel 7:20; 2 Kings 19:27; Psalms 25:14; Psalms 44:21; Psalms 90:8; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Daniel 2:28; Daniel 2:47; Amos 3:7; Mark 4:22; Luke 8:16-17; Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Hebrews 4:12-13
Mysteries

SE'CRET, adjective. [Latin 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 Latin seco, to cut off; and not improbably this word is contracted into the Latin se, a prefix in segrego, separo, etc.]

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 3:19.

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.

Secret things belong to the Lord our God. Deuteronomy 29:29.

Not proper to be seen; kept or such as ought to be kept from observation.

SE'CRET, noun. [Latin secretum]

1. Something studiously concealed. A man who cannot keep his own secrets, will hardly keep the secrets of others.

To tell our own secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.

Rambler.

A talebearer revealeth secrets. Proverbs 11:13

2. A thing not discovered and therefore not known.

All secrets of the deep, all nature's works. Milton.

Hast thou heard the secret of God? Job 15:8.

3. Secrets, plural , The parts which modesty and propriety require to be concealed. In secret, in a private place; in privacy or secrecy; in a state or place not seen; privately.

Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. Proverbs 9:17.

SE'CRET, v. t. To keep private. [Little used.]

SEC'RETARISHIP, noun. The office of a secretary.

General references
2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 20:24; 1 Kings 4:3; 2 Kings 12:10-12; 2 Kings 18:18; 2 Kings 18:37; 2 Kings 22:1-14; 1 Chronicles 27:32; Esther 3:12; Esther 8:9

Military
2 Kings 25:19; 2 Chronicles 26:11
Amanuensis; Scribe

SEC'RETARY, noun. [Latin secretus, secret; originally a confident, one entrusted with secrets.]

1. A person employed by a public body, by a company or by an individual, to write orders, letters, dispatches, public or private papers, and the like. Thus ligislative bodies have secretaries, whose business is to record all their laws and resolves. Embassadors have secretaries.

2. An officer whose business is to superintend and manage the affairs of a particular department of government; as the secretary of state, who conducts correspondence of a state with foreign courts: the secretary of the treasury, who manages the department of finance; the secretary of war, of the navy, etc.

SECRE'TE, verb transitive

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.

SECRE'TED, pp. Concealed; secerned.

SECRE'TING, ppr. Hiding; secerning.

SECRE'TION, noun.

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, etc. 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, etc.

SE'CRETIST, noun. A dealer in secrets. [Not in use.]

SECRETI'TIOUS, adjective. Parted by an animal in secretion.

SE'CRETLY, adv.

1. Privately; privily; not openly; without the knowledge of others; as, to dispatch a messenger secretly.

2. Inwardly; not apparently or visibly; latently.

Now secretly with inward grief she pin'd. Addison.

SE'CRETNESS, noun.

1. The state of being hid or concealed.

2. The quality of keeping a secret.