Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SE'BATE, n. [supra.]

In chimistry, a salt formed by the sebacic acid and a base. – Hooper. Lavousier.

SE-BES'TEN, n.

The Assyrian plum, a plant of the genus Cordia, a species of jujube. – Lee. Coxe.

SE'CANT, a. [L. secans, seco, to cut or cut off, coinciding with Eng. saw.]

Cutting; dividing into two parts.

SE'CANT, n. [It. Fr. and Sp. secante, supra.]

1. In geometry, a line that cuts another, or divides it into parts. The secant of a circle is a line drawn from the circumference on one side, to a point without the circumference on the other. In trigonometry, a secant is a right line drawn from the center of a circle, which, cutting the circumference, proceeds till it meets with a tangent to the same circle. – Encyc.
2. In trigonometry, the secant of an arc is a right line drawn from the center through one end of the arc, and terminated by a tangent drawn through the other end.

SE-CEDE, v.i. [L. secedo; se, from, and cedo, to move. Se is an inseparable preposition or prefix in Latin, but denoting departure or separation.]

To withdraw from fellowship, communion or association; to separate one's self; as, certain ministers seceded from the church of Scotland about the year 1733.

SE-CED-ER, n.

One who secedes. In Scotland, the seceders are a numerous body of presbyterians who seceded from the communion of the established church, about the year 1733.

SE-CED-ING, ppr.

Withdrawing from fellowship or communion.

SE-CERN', v.t. [L. secerno; se, and cerno, to separate.]

In the animal economy, to secrete. The mucus secerned in the nose … is a laudable humor. – Arbuthnot.

SE-CERN'ED, pp.

Separated; secreted.

SE-CERN'ENT, n.

That which promotes secretion; that which increases the motians, which constitute secretion. Darwin.

SE-CERN'ING, ppr.

Separating; secreting; as, secerning vessels.

SE-CERN'MENT, n.

The process or act of secreting. Kirby.

SE-CESS'ION, n. [L. secessio. See Secede.]

1. The act of withdrawing; particularly from fellowship and communion. – Encyc.
2. The act of departing; departure. – Brown.

SE'CLE, n. [Fr. siècle; L. seculum.]

A century. [Not in use.] – Hammond.

SE-CLUDE, v.t. [L. secludo; se and claudo, cludo, to shut.]

1. To separate, as from company or society, and usually to keep apart for some length of time, or to confine in a separate state; as, persons in low spirits seclude themselves from society. Let eastern tyrants from the light of heav'n / Seclude their bosom slaves. – Thomson.
2. To shut out; to prevent from entering; to preclude. Inclose your tender plants in your conservatory, secluding all entrance of cold. – Evelyn.

SE-CLUD-ED, pp.

Separated from others; living in retirement; shut out.

SE-CLUD-ED-LY, adv.

In a secluded manner.

SE-CLUD-ING, ppr.

Separating from others; confining in solitude or in a separate state; preventing entrance.

SE-CLUSE-NESS, n.

The state of being secluded from society.

SE-CLU'SION, n. [s as z.]

The act of separating from society or connection; the slate of being separate or apart; separation; a shutting out; as, to live in seclusion.

SE-CLU'SIVE, a.

That secludes or sequesters; that keeps separate or in retirement.

SEC'OND, a. [Fr. from L. secundus; It. secondo; Sp. and Port. segundo; from L. sequor, to follow. See Seek.]

1. That immediately follows the first; the next following the first in order of place or time; the ordinal of two. Take the second book from the shelf. Enter the second house. And he slept and dreamed the second time. Gen. xii.
2. Next in value, power, excellence, dignity or rank; inferior. The silks of China are second to none in quality. Lord Chatham was second to none in eloquence. Dr. Johnson was second to none in intellectual powers, but second to many in research and erudition. Second terms, in algebra, those where the unknown quantity has a degree of power less than it has in the term where it is raised to the highest. – Encyc. At second-hand, in the second place of order; not in the first place, or by or from the first; by transmission; not primarily; not originally; as, a report received at second-hand. The imitation of preachers at second-hand, I shall transcribe / from Bruyere a piece of raillery. – Tatler.

SEC'OND, n.

1. One who attends another in a duel, to aid him, mark out the ground or distance, and see that all proceedings between the parties are fair. – Watts. Addison.
2. One that supports or maintains another; that which supports. Being sure enough of seconds after the first onset. – Wotton.
3. The sixtieth part of a minute of time or of a degree, that is, the second minute or small division next to the hour. Sound moves above 1140 English feet in a second.
4. In music, an interval of a conjoint degree, being the difference between any sound and the next nearest sound above or below it. – Busby. Encyc.

SEC'OND, v.t. [L. secundo; Fr. seconder; It. secondare.]

1. To follow in the next place. Sin is seconded with sin. [Little used.] – South.
2. To support; to lend aid to the attempt of another; to assist; to forward; to promote; to encourage; to act as the maintainer. We have supplies to second our attempt. – Shak. The attempts of Austria to circumscribe the conquests of Bonaparte, were seconded by Russia. – Anon. In God, one single can its ends produce, / Yet serves to second too some other use. – Pope.
3. In legislation, to support, as a motion or the mover. We say, to second a motion or proposition, or to second the mover.

SEC'OND-A-RI-LY, adv. [from secondary.]

In the second degree or second order; not primarily or originally; not in the first intention. Duties on imports serve primarily to raise a revenue, and secondarily to encourage domestic manufactures and industry.