Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.