Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CON-VENT'I-CLE, n. [L. conventiculum, dim. of conventus.]

1. An assembly or meeting usually applied to a meeting of dissenters from the established church, for religious worship. In this sense it is used by English writers and in English statutes. Hence, an assembly, in contempt. – Atterbury. In the United States, this word has no appropriate application, and is little used, or not at all.
2. A secret assembly or cabal; a meeting for plots. – Shak.