secern 
3. Inphysiol., to secrete. 
The pituite or mucus secerned in the nose . . . is not an 
excranentitious but a laudable humour. 
Arbuthnot, Aliments, vi. 
secernent (se-ser'nent), a. and . [< L. tte- 
eernen(t-)s, p'pr. of secernere, sunder, separate: 
see secern.'] I. a. Separating; secreting, or 
having the power of secreting. 
II. n. 1. That which promotes secretion. 
Darwin. 2. In anat., an organ whose func- 
tion is to secrete or separate matters from the 
blood. 
secernment (se-sern'ment), n. [< secern + 
-meat.] The process or" act of separating or 
secreting; secretion. 
secesh (se-sesh'), TO. and a. [Abbr. of secession- 
ist, also, as n., of the pi. secessionists.'] Seces- 
sionist ; also, secessionists collectively. [Col- 
loq. or slang, U. S.] 
You are unloyal you are secesh against your birthright. 
5. Bowles, In Merriam, I. 335. 
secesher (se-sesh'er), n. [< secesh + -er 1 .] A 
secessionist. [Colloq. or slang, U. S.] 
Schoolin 's wut they can't seem to stan' ; they're tu con- 
sarned high-pressure ; 
An' knowin' t' much might spile a boy for bein' a Secesher. 
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., i. 
secesst (se-ses'), n. [= Sp. seceso, < L. secessus, 
a going away, withdrawal, retirement, < sece- 
dere, pp. secessus, separate, withdraw: see se- 
cede.'] Retirement; retreat. 
Silent secesse. waste solitude. 
Dr. H. Mare, Philos. Poems, To the Reader. 
secession (se-sesh'on), n. [< OF. secession, F. 
secession = Sp. secesiou = It. secessione, < L. 
secessio(n-), a going aside, separation, schism, 
< secedere, pp. secessus, go aside: see secede.] 
If. The act of seceding or withdrawing; with- 
drawal; retirement; seclusion; detachment; 
separation. 
No desire, or fear, or doubt, that troubles the air ; nor 
any difficulty, past, present or to come, that the imagi- 
nation may not pass over without offence, In that sweet 
secession [sleep], Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iv. 15. 
But we must not take an abatement for an emptiness, a 
secession for a destitution. lieo. T. Adams, Works, II. 55. 
2. Specifically, the act of seceding or with- 
drawing from a religious or political organiza- 
tion or association; formal withdrawal. 
After the infallibility of the pope had been proclaimed 
as a dogma by the Vatican council in 1871, several com- 
munities as well as individuals declared their secession 
from the Roman Church. They are called Old Catholics, 
and they have selected a bishop who has been acknow- 
ledged by most of the states. Encyc. Brit., X. 469. 
The doctrine of secession the right of a State, or a com- 
bination of States, to withdraw from the Union-*- was born 
of that war [1812]. . . . They [New England States] had a 
convention [1814], famous under the name of Hartford, to 
which the design of secession was imputed. . . . The ex- 
istence of that convention raised the question of secession, 
and presented the first instance of the greatest danger in 
the working of the double form of our government that 
of a collision between a part of the States and the federal 
government. T. H. Benton, Thirty Years, I. 4. 
(a) In Scottish eccles. hist., the separation from the Estab- 
lished Church of Scotland which originated in 1733; hence, 
the whole body of the members of the Secession Church 
(which see, below), (b) In U. S. hist., the attempted with- 
drawal, in 1880-61, of eleven States from the Union. See 
Confederate States, under confederate. Ordinances Of 
secession, in U. S. hist., ordinances passed by conven- 
tions of eleven Southern States, in 1860-61, declaring their 
withdrawal from the Union. Secession Church, a re- 
ligious denomination in Scotland which took its rise in the 
secession of four ministers (Ebenezer Erskine, William 
Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff, and James Usher) from the 
Church of Scotland in 1733. A "breach" in 1747 resulted 
in the formation of the Burgher and Antiburgher Synods 
(see Antiburyher); but these were reunited in 1820 under 
the name of the United Secession Church, which in turn 
united with the Belief Synod in 1847 to form the existing 
United Presbyterian Church. War Of secession, in 
U. S. hist.,the civil war which resulted from the attempted 
withdrawal, in 1860-61, of eleven Southern States from the 
United States of America. It lasted a little over four 
years, and terminated in the defeat of the seceding States, 
with the attendant abolition of negro slavery in the United 
States. The seceding States were subsequently recon- 
structed as States of the Union. Also called the war of 
the rebellion, the rebellion, and the civil war. 
secessionist! (se-sesh'on-izm), . [< secession 
+ -ism.] The doctrine of secession; the prin- 
ciple that affirms the right of a person or party 
to secede, separate, or withdraw from a politi- 
cal or religious organization, or the right of a 
state to secede at its pleasure from a federal 
union. 
secessionist (se-sesh'on-ist), n. and a. [= F. 
secessioniste ; as secession + -ist.] I. n. One 
who maintains the principle of secessionism ; 
specifically, in U. S. hist., one who took part 
in or sympathized with the attempt of the 
Southern States, in 1860-65, to withdraw from 
the Union; an inhabitant of a Southern State 
5452 
who aided or sympathized with the secession 
movement. 
II. a. Of or pertaining to secession or seces- 
sionists. 
secessive (se-ses'iv), a. [< L. secessus, pp. of 
secedere, go aside, + -ire.] Set apart; sepa- 
rated ; isolated. Urgiihart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 40. 
[Rare.] 
sechet, v. A Middle English assibilated form of 
seek 1 . 
sechino (se-ke'no), n. [It.] See sequin. 
Sechium (se'ki-uin), n. [NL. (P. Browne, 1756), 
so called, it is said, because used to fatten hogs 
in Jamaica ; prop. "Secium, < Gr. o-tf/cof, a pen, 
fold, inclosure.] A genus of gourds, of the or- 
der Cucurbitaeeas and tribe Sicyoidese. It Is char- 
acterized by monoecious flowers with a saucer-shaped ca- 
lyx marked with ten radiating ridges, a five-parted wheel- 
shaped corolla, five free anthers (four with two flexuous 
cells and the other with but one), a six-lobed stigma, and 
a bristly and spindle-shaped one-celled ovary with a sin- 
gle ovule which matures into a smooth woody roundish 
seed with very large cotyledons. The only species, S. edule, 
is an annual climbing vine with roughish stems, native of 
the West Indies, cultivated in southern Europe and trop- 
ical America and Asia for its large edible fleshy fruit, 
which is oblong or pear-shaped and conspicuously fur- 
rowed. It bears thin heart-shaped and five-angled leaves, 
tendrils with two to five branches, and small yellow flowers 
in long racemes, the solitary fertile flower in the same ra- 
ceme with the very numerous staminate ones. The fruits 
are very prickly, green and shining, white within, and 
about 4 inches long, and, like the large starchy roots, are 
eaten boiled with meat or as a vegetable. They are called 
vegetable pears in the British colonies. The large green 
seed protrudes from one end and often germinates before 
falling. See chetfote, the native name. 
seckel (sek'el), n. [So called from its originat- 
ing on the farm of Mr. Seckel, near Philadel- 
phia.] A small delicious pear, ripening about 
the end of October, but keeping good for a 
short time only. These pears are often called 
sickle-pears. See^ear 1 , 2. 
seclet, n. [< OF. secle, siecle, F. siecle = Pr. 
secle, gegle = Cat. sigle = Sp. siglo = Pg. se- 
eulo = It. secolo, an age, century, < L. ssecu- 
lum, seculum, poet, syncopated sseclum, seclum, 
a race, generation, usually of time, a lifetime, 
generation, an age, the age, the times, esp. a 
hundred years, a century, LL. eccl. this world, 
the world, worldliness : root uncertain. Hence 
ult. secular, etc.] A century. 
It is wont to be said that three generations make one 
secle, or hundred years. Hammond, Pract. Catechism. 
seclude (se-kl&T), t'. * i pret. and pp. secluded, 
ppr. secluding. [< L. secludere, shut off, < se-, 
apart, + claudere, shut: see close^.] 1. To 
shut off or keep apart, as from company, so- 
ciety, etc.; withdraw from society or into soli- 
tude: as, to seclude one's self from the world. 
Sundrie Hon": Lords had obtained a large grante from 
ye king, for y more northerly parts of that countrie, de- 
rived out of y 6 Virginia patente, and wholy secluded from 
their Govermente. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 44. 
Let Eastern tyrants from the light of heav'n 
Seclude their bosom slaves. Thomson. 
Miss Hepzibah, by secluding herself from society, has 
lost all true relation with it, and is, in fact, dead. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiv. 
2f. To shut or keep out ; exclude ; preclude. 
He has the doores and windowes open in the hardest 
frosts, secluding only the snow. 
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 7, 1685. 
Upon the opening of the Parliament, viz. letting in the 
secluded members, he girt on his long rustic sword (longer 
than ordinary), Sir William Waller marching behind him. 
Aubrey, Lives, William Prinne. 
secluded (se-klo'ded), p. a. Separated from 
others; withdrawn from public observation; 
retired; living in retirement: as, a secluded 
spot; to pass a secluded life. 
secludedly (se-klo'ded-li), adv. In a secluded 
manner. Imp. Diet. 
secluset (se-klos'), a. and n. [< L. seclusus, pp. 
of secludefe, shut off: see seclude.] I. a. Se- 
cluded; isolated. [Implied in the derived noun 
secluseness.] 
II. n. Seclusion. [Rare.] 
To what end did our lavish ancestors 
Erect of old these stately piles of ours, 
For threadbare clerks, and for the ragged muse, 
Whom better fit some cotes of sad secluse? 
Bp. Hall, Satires, II. ii. 4. 
seclusenesst (se-kl6s'nes), n. [< secluse + -ness.'] 
The state of being secluded from society; se- 
clusion. Dr. H. More. [Rare.] 
seclusion (se-kl8'zhon), n. [< ML. seclusio(n-), 
< L. secludere, pp. seclusus, shut off: see seclude."] 
1 . The act of secluding, or the state of being se- 
cluded; a shutting out or keeping apart, or the 
state of being shut out, as from company, socie- 
ty, the world, etc. ; retirement ; privacy ; soli- 
tude : as, to live in seclusion. 
second 
A place of seclusion from the external world. 
Bp. llorsley, Works, II. xx. 
2. A secluded place. 
A seclusion, but seldom a solitude. 
Hau'thornf, Marble Faun, viii. 
Sweet seclusions for holy thoughts and prayers. 
Lony/dlou', Hyperion, i. 8. 
= Syn. 1. Retirement, Loneliness, etc. See solitude. 
seclusionist (se-klo'zhon-ist), n. [< gecluxinii 
+ -ist.] One who favors seclusion, or the prin- 
ciple or policy of refusing intercourse with 
others: as, Chinese seel unionists; monkish se- 
clusionists. 
Throughout the length and breadth of the land [Japan] 
it would probably be difficult to find so much as one gen- 
uine seclusionist or obstructionist. 
FortnightlyRev., N. S., XLI. 677. 
If the progressionists had not seized the reins of gov- 
ernment, the secluswnists would soon have had everything 
their own way. The Atlantic, LVIII. 604. 
seclusive (se-klo'siv), n. [< L. seclusus, pp. of 
secludere, shut off (see seclude, secluse), + -ice.] 
Disposed to shut out ; inclined to dwell apart ; 
retiring, or affecting retirement, privacy, or 
solitude; exclusive. 
Charleston, . . . from its very foundation to the present 
day, has ever been conservative ; it has also been seclusive, 
in the sense that it has never bad a large floating popula- 
tion of mixed nationality like so many of our American 
cities. Amer. Jour. PhUol., IX. 200. 
secohm (sek'om), n. [< sec(ond) 2 , the unit of 
time, + olim, the unit of resistance.] A name 
proposed for the unit of electrical self-induc- 
tion. See quotation under secohmmcter. 
secohmmeter (sek'om-me-ter), n. [< secolim 
+ Gr. uirpov, measure.] An instrument for 
measuring the coefficient of electrical self-in- 
duction . 
As the first three letters in second are common to the 
name in English, French, German, Italian, &c., and ohm 
is also common, we venture to suggest " secohm " as a 
provisional name, and our instrument we will therefore 
call a secohmmeter. 
W. B. Ayrton and J. Perry, Nature, XXXVI. 131. 
second 1 (sek'uud), a. and n. [< ME. second, 
secound, secund, < OF. (and F.) second = Pr. 
seflon = Sp. Pg. set/undo = It. secoudo, second, 
< L. secundus, following, next in order, second, 
also of water, winds, etc., following, i. e. fa- 
vorable to the vessel, hence in general favor- 
able, propitious ; with gerundive suffix -undus, < 
sequi (-\fsequ, sec), follow: see sequent. Cf. sec- 
ond?,] I. a. 1. Next after the first in order, 
place, time, rank, value, quality, etc. : an ordi- 
nal numeral : as, the second day of the month ; 
the second volume of a book ; the second audi- 
tor of the treasury ; the second table of the law. 
Jhesu dide eft this setunde tokene, whanne he cam fro 
Judee into Galilee. Wycltf, John iv. 64. 
And he slept and dreamed the second time. Gen. xli. 5. 
A second fear through all her sinews spread. 
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 903. 
Hence 2. Secondary; not primary; subordi- 
nate ; in music, lower in pitch, or rendering a 
part lower in pitch: as, second fiddle; second 
soprano. 
I shall not speak superlatively of them [the laws of 
the land], lest I be suspected of partiality in regard of my 
own profession ; but this I may truly say, they are second 
to none in the Christian World. 
Bacon, Advice to Villiers. 
3. Other; another: as, a second Daniel; his 
second self. 
You have bestow'd on me a second life, 
For which I live your creature. 
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Country, iv. 1. 
As mine own shadow wac this child to me, 
A second self, far dearer and more fair. 
Shelley, Revolt of Islam, ii. 24. 
There has been a veneration paid to the writings and to 
the memoiy of Confucius which is without any second ex- 
ample in the history of our race. Brougham. 
4. Favorable; helpful; aiding or disposed to 
aid. 
Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me ; 
Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas, 
Than the queen's life? Shak., W. T., ii. 3. 27. 
5. In math., noting a function derived from the 
performance of the same operation twice in 
succession: thus, the second difference is the 
difference of the difference; so second differen- 
tials, derivatives, differential coefficients, etc. 
At second hand. See hand. Proposition of second 
adjacent. See adjacent. Second act, that act by which 
a power is exercised. See energy, 4. Second advent, 
cabin, cause, etc. See the nouns. Second base. See 
base-ball. Second childhood, a condition of mental 
weakness, like that of a child, which often accompanies 
physical weakness in the final period of old age. 
After knocking and calling for a time an old man made 
his appearance. He was in his second childhood, but knew 
enough to usher us into the kitchen, and asked us to wait 
for the landlord's arrival. 
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 415. 
