Etymology The noun is from Middle English secret, from Latin sēcrētum. Doublet of secretum. Displaced Old English dēagolnes (“a secret”). The verb is from the noun.
A piece of knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden.
"Can you keep a secret?" "Yes." "So can I."
To tell our own secrets is generally folly, but that folly is without guilt; to communicate those with which we are intrusted is always treacheryMay 1, 1750, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler No. 13
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Well, mistress, I am sorry this is a matter I cannot aid you in—it goes against my conscience, and it is an affair above my condition, and beyond my management;—but I will keep your secret.1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume I (in English), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 216:
Barla Von: Most people think I deal in finances, but my real currency is knowledge. I trade information and it has made me very wealthy. Barla Von: But the Shadow Broker is the true master. Every day, he buys and sells secrets that could topple governments, always giving them to the highest bidder.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:
Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
The storage of cryptographic secrets is one of the paramount requirements in building trustworthy systems.2014, Thomas Feller, Trustworthy Reconfigurable Systems:
2
The key or principle by which something is made clear; the knack.
The secret to a long-lasting marriage is compromise.
3
Something not understood or known.
Thou knewſt by name, and all th' ethereal powers, / All ſecrets of the deep, all Natures works,1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1468–1469:
4
Private seclusion.
The work was done in secret, so that nobody could object.
ChristianityIn plural, Often Any prayer spoken inaudibly and not aloud; especially, one of the prayers in the Tridentine Mass, immediately following the "orate, fratres", said inaudibly by the celebrant.
Etymology The noun is from Middle English secret, from Latin sēcrētum. Doublet of secretum. Displaced Old English dēagolnes (“a secret”). The verb is from the noun.
… she would unfold the silk, press it with a smooth wooden block that she'd heated in the oven, and then once more secret it away.1984, Peter Scott Lawrence, Around the mulberry tree, Firefly Books, p. 26
1986, InfoWorld, InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. Diskless workstations … make it difficult for individuals to copy information … onto a diskette and secret it away.
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To prevent the elixir from reaching mankind and thereby upsetting the balance of the universe, two gods secret it away.1994, Phyllis Granoff & Koichi Shinohara, Monks and magicians: religious biographies in Asia, Mosaic Press, p. 50
Etymology From Middle English secrette, from Old French secret, from Latin sēcrētus (“separated, hidden”), from ptp of sēcernō (“separate, to set aside, sunder out”), from cernō, from Proto-Indo-European *krey-. Displaced Old English dēagol (“secret”).
1
Being or kept hidden.
We went down a secret passage.
The ſecret things belong unto the Lord our God; but thoſe things which are reuealed belong unto us, and to our children for euer, that wee may doe all the words of this Law.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 29:29:
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The original family who had begun to build a palace to outrival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.1963, Margery Allingham, “The Elopers”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 25:
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Obsolete Withdrawn from general intercourse or notice; in retirement or secrecy; secluded.
Sing Heav'nly Muſe, that on the secret top / Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didſt inſpire / That Shepherd, who firſt taught the choſen Seed, / In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth / Roſe out of Chaos: [...]1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 6–10:
secret in her sapphire cell1716, Elijah Fenton, an ode to the Right Honourable John Lord Gower:
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"He was a secret man, Alexander—a secret, silent man," he continued.1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “I Make Acquaintance of My Uncle”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 19:
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Obsolete Faithful to a secret; not inclined to divulge or betray confidence; secretive, separate, apart.
What neede we any ſpurre, but our owne cauſe / To pricke vs to redreſſe? What other Bond / Than ſecret Romans, that haue ſpoke the Word, / And will not palter?1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 115, column 1:
They suppose two other divine hypostases superior thereunto, which were perfectly secret from matter.1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe: