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secretaries

 

  1  definition  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Secretary  \Sec"re*ta*ry\,  n.;  pl  {Secretaries}.  [F. 
  secr['e]taire  (cf.  Pr  secretari,  Sp  &  Pg  secretario  It 
  secretario  segretario)  LL  secretarius,  originally,  a 
  confidant,  one  intrusted  with  secrets,  from  L.  secretum  a 
  secret.  See  {Secret},  a.  &  n.] 
  1.  One  who  keeps,  or  is  intrusted  with  secrets.  [R.] 
 
  2.  A  person  employed  to  write  orders  letters,  dispatches, 
  public  or  private  papers,  records,  and  the  like  an 
  official  scribe,  amanuensis,  or  writer;  one  who  attends  to 
  correspondence,  and  transacts  other  business,  for  an 
  association,  a  public  body,  or  an  individual. 
 
  That  which  is  most  of  all  profitable  is  acquaintance 
  with  the  secretaries,  and  employed  men  of 
  ambassadors.  --Bacon. 
 
  3.  An  officer  of  state  whose  business  is  to  superintend  and 
  manage  the  affairs  of  a  particular  department  of 
  government,  and  who  is  usually  a  member  of  the  cabinet  or 
  advisory  council  of  the  chief  executive;  as  the  secretary 
  of  state,  who  conducts  the  correspondence  and  attends  to 
  the  relations  of  a  government  with  foreign  courts;  the 
  secretary  of  the  treasury,  who  manages  the  department  of 
  finance;  the  secretary  of  war,  etc 
 
  4.  A  piece  of  furniture,  with  conveniences  for  writing  and 
  for  the  arrangement  of  papers;  an  escritoire. 
 
  5.  (Zo["o]l.)  The  secretary  bird. 
 
  {Secretary  Bird}.  [So  called  in  allusion  to  the  tufts  of 
  feathers  at  the  back  of  its  head,  which  were  fancifully 
  thought  to  resemble  pens  stuck  behind  the  ear.]  (Zo["o]l.) 
  A  large  long-legged  raptorial  bird  ({Gypogeranus 
  serpentarius}),  native  of  South  Africa,  but  now 
  naturalized  in  the  West  Indies  and  some  other  tropical 
  countries.  It  has  a  powerful  hooked  beak,  a  crest  of  long 
  feathers,  and  a  long  tail.  It  feeds  upon  reptiles  of 
  various  kinds,  and  is  much  prized  on  account  of  its  habit 
  of  killing  and  devouring  snakes  of  all  kinds.  Called  also 
  {serpent  eater}. 
 
  Syn:  See  the  Note  under  {Clerk},  n.,  4.




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