Word Meanings - CONVENTICLE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. A small assembly or gathering; esp., a secret assembly. They are commanded to abstain from all conventicles of men whatsoever. Ayliffe. 2. An assembly for religious worship; esp., such an assembly held privately, as in times of persecution,

Additional info about word: CONVENTICLE

1. A small assembly or gathering; esp., a secret assembly. They are commanded to abstain from all conventicles of men whatsoever. Ayliffe. 2. An assembly for religious worship; esp., such an assembly held privately, as in times of persecution, by Nonconformists or Dissenters in England, or by Covenanters in Scotland; -- often used opprobriously, as if those assembled were heretics or schismatics. The first Christians could never have had recourse to nocturnal or clandestine conventicles till driven to them by the violence of persecution. Hammond. A sort of men who . . . attend its service in the morning, and go with their wives to a conventicle in the afternoon. Swift.

Related words: (words related to CONVENTICLE)

• WORSHIPFUL
  Entitled to worship, reverence, or high respect; claiming respect; worthy of honor; -- often used as a term of respect, sometimes ironically. "This is worshipful society." Shak. so dear and worshipful. Chaucer. -- Wor"ship*ful*ly, adv.
• SECRETE
  To separate from the blood and elaborate by the process of secretion; to elaborate and emit as a secretion. See Secretion. Why one set of cells should secrete bile, another urea, and so on, we do not known. Carpenter. Syn. -- To conceal; hide. See
• COMMANDING
  1. Exercising authority; actually in command; as, a commanding officer. 2. Fitted to impress or control; as, a commanding look or presence. 3. Exalted; overlooking; having superior strategic advantages; as, a commanding position. Syn.
• WORSHIPABLE
  Capable of being worshiped; worthy of worship. Carlyle.
• SMALLISH
  Somewhat small. G. W. Cable.
• ABSTAIN
  To hold one's self aloof; to forbear or refrain voluntarily, and especially from an indulgence of the passions or appetites; -- with from. Not a few abstained from voting. Macaulay. Who abstains from meat that is not gaunt Shak. Syn. -- To refrain;
• SECRETARY
  secretari, Sp. & Pg. secretario, It. secretario, segretario) LL. secretarius, originally, a confidant, one intrusted with secrets, 1. One who keeps, or is intrusted with, secrets. 2. A person employed to write orders, letters, dispatches, public
• TIMESERVING
  Obsequiously complying with the spirit of the times, or the humors of those in power.
• COMMANDATORY
  Mandatory; as, commandatory authority.
• COMMANDO
  In South Africa, a military body or command; also, sometimes, an expedition or raid; as, a commando of a hundred Boers. The war bands, called commandos, have played a great part in the . . . military history of the country. James Bryce.
• SECRET
  segreto), fr. L. secretus, p.p. of secrernere to put apart, to 1. Hidden; concealed; as, secret treasure; secret plans; a secret vow. Shak. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us. Deut.
• ASSEMBLY
  A beat of the drum or sound of the bugle as a signal to troops to assemble. Note: In some of the United States, the legislature, or the popular branch of it, is called the Assembly, or the General Assembly. In the Presbyterian Church, the General
• GATHERER
  An attachment for making gathers in the cloth. (more info) 1. One who gathers or collects.
• SMALLCLOTHES
  A man's garment for the hips and thighs; breeches. See Breeches.
• SECRETNESS
  1. The state or quality of being secret, hid, or concealed. 2. Secretiveness; concealment. Donne.
• GATHERABLE
  Capable of being gathered or collected; deducible from premises. Godwin.
• COMMANDEER
  To compel to perform military service; to seize for military purposes; -- orig. used of the Boers. 2. To take arbitrary or forcible possession of.
• SMALLPOX
  A contagious, constitutional, febrile disease characterized by a peculiar eruption; variola. The cutaneous eruption is at first a collection of papules which become vesicles (first flat, subsequently umbilicated) and then pustules, and finally thick
• COMMANDMENT
  One of the ten laws or precepts given by God to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. 3. The act of commanding; exercise of authority. And therefore put I on the countenance Of stern commandment. Shak. (more info) 1. An order or injunction given
• COMMANDINGLY
  In a commanding manner.
• UNDERSECRETARY
  A secretary who is subordinate to the chief secretary; an assistant secretary; as, an undersecretary of the Treasury.
• BETIME; BETIMES
  1. In good season or time; before it is late; seasonably; early. To measure life learn thou betimes. Milton. To rise betimes is often harder than to do all the day's work. Barrow. 2. In a short time; soon; speedily; forth with. He tires betimes
• MEGATHEROID
  One of a family of extinct edentates found in America. The family includes the megatherium, the megalonyx, etc.
• MISWORSHIP
  Wrong or false worship; mistaken practices in religion. Bp. Hall. Such hideous jungle of misworships. Carlyle.
• DISMALLY
  In a dismal manner; gloomily; sorrowfully; uncomfortably.
• SOMETIMES
  1. Formerly; sometime. That fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Did sometimes march. Shak. 2. At times; at intervals; now and then;occasionally. It is good that we sometimes be contradicted. Jer. Taylor. Sometimes . . .
• TAXGATHERER
  One who collects taxes or revenues. -- Tax"gath`er*ing, n.
• SELF-WORSHIP
  The idolizing of one's self; immoderate self-conceit.
• UPGATHER
  To gather up; to contract; to draw together. Himself he close upgathered more and more. Spenser.
• UNWORSHIP
  To deprive of worship or due honor; to dishonor. Wyclif.