† ˈsecle Obs.
Also 7 sæcle.
[ad. (prob. independently by several writers) L. sēclum, sæculum age: see secular a. For the forms obtained through Fr., see siecle.]
A century, an age.
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1079 The Romayns [were wont to reken] by lustres..and by indicions..: a secle is an hundred yere, and sometyme taken for a mannes lyfe. 1644 Hammond Pract. Catech. i. ii. (1646) 10 'Tis wont to be said that three generations make one sæcle, or hundred yeares. 1772 [T. Nugent] tr. Hist. Fr. Gerund I. 352 To the argent season succeeded the secle hight ferruginous. 1846 Keightley Notes Virg., Bucol. iv. Observ., The augural books of the Tuscans said that there were successive secles or ages assigned to states and empires. |