secede, v.
(sɪˈsiːd)
[ad. L. sēcēdĕre to withdraw, f. sē- (see se-) + cēdĕre to go.]
1. intr. † a. To go away from one's companions, go into retirement (obs.). b. nonce-use. Of a thing: To retire, withdraw to a distance. (A Latinism.)
| 1702 Mather Magn. Christi iii. Introd. (1852) 240 A strange work of God upon the spirits of men that were no ways acquainted with one another inspiring them, as one man, to secede into a wilderness, they knew not where. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. xix. §31 The great mountains secede into supremacy through rosy depths of burning air. |
2. a. To withdraw formally from an alliance, an association, a federal union, a political or religious organization.
The most prominent applications of the verb are to the action of a minority of a religious body, and to that of a state forming part of a federal union.
| 1755 Johnson, To secede, to withdraw from fellowship in any affair. 1777 Burke Let. to Rockingham Wks. IX. 170 He is of opinion, that if you adhere to your resolution of seceding, you ought not to appear on the first day of the meeting. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 226/2 Accordingly the ejected ministers declared in their protest that they were laid under the disagreeable necessity of seceding, not from the principles and constitution of the church of Scotland,..but from the present church-courts. 1825 Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 13 Possibly their colonies might secede from the Union. 1846 J. Macfarlane Late Secess. Ch. Scot. 124 It were grievous misconception to suppose that all who seceded did so on the substantial merits of the question at issue. 1845 S. Hinds in Encycl. Metrop. X. 764/1 He who is convinced that his Church is essentially in error is bound to secede. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xlvi, A member of the house from which old Sedley had seceded was very glad to make use of Mr. Clapp's services. 1876 E. Mellor Priesth. viii. 391 The numerous clergy..who have seceded to Rome. 1883 H. B. Leech in Contemp. Rev. XLIII. 267 The law..suggests a distrust of the State which secedes from a confederacy without justifiable excuse. |
b. rarely in wider sense: To withdraw from taking part (in conversation).
| 1856 Miss Mulock J. Halifax xii, The conversation fell to the three younger persons—I may say the two—for I also seceded, and left John master of the field. |
3. trans. To withdraw (a component territory) from a federal union or the like; to detach or cede (a piece of land). rare.
| 1946 W. Faulkner Portable Faulkner 739 A plot to secede the whole Mississippi Valley from the United States and join it to Spain. 1963 A. Smith Throw out Two Hands xv. 156 Many people feel it was wrong..for any park to secede part of itself for any reason. |
Hence seˈceded ppl. a.
| 1894 Daily News 25 Apr. 4/7 Even in Birmingham multitudes of seceded Liberals are tired of serving the Tory party. |