conclave
(ˈkɒnkleɪv)
Also 8 -cleave.
[a. F. conclave:—L. conclāve, pl. conclāvia, a place that may be locked up, f. con- together + clāvis key.]
† 1. A private room, inner chamber, closet. Obs.
| a 1400 Cov. Myst. 15 Pylat sendyth iiii knytes..To keep the blody body in his dede conclave. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus ii. 591 In ane conclaue all maid of Christall cleir: Inclusit thay war. 1623 Cockeram, Conclaue, an inner parlour [ed. 1626 adds a priuie roome, a closet]. a 1646 J. Gregory Posthuma (1650) 12 That they [the Septuagint translators] were placed everie one in a several Conclave. 1753 Mrs. Delany Corr. 20 Nov. (1861) III. 241 The Duchess has fitted up the little room out of her conclave that opens into the garden in the Gothic taste. |
b. fig.
| a 1626 Bacon New Atl. 11 The situation..in the secret Conclave of such a vast Sea. 1664 Evelyn Sylva (1776) 147 At the first peeping out of the Winter Concleave. |
2. spec. The place in which the Cardinals meet in private for the election of a Pope.
| 1393 Gower Conf. I. 254 The cardinals, that wolden save The forme of lawe in the conclave, Gon for to chese a new pope. 1494 Fabyan vii. 525 Y⊇ cardynallys beyng in y⊇ conclaue or counceyll chaumbre where y⊇ pope is accustomyd to be chosen. 1691 W. B. Hist. Rom. Conclave i. 1 'Tis he too that takes care to have the Conclave built with Timber. 1883 Addis & Arnold Cath. Dict. s.v., The large halls of the palace are so divided by wooden partitions as to furnish a number of sets of small apartments..all opening upon a corridor..On the tenth day a solemn Mass of the Holy Ghost is said in the Vatican church, and after it the Cardinals form a procession and proceed to the conclave, taking up their respective apartments as the lot has distributed them. |
3. The assembly of cardinals met for the election of a Pope.
| 1625 Heylin Microcosmos 181 Allotting it to the Conclaue of Cardinals. 1651 Reliq. Wotton. 360 He had been long a Cardinall and at two or three Conclaves or Elections of Popes. 1656 Bramhall Replic. v. 205 Whom does the Conclave chuse? An uniuersall Pastor? No, but expressely a Bishop of Rome. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 53 A conclave, which opened at Venice in March 1800, had raised to the papal chair Cardinal Chiaramonti. |
b. loosely. The body of cardinals.
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. ii. 100, I..thanke the holy Conclaue for their loues. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 23 When the news..reached Rome, the conclave was furious. |
c. attrib.
| 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 39 So conclave fathers do conclude. Ibid. 157 A conclave brother. 1686 J. Serjeant Hist. Monast. Conv. A iv a, In the Conclave Election of a Pope. |
4. transf. Any private or close assembly, esp. of an ecclesiastical character.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 60 As the Archbishop was sitting beneth in a conclave with his felow Bishops about him, consulting togither. 1635 Austin Medit. 68 The Tenet and Conclusion of the Sanhedrim (the great Councell or Conclave of the Rabbins). 1808 Scott Marm. ii. xviii, A cresset..dimly served to show The awful conclave met below. 1856 Miss Mulock J. Halifax 329 The respectable conclave above-stairs. 1866 Motley Dutch Rep. i. iii. 108 The three..who composed the secret conclave or cabinet. |
5. Phrase. in conclave (in senses 3 and 4).
| 1524 Wolsey in Fiddes Life ii. (1726) 72 The Cardinals then being in conclave. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 795 The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim In close recess and secret conclave sat. 1845 Disraeli Sybil 259 You yourself are ever brooding, and ever in conclave too, with persons who..are the preachers of violence. 1862 C. Stretton Cheq. Life I. 20 The head-master..happened to be sitting in conclave with some of the assistant teachers. |