seclude, v.
(sɪˈkluːd)
Also 6 secluid.
[ad. L. sēclūdĕre, f. sē- (see se-) + claudĕre to shut. Cf. OF. seclorre.
Now almost restricted to sense 2, which is close to the primary etymological meaning, though narrower than the use of secludere in Latin. Formerly often used loosely as a synonym of exclude: see 3, 4, 5 below.]
† 1. trans. To shut off, obstruct the access to (a thing). Const. from. Obs.
| 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert 127 The last two dayes was his drynk secluded fro him, so closed wer his pipes. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 87 The sure nutriment of their liuyng was from them secluded. |
2. † a. To shut up apart, to enclose or confine so as to prevent access or influence from without. Const. from. Also, to enclose or confine (a material thing) in a separate place. Obs. (merged in 2 b.)
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 32 b/2 To drawe therout all humors which are therin secluded. 1599 ― tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 23/1 Take also a Peacock, seclud him in the decreasing of the Moon, on some clean Chamber, and collect the dung..therof. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 19 Aug. 1641, The women were secluded from the men, being seated above in galleries. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 1132 Let eastern tyrants from the light of heaven Seclude their bosom slaves. |
b. In wider sense: To remove or guard from public view; to withdraw from opportunities of social intercourse. Often refl., to live in retirement or solitude. Chiefly const. from.
| 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. ii. ii, We are secluded From all good people. 1686 J. Scott Chr. Life ii. vii. Wks. 1718 I. 416 He is secluded by the infinite sacredness of his own Majesty from all immediate converse and intercourse with us. 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. vii, Great Allowances should be given to a King who lives wholly secluded from the rest of the World. 1748 W. Melmoth Fitzosborne Lett. liv. (1749) II. 68 Virtue..must either..seclude herself in cells and desarts, or [etc.]. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 159 ¶1 The studious part of mankind, whose education necessarily secludes them in their earlier years from mingled converse. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xli. IV. 202 It was enviously secluded from the public view. 1781 V. Knox Liberal Educ. iii. 35 He..will suffer worse consequences from it, than if he had not been secluded from boys at a boyish age. a 1834 Lamb Let. to Southey in Mrs. Leicester's Sch., etc. (1885) 338 It is an error more particularly incident to persons of the correctest principles and habits, to seclude themselves from the rest of mankind, as from another species, and form into knots and clubs. 1851 Hawthorne Ho. Sev. Gables xiv, Miss Hepzibah, by secluding herself from society, has lost all true relation with it. 1855 Prescott Philip II, ii. ii. I. 158 Shut up in his carriage, he seemed desirous to seclude himself from the gaze of his..subjects. 1910 Emily J. Putnam in Contemp. Rev. May 556 Under these conditions, it was apparently not necessary to seclude a wife; at any rate, the Roman matron of all periods enjoyed personal freedom. |
c. To shut off or screen from some external influence.
| 1601 Holland Pliny vi. xvii. I. 124 The region of the Attaci..secluded from all noisome wind and aire. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 170 Investigations and habits of thought that secluded them from baser attractions. |
† 3. To shut or keep out from a place, society, etc.; to deny entrance to. Sometimes with double object, To forbid (a person) to enter (a place, etc.).
| 1498 in J. Bulloch Pynours (1887) 57 And quha brekis this Statut..salbe secludit and forboden the tone thai being conuikit thairintill. 1538 Bale God's Promises (1908) A ij, Man must nedes be lost, And cleane secluded, from the faythfull chosen sorte, In the heauens aboue. 1558 Forrest Grysilde the Second 85 So was goode Grysilde secluded the Courte. 1565 Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 188 Vtterly to seclude from your presence and face..the habit..and figure of his countinaunce. 1680 Spirit of Popery Pref. 2 The Doctrines,..for which the Jesuits are Secluded both Kingdoms by Capital Laws. 1680 Papists bloody Oath of Secrecy 4 Till the days of our Grand-Fathers, when in England the Pope and his Clergy were secluded. |
† b. To debar from a privilege, advantage, dignity, succession, etc.; to prevent from doing something. Also const. inf. Obs.
| a 1533 Frith Disput. Purgat. To Chr. Rdr. A iij b, You haue bene of longe continuaunce secluded from the scriptures. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Heb. iii. 7–13 Leste he..dooe grieuouslye punyshe them, and seclude them from the rest and quietnes promised. 1556 Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. (ed. 2) 116 b, marg., Irreligious people secluded [text has excluded] from all honours. 1557 Order of Hospitalls H 7, Upon every fault found, your staffes shall be taken from you, and [you] to be secluded for ever more for serving in those romes. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 137 b, And by that occasion usurped the Dukedome of Millan, secludyng Valentine [orig. exclusa Valentina]. 1574 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 333 Wives were alwaies secluded and barred to demande any intrest in their said thirde of the said fermes. 1613 Sir T. Smythe in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 132 We now know what they endeavour, to seclude us from trading in those parts. 1628 Coke On Litt. 99 b, The heire cannot take anything..when the ancestor himself is secluded. 1656 G. Collier Answ. 15 Quest. 5, I shall prove they ought to be secluded [from communion]. 1681 Let. to Person of Honour conc. D. of M.'s Mother 12 An apprehension of being otherwise Secluded from his Right over that kingdom. a 1722 Fountainhall Decis. (1759) I. 5 If the buyer..must immediately offer it back, so soon as he knows the vitiosity, else will be secluded both from the redhibitoria and quanti minoris. 1775 Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 26 They are more secluded from easy recourse to national judicature. |
† c. To regard as having no share (in something). Const. from. Obs.
| 1581 W. Charke in Conf. iv. (1584) D d iiij b, The ende why works are secluded from iustification doeth proue for me. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 57 Confessing that if any waies I haue erred vnto you, as I will not vtterly seclude my selfe from any errour, it was but..by ignorance. a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. iii. (1677) 71 Almighty God, whom he totally secludes from the concerns of the World. |
† d. With noun of action as obj.: To prohibit, preclude. Obs.
| 1566 Securis Detection B iij b, The..sauegard of many a sick man..shall be hyndred and secluded. 1578 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 681 That nane of his Hienes liegis..mak ony bargayne, blok, or conditioun..secluding the ressaving of ony of the Kingis lauchfull money in payment. 1579 Rice Invective agst. Vices C iij, Thou wilt perchaunce saie, that I am to harde to reprehende that thyng, that maie for an honest recreation bee frequented, where as the companie is sober,..secludyng blasphemie, riot, dronkenship, and such like excesse. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort., Nov. (1679) 29 Enclose your tender Plants..in your Conservatory, secluding all entrance of cold. |
† 4. To exclude from consideration, leave out of account. Obs.
| a 1533 Frith Disput. Purgat. Prol. A viij b, Imagininge that two men dispute this matter by naturall reason and phylosophye, secludynge Chryste and all scrypture. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. viii. ii. (1886) 127 Onelie God and man knoweth the heart of man and therefore..the divell must be secluded. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 435, I vtterly seclude al their opinions, which translate this word Arabian wolues, for the Hæbrew notes cannot admit such a version or exposition. 1620 E. Blount Horæ Subs. 123, I doe not by this seclude society, and conuersation: for such a solitary, & vnsociable disposition, I hold to be worse then this Gadder. 1620 T. Granger Div. Logike 159 [This] Secludeth ambiguous, equiuocall, or doubtfull significations. 1656 Jeanes Mixt. Schol. Div. 82 Alwayes provided, you abstract, and seclude that, which implieth imperfection. 1672 Wallis in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 531 What I said..was only to seclude that consideration from what was then in hand. 1682 H. More Annot. Glanvill's Lux O. 69 For such, says he, is God in the rest of his Attributes, if you seclude his Goodness. 1725 Watts Logic i. ii. § 2 If we seclude space out of our consideration. |
† b. The pr. pple. used absol. as quasi-prep.: Excepting, apart from. Obs.
| 1624 F. White Repl. Fisher 414 Secluding the authoritie of the Roman Church, there is [etc.]. 1637 C. Dow Answ. to H. Burton 168 That we come to know the scriptures by the testimony of the church, and that secluding that, wee cannot..bee perswaded that they are the word of God. 1638 in Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Bannatyne Club) I. 58 We condemn no Episcopall Government, secludeing the personall abuse therof. a 1677 Barrow Serm. iii. Wks. 1687 I. 27 But, secluding a regard to the Precepts of Religion, there can hardly be [etc.]. 1706 W. Jones Palm. Math. 129 If all the Negative Products made of the Roots taken by 2's, 3's, 4's, &c. (Secluding their Signs) are equal to all the Affirmative ones. 1728 tr. Newton's Treat. Syst. World 22 A body revolved in our air..would (secluding the resistance of the air) compleat a revolution in 1 h. 24{p}. 27{pp}. |
† 5. To banish, expel from a country; to put out of an office or out of membership of a society. (Cf. exclude v. II.) Obs.
| 1572 Whitgift Answ. Admonition 40 God..prescribeth no generall rule of secluding them from theyr ministerie, if they falling, afterwarde repent. 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 7, I choosed..to seclude my selfe from my soyle. a 1734 North Life Ld. Keeper North (1742) Pref. 3 He served his Country in diverse Parliaments, and was misled to sit in that of Forty, till he was secluded. |
† b. To banish, put away (a thought, etc.). Obs.
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Rom. xv. 14–19 That all heauines and dissencion secluded, it maye please hym to fulfyll you with all ioye and concorde. |
† c. To expunge from a record. Obs.
| 1550 Bale Eng. Votaries i. Ep. Ded., Secludynge theyr names from the lambes boke of lyfe. |
d. Textual Criticism. To exclude as spurious [= mod.L. secludere].
| 1893 A. Platt in Classical Rev. Feb. 31/2 And why should this be secluded, when 0 225–256 are retained, though the editors agree with Nitzsch in condemning them? |
6. To separate, keep apart. † a. To separate as a barrier; to intervene so as to shut off (e.g. a portion of an army from the main body). Obs.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 113 The Britwales or Welchmen.. were secluded from the English Saxons by a Ditch or Trench which King Offa cast. 1623 Bingham Xenophon 63 They were driuen to a necessitie, either by force to dislodge the enemy from the place and cut him off, or else to be secluded from the rest of the army. 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 22 Discending Mount Synais from La Croix Southward, which secludeth Sauoy. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. vi. xiii. (1821) 299 Things..that were cast into periods of time secluded one from another by vast intervals. a 1678 Marvell Loyal Scot 93 Nothing but clergy could us two seclude, No Scotch was ever like a bishop's feud. |
† b. To separate in thought, to consider apart from. Obs.
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. viii. 42 Take Queen Mary in her self abstracted from her Opinions, and by her self, secluded from her bloody councellours, and her Memory will justly come under Commendation. |
c. To select and separate; to set aside for use.
| 1771 Goldsm. Hist. Eng. I. 7 No plunder taken in war was used by the captor until the Druids determined what part they should seclude for themselves. 1876 Gladstone Glean. II. 333 This transitory literature..requires immense sifting and purgation, like other coarse raw material, in order to reduce the gross to the nett, to seclude, and to express, the metal from the ore. |