▪ I. sect, n.1
(sɛkt)
Also 4–6 secte, 5 sekte, 6 sekt, seacte, pl. sextes, Sc. pl. sekkis.
[a. F. secte (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), or directly ad. L. secta following (used as cognate object in sectam sequi, to follow a particular course of conduct, to follow a person's guidance or example), hence a party or faction, a philosophical sect or school, a class or profession (in med.L. also the distinctive costume of a class or order of men), f. sequ- root of sequī to follow: for the formation cf. sectārī to pursue. The L. word was adopted also in other Rom. langs.: Sp., Pg. secta, It. setta.
It has been maintained that L. secta is the fem. pple. of secāre to cut, an ellipsis for via secta, from the phrase viam secāre (after Gr. τέµνειν ὁδόν) to make (lit. ‘to cut’) one's way. Formally this would be quite possible; but secta does not occur in the physical sense of ‘way’, nor does it appear that via secta was ever in use; and some of the uses of secta are more satisfactorily accounted for by derivation from sequī than from secāre.]
† 1. A class or kind (of persons). Obs.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1432 (Fairf.) Alderfirste, loo, ther I sighe,..Hym of Secte saturnyne, The Ebrayke Iosephus. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvi. 13 How þis couetise ouer-cam alle kynne sectes, As wel lerede as lewede. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5745 Eke in the same secte are set Alle tho that prechen for to get Worshipes, honour, and richesse. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas iii. i. (1494) i viij b, The sect of pouert hath a protection From all statutes to go at lyberte. 1515 Barclay Egloges iii. (1570) B vj b, Flatterers and hostlers, and other of this sect Are busy in thy chamber. 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus ii. i. I j, Of whose secte .i. suite or sorte of profession we..set forth abrode into the market stede many clientes. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 932 The which act and priuilege did nourishe and encrease aboundauntly the sect and swarme of theeues and murderers. 1628 Burton Anat. Mel., Democr. to Rdr. (ed. 3) 15 [Of Physicians] I know many of their Sect [edd. 1, 2, of them] which haue taken Orders, in hope of a Benefice. |
† b. A religious order. Obs.
Properly a use of sense 1; but Wyclif affects to take it in sense 4, as if the orders (esp. the mendicant orders) were new religions, competing with the ‘sect’ of Christ.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 446 Þes foure sectis newe brouȝt in, as emperour clerkis, munkis & chanouns & þes foure ordris freris, disturblen moost þis fiȝtinge chirche & putten it fro þe cours of crist. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii. 293 Þoȝ men soȝt al sectes [v.r. þe sektis] of sistren & of breþeren. 1402 Jack Upland 106 Why stele ye mens children for to make hem of youre secte? c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 416 Þat he suld be of haly secte. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (1888) 104 Our halie fader ye paip and his bischopis giffis ane part of ye spulze quhilk thay reiff fra ye pwir to thir forsaid sekkis. 1574 tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 36 Wicked sectes haue bin brought into the worlde vnder the names of Austin, Bernard, Francis, Dominik and others. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. li. (1612) 231 Ignatius then conceited had his sect, And crau'd Confirmance of the pope. 1779 G. Keate Sketches fr. Nat. (ed. 2) I. 142 As I think that there are only two houses of La Trappe existing, it may not be improper to mention, that this sect was first founded about a century ago, with the sanction of Pope Innocent the Eleventh. 1814 Cary Dante, Parad. iii. 108, I..Made promise of the way her sect enjoins. |
† c. The (human) race. Obs. rare.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 4859 Ne were ther generacioun Our sectis strene for to save. 1578 Banister Hist. Man iii. 42 The Articulation of the head with the Vertebres..diuine nature y⊇ mother of humane sect, hath shewed therin more care. |
d. Sex. Now only in illiterate use.
A special use of sense 1; possibly suggested by the similarity in sound with sex. In mod.Eng. it may have originated afresh as an artificial pronunciation of sek (a singular evolved from the apparent plural sex) on the part of speakers of dialects that have final (k) for (kt).
| c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 1171 For the wyues loue of Bathe Whos lyf and al hire secte god mayntene In heigh maistrie. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. ii. (Skeat) I. 139 She me hath had so greet in worship, that I nil for nothing in open declare, that in any thing ayenst her secte may so wene. a 1592 Greene Alphonsus v. Wks. (Grosart) XIII. 400 Although it be a shame For knights to combat with the female sect. 1608 Middleton Mad World ii. vi, 'Tis the easiest Art and cunning for our sect to counterfeit sicke. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. i. 6 Their controversie was to be determined by Tyresias, (one that had beene of both sects). 1738 [G. Smith] Cur. Relat. II. v. 77 These Robbers without Regard to Sect or Decency, stript all the Company stark naked. 1776 Pratt Pupil Pleas. (1777) I. 173 The most artfullest of his sect. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xv, ‘Ye have skeel of our sect, sir,’ replied the dame. 1861 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 204 [Street-photographer loq.] A lady don't mind taking her bonnet off..before one of her own sect. |
† 2. Distinctive costume (of a class or order). Also transf. the ‘garb’ or guise (of humanity). Obs.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 237 Many tyme god hath ben mette amonge nedy peple, Þere neuere segge hym seigh in secte of þe riche. Ibid. xiv. 258 He bereth þe signe of pouerte, And in þat secte owre saueoure saued al mankynde. 1393 Ibid. C. viii. 130 And sitthe in oure secte as hit semed, þow deydest, On a fryday, in forme of man feledest oure sorwe. |
† 3. Body of followers or adherents. Obs.
| 1450 Rolls of Parlt. V. 204/2 The said John Newport and other of his secte..so thretening the Kingis pepil of the Ile [etc.]. 1512 W. Knight in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 195 S{supr} William Sands and a few of his secte were in the contrarie opynyon of me. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxxx. 216 The prouost and his sect exhorted hym therto. 1590–91 Reg. Privy Council Scot. IV. 562 The..crafty practizes of M{supr} James Gordoun, fader bruthir to the Erll of Huntlie, and utheris of his sect. 1621 Gude & Godlie B. App. i. 234 Cum heir my Elect, and my awin sweit Sect, Ȝour hyre sall not be in weir. [1647 N. Bacon Disc. Gov. Eng. i. lxvii. (1739) 169 Et inde producit sectam suam; that is, he brings his sect or suit, or such as do follow or affirm his complaint.] 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 147 [Abdiel speaks.] My Sect thou seest, now learn too late How few somtimes may know, when thousands err. |
4. A religious following; adherence to a particular religious teacher or faith. † a. Applied to any of the main religions of the world, as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam; the principles, or the adherents collectively, of any one of these faiths. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 9 (Corpus) As of þe secte of which þat he was born he kepte his lay to which þat he was sworn. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 129 Whan þat false prophete Machometys..wroot and brouȝt yn þe false lawe and secte of Saracins. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 182 And thus in thilke time tho Began the Secte upon this Erthe, Which of believes was the ferthe. c 1450 Myrr. our Ladye 85 Of what secte or contre so euer they be, hethen or crysten, sarasen or Iewe. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 73 b/1 Kynge Salamon louyd ouermoche..straunge wymen of other sectes. 1530 Rastell Bk. Purgat. iii. xv. (fin.), Wolde to God that thou were of our holy secte and crysten beleve. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 14 Ye Soldan or chefe ruler hereof is of Mahumets secte, as are ye Turkes. a 1575 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden No. 36) 74 Preaching the woord of Godd and sincere secte of Christe. 1592 Kyd Sol. & Pers. iii. i. 38 How did the Christians vse our Knights? Bru. As if that we and they had been one sect. 1600 R. Carr tr. Mahumetan Hist. 19 Abagan..tooke vpon him the supersticion of the sect of Mahumet. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xx. 73 Whilest these wicked Miscreants [sc. Mohammedans] fortifie themselves in their devilish Sect, let us trust in our Lord. 1716 Prideaux O. & N. Test. Connected (1718) I. i. iii. 139 At this time [an. 522] all the idolatry of the world was divided between two sects, that is, the worshippers of images, who were called the Sabians, and the worshippers of fire, who were called the Magians. |
b. † (a) A system of belief or observance distinctive of one of the parties or schools into which the adherents of a religion are divided; sometimes spec. a system differing from what is deemed the orthodox tradition; a heresy. Obs. (b) A body of persons who unite in holding certain views differing from those of others who are accounted to be of the same religion; a party or school among the professors of a religion; sometimes applied spec. to parties that are regarded as heretical, or at least as deviating from the general tradition.
the Clapham Sect: a name applied derisively early in the 19th c. to a coterie of persons of Evangelical opinions and conspicuous philanthropic activity, some of whom lived at Clapham; among the chief members were Wilberforce, Zachary Macaulay, and Henry Thornton.
| 13.. S. Ambrose 276 (MS. Vernon) in Horstm. Alteng. Leg. (1878) 12 Wiþ heretykes of þe secte of Arrian. 1382 Wyclif Acts xxvi. 5 For vp [v.r. that bi] the moost certeyn secte of oure religioun, I lyuede a Farisee. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 15 This new Secte of Lollardie. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. iii. 497 Aftir the daies of the Apostlis roosen also manye vntrewe sectis of Cristen men, as the sect of Valentynyanys. 1526 Tindale 1 Cor. xi. 19 For there must be sectes amonge you. 1530 Cromwell in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 187 They wyll not discent from the Lutheran sekt. 1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 1 The damnable opinions of the secte of the anabaptistes. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 81 They that love sectes are in dede worthy of punyshement. 1577 T. Vautrollier Luther on Ep. Gal. 221 The Jewes assured them selues that the Church..should shortly be ouerthrowne: the which by an odious name they called a Sect. 1603 Drayton Bar. Wars iv. liv, And in her Sects, Religion lay confounded. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iii. 81 Doe not I know you [Cromwell] for a Fauourer Of this new Sect? 1625 Bacon Ess., Viciss. Things ¶5 When the Religion formerly receiued, is rent by Discords;..you may doubt the Springing vp of a New Sect. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 69 The Millenaries, a sect of learned, and criticall Christians, who expect in the last thousand years of the Church, the cream of all militant perfection. a 1727 Newton Chronol. Amended vi. (1728) 349 He reformed the religion of the Persians, which before was divided into many sects. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 170 The church was distracted by the Nestorian and Monophysite sects. 1844 J. Stephen in Edinb. Rev. LXXX. 251 The Clapham Sect. 1859 FitzGerald Omar xliii, The Grape that can with Logic absolute The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute. 1879 L. Stephen Hours in Library Ser. iii. 288 The Clapham Sect, amongst whom he [Macaulay] had been brought up. |
c. In modern use, commonly applied to a separately organized religious body, having its distinctive name and its own places of worship; a ‘denomination’. Also, in a narrower sense, one of the bodies separated from the Church. the sects: applied by Anglicans to the various bodies of Dissenters, by Roman Catholics to all forms of Protestantism.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Hist. Eng. i. ii. 3/1 They (of all the other sects before specified) were suffered onlie to continue vnabolished. 1651 H. More Mastix his Lett. in Enthus. Tri. etc. (1656) 306 That Sect which are called Quakers. 1673 Temple Observ. United Prov. Wks. 1731 I. 58 In Amsterdam..almost all Sects, that are known among Christians, have their publick Meeting-places. 1676 Glanvill Ess. v. 24 The common practice (at least among the Sects) of declaring against Reason as an Enemy to Religion. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. v. i. (1869) II. 377 Almost every different congregation might have made a little sect by itself, or have entertained peculiar tenets of its own. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxxi. But with all the more severe prejudices and principles of his sect, Bide-the-bent possessed a sound judgment. 1828 Macaulay Ess., Hallam ¶19 We might say that the massacre of St. Bartholomew was intended to extirpate, not a religious sect, but a political party. 1836 Arnold in Stanley Life & Corr. (1845) II. 23 Almost all who profess to value Christianity seem when they are brought to the test to care only for their own sect. 1836 H. Rogers J. Howe iii. (1863) 46 It might be said of the latter years of the Commonwealth, that there were almost as many sects as worshippers. 1857 Toulmin Smith Parish 436 The church is not a building for the service of any sect. 1872 Morley Voltaire (1886) 4 To each alike of the countless orthodox sects his name is the symbol for the prevailing of the gates of hell. |
d. abstr. (Cf. party n. 6 b.)
| 1865 Lecky Ration. (1878) II. 104 The spirit of sect, or an attachment not to abstract principles, but to a definite and organised ecclesiastical institution, is a spirit essentially similar to patriotism. |
5. The system or body of adherents of a particular school of philosophy.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 359 He [Aristotle] brouȝte up þe secte þat is i-cleped Peripatetica. 1579–80 North Plutarch, Brutus (1595) 1070 Cassius being in opinion an Epicurian,..spake..thus. In our sect, Brutus, we haue an opinion, that [etc.]. a 1591 H. Smith Arrow agst. Atheists (1637) 18 Three of the most learned that ever professed the Platonicke sect. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 279 The Sect Epicurean. 1693 Dryden Persius i. Argt., Our Poet was a Stoick Philosopher; and..all his Moral Sentences..are drawn from the Dogma's of that Sect. 1704 Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) 399 The Chaldæan Philosophers were divided into Sects, but the Distinction arose from the Nature of their Studies. 1798 Ferriar Eng. Historians 244 Some of the ancient philosophical sects, received their denominations from their places of instruction. 1868 Farrar Seekers after God, Seneca Introd. 5 The purest and most exalted philosophic sect of antiquity was ‘the sect of the Stoics’. |
6. transf. (from senses 4 and 5). A school of opinion in politics, science, or the like; also, more or less jestingly, applied to a group of persons who attach importance to some peculiar crotchet about matters of social custom or the like.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear v. iii. 18 Lear...And wee'l weare out In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones, That ebbe and flow by th' Moone. 1609 B. Jonson Epicœne Prol., But in this age, a sect of Writers are, That, onely, for particular likings care, And will taste nothing that is populare. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. iii. 18 The Atheists upon this occasion are divided into Sects. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 479 ¶5 Socrates, who is by all Accounts the undoubted Head of the Sect of the Hen-peck'd, own'd..that [etc.]. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. (1869) II. 420 That sect of men of letters in France who call themselves the economists. 1788 Trifler No. 9. 113 The first sect on which I shall recommend you to try your skill..are Old Maids. 1792 Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 450 A sect has shown itself among us, who declare they espoused our constitution..as a step to an English constitution. 1821 Shelley Epipsych. 149, I never was attached to that great sect, Whose doctrine is, that each one should select Out of the crowd a mistress or a friend, And all the rest..commend To cold oblivion. 1821–30 Ld. Cockburn Mem. (1856) 367 The Whigs gave him a public dinner on the 21st of February, at which about 300 attended—the largest convocation of the sect that had yet taken place. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) I. 175 The doctrine made a sect among astronomers. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xvii. 197 This I am sure will seem strange to the various sects of pathologists and theorists. 1899 W. S. Lilly 1st Princ. Politics 135 Socialism is rather a sect than a party. |
† b. With pseudo-etymological reference: A ‘section’ of mankind. Obs.
| 1708–9 Swift Let. to Abp. King 6 Jan., But the world is divided into two sects, those that hope the best, and those that fear the worst. a 1764 Lloyd Poet 254 There were two sects—the Bad, the Good. |
† c. transf. Way of thinking, turn of mind. Obs.
| 1580–3 Greene Mamillia i. (1592) 2 b, Yet he could haue a quiet conscience, til he might see her of the same sect, and as deadly to hate it [court life], as he did loth it. |
† 7. = sept (Irish). Obs. rare.
| 1536 St. Papers Hen. VIII (1834) II. 328 There are another sect of the Borkes, and divers of the Irisshery, towardes Slygoo. 1540 Ibid. III. 235 Thos sectes of people called the Cavenaghes. |
† 8. Law. sect of court (med.L. secta curiæ): ‘Suit and Service done by Tenants at the Court of their Lord’ (J. Harris Lex. Techn. 1710, II).
| 1546 Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) II. 245 To the erle of Comberland for secte of courte for the lande in Skipton. 1546 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 13 Sir William Malyory knight for lande in Nunwike and secte of Courte xiij d. John Norton for Fre Ferme and secte of Courte xiij d. 1571 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 89 With power to..continew court or courtis of Justiciarie..; sectis to mak be callit; absentis to amerchiat. 1578 Ibid. III. 13. |
9. attrib. and Comb., as sect-ascendancy, † sect-follower, sect-founder, sect-leader, † sect-maker, † sect-master (= sect-founder); sect-forming, sect-ridden adjs.
| 1903 Q. Rev. Apr. 570 To the pre-Reformation policy of race-ascendency was added, under Elizabeth, that of *sect-ascendency. |
| 1556 Olde Antichrist 102 b, To gratifie his owne *secte folowers. |
| 1891 Ch. Times 28 Aug. 824/1 The *sect-forming, dislocating career of the subsequent centuries. |
| 1861 J. Edkins in Mrs. Edkins Chinese Scenes (1863) 273 He receives revelations, becomes a *sect-founder. |
| a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 389 *Sect-Leaders their own Visions may impose. 1896 Q. Rev. Jan. 91 The actual methods adopted by the Hindu sect-leaders. |
| 1530 Tindale Prol. 1 Cor., Ther came immediatly false Apostles & *sectemakers, drue euery man disciples after hym. 1656 Trapp Expos. Acts xv. 36 Seducers and sect-makers. |
| 1565 Allen Def. Purg. 14 They doo not folowe these *Secte masters, as scholares moued by any probability of theire teachers persuation. a 1708 T. Ward Eng. Ref. i. (1716) 73 As if the Holy Isaac were An Heretick or Sect-Master. |
| 1840 Mill Diss. & Disc. (1859) I. 444 This *sect-ridden country. |
▪ II. sect, n.2 rare.
[? ad. L. sectum, neut. pa. pple. of secāre to cut. Cf. set n.]
? A cutting from a plant; in quots. fig.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 336 Our carnall Stings, or vnbitted Lusts: whereof I take this, that you call Loue, to be a Sect, or Seyen. 1864 Swinburne Atalanta 1686 The son lies close about thine heart,..Eats thee and drinks thee..thyself, a sect of thee. |
▪ III. † sect, v.1 nonce-wd.
[f. sect n.1]
a. trans. To treat as a sect. b. to sect it: to behave as a sect.
| 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 13 Would you that Prelacy and Priesthood should perk up again, and under pretense of Religion,..be-heretick, and sect you, and then dissect you by persecutions? Ibid. 81 The Priests of all sorts sect it, so do all religious persons faction and party it. |
▪ IV. † sect, v.2 Obs.
[f. L. sect-, ppl. stem of secāre to cut.]
trans. To cut or divide (into equal parts).
| 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 245 Its leaves are sected into slender parts. 1697 G. K. Disc. Geom. Problems 10 He who understands..to sect any angle into 3. 5. 6. as is above shewed, will by the like Method and Praxis be able to sect any angle into 7. 8. 9. 10. &c. equal parts. Ibid., How a Semicircle may be sected into any number of equal parts. 1882 G. A. Sala Amer. Revisited II. ii. 19 Almost every thoroughfare in the city being sected and intersected by lines for horse-cars. |