Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Secular

Sec′u·lar, a. [OE. secular, seculer. L. saecularis, fr. saeculum a race, generation, age, the times, the world; perhaps akin to E. soul: cf. F. séculier.] 1. Coming or observed once in an age or a century.

The secular year was kept but once a century. Addison.

2. Pertaining to an age, or the progress of ages, or to a long period of time; accomplished in a long progress of time; as, secular inequality; the secular refrigeration of the globe.

3. Of or pertaining to this present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to temporal as distinguished from eternal interests; not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly.

New foes arise, Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. Milton.

4. (Eccl.) Not regular; not bound by monastic vows or rules; not confined to a monastery, or subject to the rules of a religious community; as, a secular priest.

He tried to enforce a stricter discipline and greater regard for morals, both in the religious orders and the secular clergy. Prescott.

5. Belonging to the laity; lay; not clerical.

I speak of folk in secular estate. Chaucer.

Secular equation (Astron.), the algebraic or numerical expression of the magnitude of the inequalities in a planet's motion that remain after the inequalities of a short period have been allowed for. — Secular games (Rom. Antiq.), games celebrated, at long but irregular intervals, for three days and nights, with sacrifices, theatrical shows, combats, sports, and the like. — Secular music, any music or songs not adapted to sacred uses. — Secular hymn or poem, a hymn or poem composed for the secular games, or sung or rehearsed at those games.

Sec′u·lar, n. 1. (Eccl.) A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules. Burke.

2. (Eccl.) A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir. Busby.

3. A layman, as distinguished from a clergyman.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.