secrete

Etymology 1

First attested in 1678: from Latin sēcrētus (“[having been] separated”).

adj

1. (obsolete, rare) Separated.
   […] they ſuppoſing Two other Divine Hypoſtaſes Superiour thereunto, which were perfectly Secrete from Matter. […] This ſo containeth all things, as not being yet ſecrete and diſtinct; whereas in the Second they are diſcerned and diſtinguiſhed by Reaſon; that is, they are Actually diſtinguiſhed in their Ideas; whereas the Firſt is the Simple and Fecund Power of all things. 1678: Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe, book 1, chapter 4, pages 307 and 582

Etymology 2

First directly attested in 1728; attested as the past-participial adjective secreted in 1707: from Latin sēcrētus, perfect passive participle of sēcernō (“I separate”); reinforced by back-formation from secretion; compare secern; cognate with French sécréter and the Spanish secretar.

verb

1. (physiology, transitive, of organs, glands, etc.) To extract a substance from blood, sap, or similar to produce and emit waste for excretion or for the fulfilling of a physiological function.
   Why one set of cells should secrete bile, another urea, and so on, we do not know. 1842, William Benjamin Carpenter, Principles of Human Physiology
   Many tumors secrete two or more different hormones. 2008, Stephen J. McPheeMaxine A. Papadakiset al., Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, McGraw-Hill Medical, page 1202
2. (transitive, figurative) To exude or yield.
   If you won’t believe my great new doctrine (which, by the bye, is as old as the Greeks), that souls secrete their bodies, as snails do shells, you will remain in outer darkness. 1863: Charles Kingsley (author), Frances Elizabeth Kingsley (editor), Charles Kingsley, his Letters and Memories of his Life (first published posthumously in 1877), page 156 (8th edition: 1880)
   Let me not be misunderstood. I see as clearly as any man possibly can, and rate as highly, the value of wealth, and of hereditary wealth, as the security of refinement, the feeder of all those arts that ennoble and beautify life, and as making a country worth living in. Many an ancestral hall here in England has been a nursery of that culture which has been of example and benefit to all. Old gold has a civilizing virtue which new gold must grow old to be capable of secreting. 1887, James Russell Lowell, Democracy and Other Addresses, published 1892, page 15

Etymology 3

Alteration of secret.

verb

1. (transitive) To conceal.
   Plaintiffs filed an affidavit for an attachment, alleging that defendant was about to assign, secrete, and dispose of his property with intent to delay and defraud his creditors, and was about to convert his property into money to place it beyond the reach of his creditors. 1914, The Pacific Reporter, volume 142, West Publishing Company, page 450
   Whereas the Renaissance had allowed madness into the light, the classical age saw it as scandal or shame. Families secreted mad uncles and strange cousins in asylums. 1997, Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, Totem Books, Icon Books, page 43

adj

1. Archaic form of secret.
   a secrete breach, a secrete bed (Spenser)
   […] is GOD euerlasting, is this a secrete and hidden thing manifested in the fleshe? 1579, Jean Calvin, Sermons ... on the Epistles of S. Paule to Timothie, page 323
   Ambitian … is a secrete poyson, a hidden sinne […] 1595, Jean Taffin, The Amendment of Life, Comprised in Fower Bookes, page 171