secern
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /sɪˈsɜːn/
ipa: /sə-/
ipa: /səˈsɝn/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n
Forms: form: secerns
form: secerning
form: secerned
form: secerned
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: secern
form: secern
form: secerned
form: secern
form: secernest
form: secerned
form: secernedst
form: secerns
form: secerneth
form: secerned
form: secern
form: secerned
form: secern
form: secerned
form: secern
form: -
form: secerning
form: secerned
Etymology: PIE word
 *swé
Learned borrowing from Latin sēcernere, the present active infinitive of sēcernō (“to put apart, divide, separate, sever, sunder; (figuratively) to disjoin, dissociate, part; to discern, distinguish; to exclude, pull aside, set aside, reject”), from sē- (prefix meaning ‘apart; aside; away’) + cernō (“to divide, separate; to distinguish, sift; to perceive, see; to comprehend, discern, regard, understand; to decide”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to divide, separate, sift”)).
Senses 1.3 and 2.2 (“synonym of secrete”) derive from the use of the Latin word sēcernere to translate Ancient Greek ἀποκρίνειν (apokrínein), the active infinitive participle of ἀποκρίνω (apokrínō, “to set apart, separate; to choose; to reject on inquiry; to answer, reply”).
Senses: examples: text: '[T]is not ſo much a local and bodily ſecerning our ſelves from evil men that God requires (as the Donatiſts falſely taught) but a ſpiritual ſeparation in mind and affections, and from their ſins, more than from their perſons.
ref: 1657, William Morice, “Diatribe. Sect[ion] III.”, in Cœna quasi Κοινη [Koine]: The Common Right to the Lords Supper Asserted in a Diatribe & Defence thereof, […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[obert] Norton for Richard Royston […], published 1660, →OCLC, page 225:
text: Often a prize would be awarded to some one dancer who had excelled his fellows. There were, I suppose, "born" Morris-dancers. Now and again one of them, flushed with triumph, would secern himself from his troupe, and would "star" round the country for his livelihood.
ref: 1907 October, Max Beerbohm, “‘A Morris for May-Day’”, in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, volume CXV, number DCLXXXIX, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 792, column 2:
synonyms: word: allocate
word: appropriate
word: assign
word: dedicate
word: detach
word: designate
word: earmark
word: preselect
word: put aside
word: secern
word: secernate
word: separate
word: sepose
word: sequester
word: set apart
word: set aside
glosses: To separate or set apart (someone or something from other persons or things).
synonyms: differentiate
discern
glosses: To separate (something from other things) in the mind; to discriminate, to distinguish.
examples: text: [T]he joint-glands themſelves grovv rigid, and ſecern leſs of their proper humour. Hence vvhen the gout falls upon people in years, it proves very ſevere, for vvant of a neceſſary quantity of that oleaginous matter to extinguiſh it.
ref: 1734, William Stukeley, “Part II”, in Of the Gout; […], London; Dublin: […] Theo. Jones […], published 1735, →OCLC, page 25:
text: A friend of mine, vvhen he vvas painfully fatigued by riding on horſeback, vvas accuſtomed to call up ideas into his mind, vvhich uſed to excite his anger or indignation, and thus for a time at leaſt relieved the pain of fatigue. By this temporary inſanity, the effect of the voluntary povver upon the vvhole of his ſyſtem was increaſed; as in the caſes of dropſy above mentioned, it vvould appear, that the increaſed action of the voluntary faculty of the ſenſorium affected the abſorbent ſyſtem, as vvell as the ſecerning one.
ref: 1794, Erasmus Darwin, “Sect[ion] XXXIV. Diseases of Volition.”, in Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life, volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 435:
text: [T]he mimosa nilotica secerns from its roots a fluid as offensive as that of assafœtida; in the sap of its step an astringent acid; its glands give forth gum arabic; and its flowers an odour of a very grateful fragrance.
ref: 1822, John Mason Good, “Class VI. Eccritica. Diseases of the Excernent Function. Physiological Proem.”, in The Study of Medicine, […], volume IV, […] [George Woodfall] for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, →OCLC, page 287:
topics: medicine
physiology
sciences
glosses: Synonym of secrete (“to extract or separate (a substance) from the blood, etc., for excretion or for the fulfilling of a physiological function”).
synonyms: word: secrete
extra: (“to extract or separate (a substance) from the blood, etc., for excretion or for the fulfilling of a physiological function”).
glosses: Of a person or thing: to become separated from others.
examples: text: […] Birds bee commonly better Meat than Beaſts, becauſe their Fleſh doth aſſimilate more finely, and ſecerneth more ſubtilly.
ref: 1631, Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century. [Experiment Solitary Touching Pilosity and Plumage.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 680, page 166:
topics: medicine
physiology
sciences
glosses: To secrete a substance.
Derived terms: word: secerned
word: secerning
word: secernment
Related terms: concern
discern
secernate
secernent