Talk:secrete
Secret[edit]
The contents of this entry were moved from "secret", which is not a verb. I have added the "steal" sense, which the example was for.
The translations (at least, the French one) are for the "steal" sense. The others need to be checked to see which sense they are for, with the other sense added.
— This unsigned comment was added by Paul G (talk • contribs) at 17:13, 18 December 2003 (UTC).
- I disagree. "To secret something away" is a phrase I've read occasionally in older (probably Victorian) novels (I can't find an example right now but my search is ongoing). But "to secrete something away" makes no sense, since secretion means something coming OUT of somewhere.
- I've always read "secreted away" as "secret", not "secrete", because it makes sense, as opposed to making the opposite of sense.--Tyranny Sue 07:44, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
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"(transitive, with away) To steal. The royal jewels were secreted away in the middle of the night, sub rosa." My understanding is that to secrete away is to hide — a different existing sense. A thief might secrete stolen goods in a bag etc. but secrete does not mean "steal". Equinox ◑ 20:06, 13 April 2019 (UTC)
- The meaning is definitely not “to steal” in this passage: “Jeanne's body, secreted away, was only later reburied next to his, in Père Lachaise.“[1] --Lambiam 06:36, 14 April 2019 (UTC)
- I wonder whether "The royal jewels were secreted away in the middle of the night" could be a confusion with "spirited away". Mihia (talk) 12:46, 14 April 2019 (UTC)
- The addition “sub rosa” suggests indeed that the intended meaning of the verb is not “to steal”: people stealing the royal jewels would obviously attempt to maintain secrecy, so then the addition becomes pleonastic to an asinine degree. In the context, spirit away makes perfect sense. The use of “secrete away” here is used by YourDictionary.com to support the definition “To conceal in a hiding place; cache”. Given sense 1 of Etymology 3, this is soppy. --Lambiam 20:27, 14 April 2019 (UTC)
- @Lambiam To 'steal away' can be used to mean to 'hide away' or 'run away' usually quickly. Deonyi (talk) 03:32, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
- If the definition given now as “to steal” is supposed to mean “to steal away”, then it is presented in an utterly misleading way. Also, secrete away is transitive, but our current definition of steal away is strictly intransitive, and dictionaries that list this combination agree. --Lambiam 21:24, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
RFV-failed Kiwima (talk) 21:39, 17 May 2019 (UTC)
Concealed helmet[edit]
Wikipedia says this is also (French secrète) an Alternative form of secret (“helmet designed to be concealed beneath a hat”), but I can't find evidence of that. - -sche (discuss) 07:13, 27 December 2021 (UTC)