secretary Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a person who is head of an administrative department of government
  2. noun an assistant who handles correspondence and clerical work for a boss or an organization
    secretarial assistant.
  3. noun a person to whom a secret is entrusted
    repository.
  4. noun a desk used for writing
    writing table; secretaire; escritoire.

WordNet

Sec"re*ta*ry noun
Etymology
F. secrétaire (cf. Pr. secretari, Sp. & Pg. secretario, It. secretario, segretario) LL. secretarius, originally, a confidant, one intrusted with secrets, from L. secretum a secret. See Secret, a. & n.
Wordforms
plural Secretaries
Definitions
  1. One who keeps, or is intrusted with, secrets. R.
  2. A person employed to write orders, letters, dispatches, public or private papers, records, and the like; an official scribe, amanuensis, or writer; one who attends to correspondence, and transacts other business, for an association, a public body, or an individual.
    That which is most of all profitable is acquaintance with the secretaries, and employed men of ambassadors. Bacon.
  3. An officer of state whose business is to superintend and manage the affairs of a particular department of government, and who is usually a member of the cabinet or advisory council of the chief executive; as, the secretary of state, who conducts the correspondence and attends to the relations of a government with foreign courts; the secretary of the treasury, who manages the department of finance; the secretary of war, etc.
  4. A piece of furniture, with conveniences for writing and for the arrangement of papers; an escritoire.
  5. (Zoöl.) The secretary bird. Syn. -- See the Note under Clerk, n., 4.

Webster 1913