Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Conventicle
Con-ven′ti-cle
,Noun.
1.
A small assembly or gathering; esp., a secret assembly.
They are commanded to abstain from all
conventicles
of men whatsoever. Ayliffe.
2.
An assembly for religious worship; esp., such an assembly held privately, as in times of persecution, by Nonconformists or Dissenters in England, or by Covenanters in Scotland; – often used opprobriously, as if those assembled were heretics or schismatics.
The first Christians could never have had recourse to nocturnal or clandestine
conventicles
till driven to them by the violence of persecution. Hammond.
A sort of men who . . . attend its [the curch of England’s] service in the morning, and go with their wives to a
conventicle
in the afternoon. Swift.
Webster 1828 Edition
Conventicle
CONVENTICLE
,Noun.
1.
An assembly or meeting; usually applied to a meeting of dissenters from the established church, for religious worship. In this sense it is used by English writers and in English statutes. Hence, an assembly, in contempt. In the United States, this word has no appropriate application, and is little used, or not at all.2.
A secret assembly or cabal; a meeting for plots.Definition 2024
conventicle
conventicle
English
Noun
conventicle (plural conventicles)
- a secret, unauthorized or illegal religious meeting
- the place where such a meeting is held
- a Quaker meetinghouse