'Conventicle' definitions:
Definition of 'conventicle'
From: WordNet
noun
A secret unauthorized meeting for religious worship
noun
A building for religious assembly (especially Nonconformists, e.g., Quakers) [syn: conventicle, meetinghouse]
Definition of 'Conventicle'
From: GCIDE
- Conventicle \Con*ven"ti*cle\, n. [L. conventiculum, dim. of conventus: cf. F. conventicule. See Convent, n.]
- 1. A small assembly or gathering; esp., a secret assembly. [1913 Webster]
- They are commanded to abstain from all conventicles of men whatsoever. --Ayliffe. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- The first Christians could never have had recourse to nocturnal or clandestine conventicles till driven to them by the violence of persecution. --Hammond. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]