secretary

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“
The secretary, finding the door locked, directed the messenger to go in and inform the speaker that the secretary was at the door with a message from the governor.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A person employed to handle correspondence, keep files, and do clerical work for another person or an organization.
  2. noun An officer who keeps records, takes minutes of the meetings, and answers correspondence, as for a company.
  3. noun An official who presides over an administrative department of state.
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Examples (50)

  • Funny, she had expected Colleen to have a male secretary, an unctuous himbo guarding her office, but the secretary was a pleasant moon-faced matron, who put a little smiley face next to Tess's name, along with a notation of the time—to the minute. —  Lippman, Laura - [Tess Monaghan 02] - Charm City
  • He goes to the conferences, too So you and your secretary were alone in the building Yes, except, of course, for the concierge. —  Maigret has Doubts—82—Georges Simenon
  • He liked Paris better than any other place, because his secretary was there, and he lived under less restraint than at Versailles. —  The Entire Memoirs of Louis XIV. and the Regency
  • Stone got out of bed, and by the time he had dressed and breakfasted, his secretary was at her desk, working away. —  The Short Forever
  • Before you came in I had been pacing in my office for an hour while my secretary was answering the telephone. —  Maigret and the Calame Report - Georges Simenon - 74
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English secretarie, from Medieval Latin sēcrētārius, confidential officer, clerk, from Latin sēcrētus, secret; see secret.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English secretary, secretarye, also erroneously secretory, secratory, from Old French secretaire, French secrétaire = Provencal secretari = Spanish Portuguese secretario = Italian secretario, segretario, from Middle Latin secretarius, a secretary, notary, scribe, treasurer, sexton, etc. (a title applied to various confidential officers), properly adjective, private, secret, pertaining to private or secret matters (Late Latin secretarium, neuter, a council-chamber, conclave, consistory), from Latin secretus, private, secret: see secret.
 

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/ˈsɛkrətəri/
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