secretary

noun

1. 1

   A person who keeps records, takes notes and handles general clerical work.

   I have a personal secretary to help me organize my clients.

   The secretary at the school is in charge of communication between parents, students, and staff.

   None of us can type, Minister. Mrs. McKay types (laugh track). She's the secretary (laugh track).

2. 2

   The head of a department of government.

   Well briefly, sir, I am the Permanent Under Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary.

3. 3

   A managerial or leading position in certain non-profit organizations, such as political parties, trade unions, international organizations.

   Ban Ki-Moon was a secretary general of the United Nations.

   As the Soviet Union collapsed, the party secretaries in the Central Asian republics found themselves leaders of newly-established sovereign countries.

4. 4

   A type of desk, secretary desk; a secretaire.

5. 5

   A secretary bird, a bird of the species Sagittarius serpentarius.

6. 6

   obsoleteSomeone entrusted with a secret; a confidant.

7. 7

   obsoleteSomeone employed as a scribe for personal correspondence.

   "Do not give yourself any uneasiness about one so utterly unworthy of a thought! Sir George Kingston is without one grain of either honour or real feeling! The fact is, I have, for some months past, been his secretary, and wrote for him the letters which were sent you!"

verb

1. 1

   To serve as a secretary of.

Forms

plural

secretaries

past tense

secretaried

past participle

secretaried

present participle

secretarying

third person singular

secretaries