conclave

To participate in a closed, private, or secret meeting.

Noun

  1. The set of apartments in which cardinals are secluded while the process to elect a pope takes place.
    • On Friday, St. John's Day, the 27th of December, the cardinals entered the conclave. […] Two hours before nightfall, the whole body met again in a chapel within the conclave, and after the bull of pope Julius [II]...
  2. A group of cardinals assembled to elect a new pope.
    • Of the ten Cardinals now forming the Conclave, five voted for Cardinal Geoffredo Castiglione [later Pope Celestine IV], a Milanese, nephew to Urban III, and three for Cardinal Romano [da Porto]. - 1856, Mrs. William...
    • Two years afterwards Pius IX died, and the Conclave met in the Vatican to choose his successor. Its deliberations were short. - 1887 October 15, “Books. Pope Leo XIII. [book review]”, in The Spectator: A Weekly Review...

    1. (by extension, loosely) The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church collectively.

      • [Thomas] VVol[sey]. […] Rome (the Nurſe of Iudgement) / Inuited by your Noble ſelfe, hath ſent / One generall Tongue vnto vs. This good man, / This iuſt and learned Prieſt, Cardnall Campeius [Lorenzo Campeggio], / VVhom...
  3. A closed assembly at which cardinals elect a pope.
    • in conclave
    • papal conclave
    • The ſaid Duke Ferdinando [I de’ Medici] vvas reputed a vviſe and vvarie Prince, and it vvas a ſolid vviſdom rather than a Formall. He had been long a Cardinall, and at tvvo or three Conclaves (as they call them) or...

    1. (by extension) A closed, private, or secret meeting, especially one of an ecclesiastical nature.

      • The morrow after which was the thirde daye of the Counſayle, as the Archbiſhop was ſitting beneth in a conclaue with his felow Biſhops about him, conſulting together, the ſayde Biſhops labored by ſundry wayes and...
      • The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim / In cloſe receſs and ſecret conclave ſat / A thouſand Demy-Gods on golden ſeat's, / Frequent and full. - 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel...
      • Appalled the astonished conclave sate; / With stupid eyes, the men of fate / Gazed on the light inspired form, / And listened for the avenging storm; […] - 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Second. The Convent.”,...
  4. A private chamber or room.
    • [W]e in Europe, (notvvithſtanding all the remote Diſcoueries, and Nauigations of this laſt Age) neuer heard any of the leaſt Inkling or Glimſe of this Iſland. […] [W]ee neuer heard tell of any Shipp of theirs, that had...
    • […] John Zonaras [Joannes Zonaras] […] vvriteth […] That the Interpreters of the Lavv [the translators of the Septuagint] vvere divided into couples, and that they vvere placed every one in a ſeveral Conclave: […] - a....
    • [P]lacing the Caſes, Pots, &c. under this Shelter, vvhen either at the firſt Peeping out of the VVinter Concleave, or during the increaſing Heat of Summer, they ſo are ranged and diſpoſed, as to adorn a noble Area of a...

    Synonyms: closet

Origin

PIE word *ḱóm The noun is derived from Late Middle English conclave (“private chamber; (Roman Catholicism) private room where election of the Pope takes place; meeting held for this purpose”), borrowed from Middle French conclave (modern French conclave), or directly from its etymon Latin conclāve (“chamber, room; enclosed space that can be locked; dining hall”), from con- (prefix denoting a being or bringing together of several objects) (combining form of cum (“(along) with”)) + clāvis (“key”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- (“(noun) crook, hook; peg; (verb) to close”)). The verb is derived from the noun.

Forms

conclaves

Related

clave clavis conclavist enclave

Derived

klonklave

Verb

  1. To participate in a closed, private, or secret meeting.
    • [N]or […] were a group of the miserably destitute ever discovered conclaved gravely in the committee-room, where the Board of Directors are usually occupied in breaking hearts—while the said board were hammering might...
    • That Mr. [Frederick Apthorp] Paley is no impassionate member of the Camden Brotherhood, as conclaved at Cambridge,—no luke-warm laggard either in his enthusiastic admiration of Middle-Aged Gothicisms, or in his derisive...
    • [N]oble Rivaulx' shrine, whose frequent tolling bells / Disturbed our holy conclaved monks in hours of fast and prayer, […] - 1881, Adra [pseudonym; Edward Fitch], “Calder Abbey: A Legend of the Brothers There”, in...
  2. Of a cardinal: to attend a closed assembly to elect a pope.
    • At Cardinal Verdi's urging the College of Cardinals at last conclaved behind locked doors, slipping into the heavily guarded Sistine Chapel through the underground tunnels for their deliberations. - 2002, Brent Dorian...
    • "Brothers, we have a Pope!" Bennelli exclaimed. "But I request that you remain conclaved, until I consult the man whom we elected. I shall return within the hour." - 2007, Peter M. Sciarrotta, “Seeing is Believing”, in...

Forms

conclaves conclaving conclaved

Derived

conclaved