SECURE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Secure

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/sɪkjˈʊr/ Listen

verb

Secure v. t. (past & past part. secured; pres. part. securing)

1.

To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect. "I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, Sustained the vanquished, and secured his flight."

2.

To put beyond hazard of losing or of not receiving; to make certain; to assure; to insure; frequently with against or from, rarely with of; as, to secure a creditor against loss; to secure a debt by a mortgage. "It secures its possessor of eternal happiness."

3.

To make fast; to close or confine effectually; to render incapable of getting loose or escaping; as, to secure a prisoner; to secure a door, or the hatches of a ship.

4.

To get possession of; to make one's self secure of; to acquire certainly; as, to secure an estate.

Secure arms (Mil.), a command and a position in the manual of arms, used in wet weather, the object being to guard the firearm from becoming wet. The piece is turned with the barrel to the front and grasped by the right hand at the lower band, the muzzle is dropped to the front, and the piece held with the guard under the right arm, the hand supported against the hip, and the thumb on the rammer.

adjective

Secure adj.

1.

Free from fear, care, or anxiety; easy in mind; not feeling suspicion or distrust; confident. "But thou, secure of soul, unbent with woes."

2.

Overconfident; incautious; careless; in a bad sense.

3.

Confident in opinion; not entertaining, or not having reason to entertain, doubt; certain; sure; commonly with of; as, secure of a welcome. "Confidence then bore thee on, secure Either to meet no danger, or to find Matter of glorious trial."

4.

Not exposed to danger; safe; applied to persons and things, and followed by against or from. "Secure from fortune's blows."

Synonyms: Safe; undisturbed; easy; sure; certain; assured; confident; careless; heedless; inattentive.

See images of 'Secure'

Etymology of 'Secure'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Secure" Quotes from Famous Books

... the whole republic have rest in your most happy times, since the pillage of peace under the color of legal processes has been exposed. Let plottings about testaments cease, and benevolences extorted by violence end. Let secure possession of their own goods return to all, that they may rejoice in possessing without fear what they have acquired without fraud. Let every single person's liberty be now at length restored to each one under the yoke of the holy Empire. For there is this difference between ...

— A Source Book for Ancient Church History • Joseph Cullen Ayer, Jr., Ph.D.

... crashed through the rushes to where Garland had already cleared a space and was digging a hole in the mud. When it was finished, the cans—the newspaper bundle on top—were lowered into it, and earth and roots replaced. No particular attempt was made at concealment; the cache was as secure against intrusion as if it were on the crest of the Sierra, and within the week they would be back to empty it. The box was filled with stones ...

— Treasure and Trouble Therewith - A Tale of California • Geraldine Bonner

... traffic they gained would be taken from the surface lines, and if he built them he would be merely doubling his expenses to halve his profits. From time to time he had contemplated the possibility of their being built by other men—providing they could secure a franchise, which previous to the late election had not seemed probable—and in this connection he had once said to Addison: "Let them sink their money, and about the time the population is sufficient to support the lines they will have been driven into the hands of receivers. ...

— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser

... placing the greatest part of his troops under arms all night on that side which the soldier mentioned as the part where Holguin was to attack. The intentions of Holguin were diametrically opposite to this story which he had put in the mouth of the soldier, meaning only to gain time for a secure retreat; so that immediately after dispatching the soldier, he decamped in the middle of the night, marching with all possible celerity to get his army into a place of safety, while Don Diego uselessly kept his army under arms ...

— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. IV. • Robert Kerr

... they are never diminished in number. For that reason, the natives set closely-grated divisions and enclosures in the rivers and creeks of their settlements, where they bathe. There they enter the water to bathe, secure from those monsters, which they fear so greatly that they venerate and adore them, as if they were beings superior to themselves. All their oaths and execrations, and those which are of any weight ...

— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XVI, 1609 • H.E. Blair

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