Borrowed fromLatinsēcūrus(“of persons, free from care, quiet, easy; in a bad sense, careless, reckless; of things, tranquil, also free from danger, safe, secure”), fromsē-(“without”) +cūra(“care”); seecure.Doublet ofsure and the now obsolete or dialectalsicker(“certain, safe”).
The vast majority of American Jews not only greatly dislike President Trump but also believe he has made them less safe: according to a May 2019 poll, nearly three-quarters of Jewish voters believe American Jews are lesssecure under Trump than they were before, 71 percent disapprove of Trump’s overall job performance, and nearly 60 percent believe that he bears at least some responsibility for the synagogue shootings carried out by white nationalists in Pittsburgh and Poway.
1697,Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC:
But thou,secure of soul, unbent with woes.
1861, Elizabeth Gaskell,The Grey Woman:
No sooner were we up there, than the old woman dragged the ladder, by which we had ascended, away with a chuckle, as if she was nowsecure that we could do no mischief, and sat herself down again once more, to doze and await her master's return.
Confident in opinion; not entertaining, or not having reason to entertain, doubt; certain; sure; commonly used withof.
secure of a welcome
1667,John Milton, “Book VIII”, inParadise Lost.[…], London:[…] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker[…];[a]nd by Robert Boulter[…];[a]nd Matthias Walker,[…],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books:[…], London: Basil Montagu Pickering[…],1873,→OCLC:
Confidence then bore thee on,secure / Either to meet no danger, or to find / Matter of glorious trial.
secure (third-person singular simple presentsecures,present participlesecuring,simple past and past participlesecured)
To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.
1697,Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis.[…], London:[…]Jacob Tonson,[…],→OCLC:
I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, / Sustained the vanquished, andsecured his flight.
To put beyond hazard of losing or of not receiving; to make certain; to assure; frequently withagainst orfrom, or formerly withof.
tosecure a creditor against loss; tosecure a debt by a mortgage
To make fast; to close or confine effectually; to render incapable of getting loose or escaping.
tosecure a prisoner; tosecure a door, or the hatches of a ship
1951 March, “British Railways Standard "Britannia" Class 4-6-2 Locomotives”, inRailway Magazine, page186:
All springs for the engine and tender are of the laminated type with plates of carbon steel, which aresecured in the spring buckles by a vertical centre rivet.
To get possession of; to make oneself secure of; to acquire certainly.
With the Argentiniansecured United will step up their attempt to sign a midfielder and, possibly, a defender in the closing days of the transfer window. Juventus’s Arturo Vidal, Milan’s Nigel de Jong and Ajax’s Daley Blind, who is also a left-sided defensive player, are potential targets.
One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at oncesecured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis[…] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.
