We kept that a secret so well, apart from The Metro or some newspaper in the U.K. that did an article on it.
Reason No. 1—drum roll, please—was: “secret Service code name: Buttafuoco.”
As Ford had realized, however, her intelligence was her secret weapon.
In 2012 we may well face hundreds of millions in secret contributions flowing into the presidential and congressional elections.
The substance of these secret rulings is a dramatic departure from common public understanding of the law.
M. Villefort obeyed her in some secret but well-concealed amazement.
But it is not for you to penetrate into the secret of their love mystery.
The truth is, I am big with the secret, and long to be delivered.
By the way, do you know that Norman was a secret drinker of brandy?
But now and then he wondered if Joanna had drawn on her secret hoard.
late 14c., from Latin secretus "set apart, withdrawn; hidden, concealed, private," past participle of secernere "to set apart, part, divide; exclude," from se- "without, apart," properly "on one's own" (see se-) + cernere "separate" (see crisis).
As an adjective from late 14c., from French secret, adjective use of noun. Open secret is from 1828. Secret agent first recorded 1715; secret service is from 1737; secret weapon is from 1936.
"to keep secret" (described in OED as "obsolete"), 1590s, from secret (n.). Related: Secreted; secreting.
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