Con"clave (? or ?; 277), n. [F.,
fr. L. conclave a room that may locked up; con- +
clavis key. See Clavicle.] 1.
The set of apartments within which the cardinals of the
Roman Catholic Church are continuously secluded while engaged in
choosing a pope.
2. The body of cardinals shut up in the
conclave for the election of a pope; hence, the body of
cardinals.
It was said a cardinal, by reason of his apparent
likelihood to step into St. Peter's chair, that in two
conclaves he went in pope and came out again cardinal.
South.
3. A private meeting; a close or secret
assembly.
The verdicts pronounced by this conclave
(Johnson's Club) on new books, were speedily known over all
London.
Macaulay.
To be in conclave, to be engaged in a
secret meeting; -- said of several, or a considerable number of,
persons.