[se.cant] n [NL sec ant-, secans, fr. L, prp. of secare to cut--more at saw] (1593) 1: a straight line cutting a curve at two or more points--see circle illustration
2: a straight line drawn from the center of a circle through one end of a circular arc to a tangent drawn from the other end of the arc 3 a: a trigonometric function that for an acute angle is the ratio of the hypotenuse of a right triangle of which the angle is considered part and the leg adjacent to the angle b: a trigonometric function sec A that is the reciprocal of the cosine for all real numbers A for which the cosine is not zero and that is exactly equal to the secant of an angle of measure A in radians