\Con*ven"ti*cle\, n. [L. conventiculum, dim. of
conventus: cf. F. conventicule. See {Convent}, n.]
1. A small assembly or gathering; esp., a secret assembly.
         They are commanded to abstain from all conventicles
         of men whatsoever. --Ayliffe.
2. An assembly for religious worship; esp., such an assembly
   held privately, as in times of persecution, by
   Nonconformists or Dissenters in England, or by Covenanters
   in Scotland; -- often used opprobriously, as if those
   assembled were heretics or schismatics.
         The first Christians could never have had recourse
         to nocturnal or clandestine conventicles till driven
         to them by the violence of persecution. --Hammond.
         A sort of men who . . . attend its [the curch of
         England's] service in the morning, and go with their
         wives to a conventicle in the afternoon. --Swift.