Conventicle

[Lat. conventiculum, dim. of conventus; a little assembly.] A private assembly or meeting for religious worship. First applied, as a term of reproach, to the religious assemblies of Wickliffe, in the reigns of Edw. III. and Richard II. Now usually applied m England to a meeting of dissenters from the established church. CowelL Blount, Whartm CiLex. In strict propriety, the term denotes an unlawful assembly.