A private assembly or meetlng for the exercise of religion. Tbe word was first an appellation of reproach to the religious assemblies of wycliffe in The reigns of JSdward III. and Richard II., and was afterwards applied to a meeting of dissenters from the established church. As ibis word in strict propriety denotes an unlawful assembly, it cannot be justly applied to the assembling of persons in places of worship licensed according to the requisitions of law. Wharton
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
