Definition of "conclave"

[W]e find it once said of an eminent Cardinal, by reaſon of his great and apparent Likelihood to ſtep into St. Peter’s Chair, that in tvvo Conclaves he vvent in Pope, and came out again Cardinal.

1685 March 4 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1692, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at Westminster-Abbey, February 22, 1684–5”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volume I, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, page 327

His exit came as at least a dozen other cardinals tarnished with accusations that they had failed to remove priests accused of sexually abusing minors were among those gathering in Rome to prepare for the conclave to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

2013 February 27, Laurie Goodstein, “Now Gathering in Rome, a Conclave of Fallible Cardinals”, in The New York Times‎

Two hours before nightfall, the whole body met again in a chapel within the conclave […]

1884, John Sherren Brewer, edited by James Gairdner, The Reign of Henry VIII from His Accession to the Death of Wolsey […] , volume 1, page 442

The verdicts pronounced by this conclave (Johnson's Club) on new books, were speedily known over all London.

1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson ”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871

Therefore the safe return of the Roper party was the usual topic of our nightly conclaves in the verandah.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 104

More than 2,500 of globalisation's movers and shakers gather for their annual four-day mountaintop conclave this week, aware that the world is still being shaken by the events of half a decade ago.

2014 January 19, Larry Elliott, Jill Treanor, “Davos faces up to weak growth and rising inequality”, in The Guardian‎