Privy
['prɪvɪ] or ['prɪvi]
Definition
(adj.) hidden from general view or use; 'a privy place to rest and think'; 'a secluded romantic spot'; 'a secret garden' .
(adj.) (followed by `to') informed about something secret or not generally known; 'privy to the details of the conspiracy' .
Typist: Pansy--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Of or pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to private uses; not public; private; as, the privy purse.
(a.) Secret; clandestine.
(a.) Appropriated to retirement; private; not open to the public.
(a.) Admitted to knowledge of a secret transaction; secretly cognizant; privately knowing.
(n.) A partaker; a person having an interest in any action or thing; one who has an interest in an estate created by another; a person having an interest derived from a contract or conveyance to which he is not himself a party. The term, in its proper sense, is distinguished from party.
(n.) A necessary house or place; a backhouse.
Edited by Griffith
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Individual, special, private, personal, peculiar, particular.[2]. Secret, clandestine.[3]. Cognizant of, acquainted with.
n. Necessary, back-house, jakes, water-closet.
Inputed by Antonia
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Secret, clandestine, cognizant, acquainted_with
ANT:Open, unsealed, {not_acquainted_with}, not_cognizant_of,[See PRIVATE]
Editor: Pratt
Definition
adj. private: pertaining to one person: for private uses: secret: appropriated to retirement: admitted to the knowledge of something secret.—n. (law) a person having an interest in an action: a necessary house.—adv. Priv′ily privately: secretly.—ns. Priv′ity secrecy: something kept private: knowledge shared with another of something private or confidential: knowledge implying concurrence: relation between different interests as for example in feudal tenure the interests of several persons in the same land the mutual relationships of contractor and contractee the relation caused by common knowledge in breaches of contract: (obs.) seclusion intimacy; Priv′y-cham′ber private apartment in a royal residence; Priv′y-coun′cil the private council of a sovereign to advise in the administration of government; Priv′y-coun′cillor a member of the privy-council; Priv′y-purse the purse or money for the private or personal use of the sovereign; Priv′y-seal -sig′net the seal used by or for the king in subordinate matters or those which are not to pass the great seal; Priv′y-ver′dict a verdict given to a judge out of court.—Gentlemen ushers of the privy-chamber four officials in the royal household who attend certain court ceremonies.
Checked by Curtis
Examples
- I suspected her at once of being privy to the suppression of the Diamond. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Shortly after, the petition of the Massachusetts Assembly was taken up for examination before the privy council. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Emma found that it was not Mr. Weston's fault that the number of privy councillors was not yet larger. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Miss Ainley was to meet them, and the plan was to be discussed in full privy council. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Persons who were made privy to his first discovery testify to the several experiments which he made in their presence before he ventured to expose his invention to the scrutiny of the public eye. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The head master and his clerical assistant are both represented as being privy to the affair. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The cause was amply discussed before the privy council. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Had he been privy to her conversation with his son, he would not have wished her to belong to him, though her twenty thousand pounds had been forty. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- If Miss Verinder is not privy to the suppression of the Diamond, what do these things mean? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
Checker: Sinclair