Privy

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Privy \Priv"y\, a. [F. priv['e], fr. L. privatus. See
     {Private}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Of or pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to
        private uses; not public; private; as, the privy purse. "
        Privee knights and squires." --Chaucer.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Secret; clandestine. " A privee thief." --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Appropriated to retirement; private; not open to the
        public. " Privy chambers." --Ezek. xxi. 14.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Admitted to knowledge of a secret transaction; secretly
        cognizant; privately knowing.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              His wife also being privy to it.      --Acts v. 2.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Myself am one made privy to the plot. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Privy chamber}, a private apartment in a royal residence.
        [Eng.]
  
     {Privy council} (Eng. Law), the principal council of the
        sovereign, composed of the cabinet ministers and other
        persons chosen by the king or queen. --Burrill.
  
     {Privy councilor}, a member of the privy council.
  
     {Privy purse}, moneys set apart for the personal use of the
        monarch; also, the title of the person having charge of
        these moneys. [Eng.] --Macaulay.
  
     {Privy seal} or {Privy signet}, the seal which the king uses
        in grants, etc., which are to pass the great seal, or
        which he uses in matters of subordinate consequence which
        do not require the great seal; also, elliptically, the
        principal secretary of state, or person intrusted with the
        privy seal. [Eng.]
  
     {Privy verdict}, a verdict given privily to the judge out of
        court; -- now disused. --Burrill.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Privy \Priv"y\, n.; pl. {Privies}.
     1. (Law) 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. --Burrill. --Wharton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A necessary house or place for performing excretory
        functions in private; an outhouse; a backhouse.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  privy
       adj 1: hidden from general view or use; "a privy place to rest and
              think"; "a secluded romantic spot"; "a secret garden"
              [syn: {secluded}, {secret}]
       2: (followed by `to') informed about something secret or not
          generally known; "privy to the details of the conspiracy"
          [syn: {privy(p)}]
       n 1: a room equipped with toilet facilities [syn: {toilet}, {lavatory},
             {lav}, {can}, {john}, {bathroom}]
       2: a small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which
          a user can defecate [syn: {outhouse}, {earth-closet}, {jakes}]
       [also: {priviest}, {privier}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  100 Moby Thesaurus words for "privy":
     WC, alive to, anonymous, appreciative of, apprised of, awake to,
     aware of, back-door, backhouse, backstairs, basement, bathroom,
     behind the curtain, behind the scenes, bog, buried, can,
     clandestine, closet, cognizant of, comfort station, concealed,
     conscious of, convenience, covert, crapper, earth closet, feline,
     furtive, head, hep to, hidden, hidlings, hole-and-corner,
     hugger-mugger, in the know, in the secret, incognito, informed of,
     inmost, innermost, interior, intimate, inward, isolated, jakes,
     john, johnny, johnny house, latrine, lavatory, let into, loo,
     mindful of, necessary, no stranger to, obscured, office, on to,
     outhouse, personal, powder room, private, privileged, privy to,
     quiet, rest room, retired, secluded, secret, seized of,
     sensible of, sensible to, sequestered, shifty, shrouded, skulking,
     slinking, slinky, sly, sneaking, sneaky, stealthy, streetwise,
     surreptitious, toilet, toilet room, undeceived, under-the-counter,
     under-the-table, undercover, underground, underhand, underhanded,
     unobtrusive, urinal, washroom, water closet, wise to, withdrawn
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PRIVY. One who is a partaker, or has an interest in any action, matter or 
  thing.