privy Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
    toilet; bathroom; lavatory; can; lav; john.
  2. noun a small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which a user can defecate
    outhouse; earth-closet; jakes.
  3. adjective satellite hidden from general view or use
    secluded; secret.
    • a privy place to rest and think
    • a secluded romantic spot
    • a secret garden
  4. adjective satellite (followed by `to') informed about something secret or not generally known
    • privy to the details of the conspiracy

WordNet


Priv"y adjective
Etymology
F. privé, fr. L. privatus. See Private.
Definitions
  1. Of or pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to private uses; not public; private; as, the privy purse. " Privee knights and squires." Chaucer.
  2. Secret; clandestine. " A privee thief." Chaucer.
  3. Appropriated to retirement; private; not open to the public. " Privy chambers." Ezek. xxi. 14.
  4. Admitted to knowledge of a secret transaction; secretly cognizant; privately knowing.
    His wife also being privy to it. Acts v. 2.
    Myself am one made privy to the plot. Shak.
Priv"y noun
Wordforms
plural Privies
Definitions
  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.
  2. A necessary house or place; a backhouse.

Webster 1913