▪ I. privy, a., n. (adv.) arch. or techn. (in Law, etc.).
(ˈprɪvɪ)
Forms: 3– pri-, 4–6 pry-, pre-; 3–6 (7) -ve (4 Sc. -we); 4 -vei, -veie, 4–5 -vee, -vay (5 Sc. -way), 4–6 -vey, -veye (5 -veyȝe, Sc. -wey), 5–7 -vie; 4– privy (4 previ, 4–6 pry-, prevy; 5 Sc. prewy, 5–6 preva; 6 pri-, pre-, pryvye; 7 privi).
[ME. prive, privy, etc., a. F. privé (12th c. in Littré) private, tame; as n. in OF. a familiar friend, a private place:—L. privātus: see private, a later doublet of the same word, directly from L.; but in sense-development the two words do not run parallel.]
A. adj. I. † 1. That is of one's own private circle or companionship; intimate, familiar; = private a. 10. In later quots. with admixture of sense 4. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 168 Hwui ȝe habbeð þene world ivlowen..þet is, uorte beon priue mid ure Louerde. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 97/180 Sire porfirie, þat was hire priue knyȝt. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 467 Þey þat beyn with god pryue. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1748 As to þe prynce pryuyest preued þe þrydde. 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 227 Sum of his preue men. 1450 Impeachm. Dk. Suffolk vi. (Rolls of Parlt. V. 179/1), The seid Duke..seid..that he..coude remeve fro the seid Frenssh Kyng the pryvyest man of his Counseill, yf he wold. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. 4 Hyr damoysel and prevy felowe. 1535 Cranmer in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 66 Servant unto the Cardinall..& more privy with him of all Secrets than any other about him. 1644 Milton Judgm. Bucer xxxvii. Wks. 1851 IV. 327 If she be privie with those that plot against the State. a 1645 Featly in Fuller Abel Rediv., Jewel (1867) I. 358 Zuinglius, Peter Martyr,..Lavater, Gesner, and other privy pastors of the Reformed churches beyond the seas. |
† b. Of an animal: Familiar with man; domesticated, tame. Obs. rare.
| 1340 Ayenb. 230 Þe priue cat bezengþ ofte his scin. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) vi, Nor neuer shall he be so pryue..but he shall loke hider and þeder forto looke if he may doo any harme. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 212 Pryue and tame as a culuere. |
† c. Sexually intimate. Obs. rare—1.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 5964 So dyvers and so many ther be That with my modir [Venus] have be privee. |
† 2. Of or pertaining exclusively to a particular person or persons; one's own; = private a. 5; of an attendant, etc., personal. Obs. exc. in privy chamber, council, counsellor, seal.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10432 Sco had a maiden hight vtaine, Þat was hir priue [v.r. preue] chambur-laine. c 1305 St. Dunstan 60 in E.E.P. (1862) 36 Seint Dunstan..nolde bi his wille no tyme idel beo A priuei smyþþe bi his celle he gan him biseo. 13.. K. Alis 4497 (Bodl. MS.) Weleaway & allas For Archelaus, and Salome, And for his oþer pryue meignee. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxvii. 274 Whan he [Prester John] hath no werre, but rideth with a pryuy meynee. 1558–9 Act 1 Eliz. c. 2 (Act of Uniformity) Either in Common Churches or pryvye Chappelles or Oratories. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. x. 90 Ordained for the priuy kitchin of the great Lord, & the other for the common sort. 1647 Lilly Chr. Astrol. cxv. 561 Neither very much augmenting his prive fortune, or..diminishing his Patrimony. 1670 L. Stucley Gospel-Glass x. 86 We would count it a favour, if a Prince would give us a privy Key, to come to him when we please. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxiii. (1737) 260 The King..took him into his Privy-garden. |
† b. Peculiar to or characteristic of an individual or a race. Of language: idiomatic. Obs. rare.
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love Prol. (Skeat) I. 32 The vnderstandyng of Englishmen woll not stretche to the priuye termes in Frenche, what so euer wee bosten of straunge langage. Ibid. ii. ix. l. 33, I canne it not otherwise nempne, for wanting of priuie wordes. 1650 Fuller Pisgah iv. vii. 128 What art their Priests did use, to keep up the breed, and preserve succession of Cattell with such γνωρίσµατα or privy marks, I list not to enquire. |
† 3. Of or pertaining to a person in his private or personal capacity; not public or official; = private a. 6. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 91 Þey gooþ to priue [1432–50 private] offis [orig. officia privata adeunt] and to comyn feestes, but þey techiþ besiliche here children to ride and to schete. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 328 Before the preface, the preste sayeth preuy prayers by hymselfe. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1044 Her Grace beynge with a priuy family in the parke of Theukesbery. 1567 in Churchyard's Chippes (1817) 174 Her previe letters written halelie with her awn hand, and sent by her to James, earl Bothwell. |
4. Participating in the knowledge of something secret or private; in the secret; privately cognizant or aware; intimately acquainted with or accessory to some secret transaction; = private a. 11 Const. to, † of, or † with clause.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 282 Which art prive to tho doinges. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 1862 And also þat preueyȝe of his conselle þo was. 1484 Surtees Misc. (1888) 42 Ne noon of theim wer nevere prevey to ye sealing of ye forsaid forged and untrue testimonyall. 1537 Starkey in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. App. lxxxi. 194 Few among al your lovers and friends, which are privy of your judgment. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Pref. 18 Being ferther priuie to myne owne vnwurthynes. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 115 The Maior makynge his frendes priuie what he would doe. 1573 Stow Ann. (1605) 776 It is necessarie to consider what persons we shall first make priuy of this politike conclusion. 1596 J. Smyth in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 94, I did..make her Majestie privy to the whole state of Spayne. 1787 Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 154 Those who may have supposed me privy to this proposition. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. iv. 211 The clergy believed that they alone were privy to the counsels of the Almighty. |
† b. Possessing esoteric knowledge of; versed or skilled (in some subject). Obs. rare.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 88 To this science [theology] ben prive The clerkes of divinite. 1433 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 449/2 Brocours aliens, yat been nowe so prive and expert of merchandises. |
II. 5. Withdrawn from public sight, knowledge, or use; kept secret or concealed; hidden; secluded. arch. a. Of material things.
| c 1290 St. Brendan 23 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 220 To wende in-to a priue stude and stille, Þare he miȝte beo al one to a-serui godes wille. a 1300 Cursor M. 16920 Þai..grofe þaim thre [crosses] for cristen men, wit-in a priue sted. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xlv. 3, I shal ȝyuen to thee..the priue thingus of priuytees, that thou wite. c 1440 Ipomydon 1855 In at a preuy posterne gate, By night she stale. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xiv. 53, I wold that kynge Ban and kynge Bors..were put in a wood here besyde in an embusshement and kepe them preuy. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cxxxiii. 373 Go thou the moost preuyest wayes thou canste (thou knowest all the preuy wayes of the countrey). 1526 Tindale Luke xi. 33 Noo man lighteth a candell and putteth it in a preve place. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres v. i. 128 Round about the ditch there should be another like vault or priuie way. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 194 He goeth to stoole in some priuie place. 1719 D'Urfey Pills IV. 140 The Place did begin to grow privy. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes xxxix, A poet must retire to privy places and meditate his rhymes in secret. |
| Comb. a 1593 Marlowe Ovid's Eleg. ii. xiv, And their own privy-weapon'd hands destroy them. |
b. Of immaterial things. (Often opposed to apert, pert: see apert a. 1, pert a. 1.)
| c 1300 Beket 290 And to al his privei consail Seint Thomas he nom. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2410 Ne swa prive es nathyng þat touches man, Þat sal noght be knawen þan. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 209 What so euer..Is spoken either prevy or aperte. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 33 Hauing þe priuey witt of þe feiþ in a pure consciens. c 1450 Merlin 47, I knowe alle the prevy wordes that haue ben be-twene hem two. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 20 Preamble, John Tayler..having pryve knowlege of the commyng of your seid Beseecher. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 269 b, Nor ever obliged themselves by any promise privy or aperte, that they would accomplishe the same. 1660 in J. Simon Ess. Irish Coins (1749) 125 Tokens..with a privy marke..in order to discover the counterfeiting of any such like tokens. |
6. Acting or done in secret or by stealth; secret, clandestine, furtive, surreptitious, sly. (Often opposed to apert, pert.) arch.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7234 Als traitur dern and priue theif. Ibid. 11852 To þe barnage tit he sent, To mak a priue parlement. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. iii. 94 (Camb. MS.) Yif he be a preuey awaytor I-hidd and reioyseth hym to Rauysse by whiles þou shalt seyn hym. 1433 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 447/1 By murdererys, and prive roberyes. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. v. 14 He that is a preuy accuser of other men, shalbe hated envyed and confounded. 1548–9 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, From all sedicion and priuye conspiracie..Good lorde deliuer us. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 169 The Turke..by priuie espiall, knewe the determination of the Senate longe before. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) II. 4/1 A certain Image of the Virgin so artificially wrought, that the Friars by privy gins made it to stir, and to make gestures. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xviii. (Arb.) 201 When ye giue a mocke vnder smooth and lowly wordes..the Greeks call it (charientismus) we may call it the priuy nippe, or a myld and appeasing mockery. 1637 Milton Lycidas 128 Besides what the grim Woolf with privy paw Daily devours apace. 1864 Swinburne Atalanta 1636 Fallen by war Or by the nets and knives of privy death. |
† 7. Of which the presence or existence is not known or not recognized; that is not outwardly evident; of which no indication is visible; hidden.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 192 b, Whether it wer for a priuie sickenes, or an open impediment,..this mocion vanished. 1563 B. Googe Eglogs, etc. (Arb.) 83 To shun The priuy lurkyng hookes. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 38 The Marriner is more indaungered by priuie shelues, then knowen Rockes. 1654 Trapp Comm. Ps. xi. 2 The privie armour of proof, that the Saints have about their breasts. |
III. In specific collocations with ns.
8. privy evil (Falconry), a disease of the hawk: see quot. privy tithe, the ‘small’ or vicarial tithe. privy verdict, a verdict given to the judge out of court.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 238/1 (Diseases in Hawks) The *Privy, or hidden Evil, is a glottonous Stomack, a greediness in eating, and devouring. |
| 1530 Proper Dyaloge in Roy Rede me, etc. (Arb.) 138 Payenge of tythes open and *preuy. |
| 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. xi. 388 A particular share of the tithes..called *privy, small, or vicarial, tithes. |
| 1628 Coke On Litt. 227 b, After they be agreed they may,..if the Court be risen, giue a *priuie verdict before any of the Judges. |
† b. privy coat, a coat of mail worn under the ordinary dress. Obs.
| 1532 Will of J. Baynham (Somerset Ho.), A pryvye coat. 1538 J. Beaumont in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 252, I have secret warnyng by one off hys counsell to weyre a prevy cote. 1599 Bacon Let. in Spalding Life & Lett. (1862) II. 161, I have the privy coat of a good conscience. a 1649 Webster Cure for Cuckold iii. i, I wear a privy coat. |
† c. privy house (also 5 privehouse) = B. 3. So † privy stool, a close-stool. Obs.
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 931 Se þe privehouse for esement be fayre, soote, & clene. 1528 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 254 In his owne chambre..A prevey stole, iiijd. 1660 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 358 A common privy house belonging to Peckwater Quadrangle. 1679 Ibid. 30 Jan. II. 435 He throw'd it in the privy house. |
d. privy members, privy parts, the external organs of sex; the private parts. Obs. or arch.
So formerly privy chose (of a female), privy limbs, etc.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11731 Hii ne bileuede nouȝt þis, Þat [h]is priue membres hii ne corue of iwis. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 475 Here body..al i-roted..out-take þe thombe and here wombe wiþ þe prive chose byneþe. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. iii. xxiii. (1495) e j/1 To assaye the pals..it were vnsemely & shamly to vnhele þe preuy lymmes. Ibid. v. xlviii. (Bodl. MS.), The preuey stones of foules bene smale after þe tyme þat is yordeyned to ham to gendre. Ibid. xviii. xcvi, Þe female ape is like to a womman in þe priuy chose. 1482 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 221/2 That no maner of persone..were..any Gowne or Cloke, but if it be of such lengh, as hit..shall cover his prevey membres and buttokks. 1556 W. Towrson in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 101 They goe all naked except some thing before their priuie partes, which is like a clout. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 89/2 Then in his privie yard had a sharpe reed thrust in with horrible paine. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 500 Of a Dog..the gut of the privy place sodden in Oyl, is a very good and soveraign remedy. 1681 Trial S. Colledge 140 L.C.J...Your Privy-members shall be cut off, and your Bowels taken out and burnt before your face. |
9. privy purse. a. The allowance from the public revenue for the private expenses of the monarch. b. (With capital initial.) Short for Keeper of the Privy Purse, an officer of the royal household charged with the payment of the private expenses of the sovereign.
| 1664 Pepys Diary 15 Dec., When the King would have him to be Privy Purse. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. viii. 332 The king's private expences, or privy purse; and other very numerous outgoings, as secret service money, pensions, and other bounties. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 224/1 The civil list..amounted, during the reign of William III.,..to the annual sum of about 680,000l. Out of this sum were paid the expenses of the royal household, of the privy purse [etc.]. 1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. I. 292 He [Louis Philippe] placed at Lafayette's disposal a hundred thousand francs out of the privy purse to aid the enterprises of the Spanish revolutionists. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. i, Maces, or petty-bags, or privy-purses..all yawning. 1908 Whitaker's Almanack 85 His Majesty's Household... Keeper of His Majesty's Privy Purse. |
10. privy signet: see signet.
See also privy chamber, privy council, privy counsellor, privy seal.
B. n. [Absolute or elliptical uses of the adj. Cf. OF. privé, privée, in various subst. uses.] I. Of persons.
† 1. An intimate, confidential, or trusted friend or counsellor; a confidant, an intimate. Cf. A. 1.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8647 He nom on of is priues þat het water tirel. a 1300 Cursor M. 8342 For-þi hir enterd bersabe Þe quen, his spuse, and his priue. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 177 Paulynes pryues for pleyntes in þe consistorie, Shul serue my-self. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2480 Þe kyng of Comble, Sir Sortybraunt & othre of his pryueez. c 1450 Merlin 377 That he wolde..be oon of his privees. |
2. Law. One who is a partaker or has any part or interest in any action, matter, or thing: including the parties entering into a contract, and also any one that is bound or has an interest under a contract or conveyance to which he himself is not a party. Cf. A. 6. Opposed to stranger.
| [1292 Britton iii. vi. §15 Pur ceo qe ceste assise ne tient poynt lu par entre privez del saunc. (tr. Whereas this assize does not lie between privies of blood.) 1321–2 Rolls of Parlt. I. 411/2 Lesquexs demorunt & sount aloynes par les prives a la talye.] 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 7 §3 The seid fyne to be fynall ende, and conclude aswell prives as estraunges to the same. 1579 Expos. Terms Law 159 b/2 Priuie..wher a lease is made to holde at will, for yeres, for life, or a feffement in fee..because of thys that hath passed betweene these parties, they are called priuies, in respect of straungers betwene whom no such dealings, or conueiances hath ben. Ibid. 160/1 Priuies are in diuers sorts, as namely priuies in estate, priuies in deede, priuies in law, priuies in right, and priuies in bloode. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Priuie..signifieth..him that is partaker, or hath an interest in any action, or thing: as, priuies of bloud..be those that be linked in consanguinitie. Euery heire in tayle is priuy to recouer the land intayled. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. xxi. 355 Privies to a fine are such as are any way related to the parties who levy the fine, and claim under them by any right of blood or other right of representation. 1818 Colebrooke Obligations 229 His representatives and universal successors, or privies in blood, as heirs, and privies in representation, as executors and administrators, may at the death of a person of non-sane memory avoid his deeds. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 308 Privies in blood, as the heir; privies in estate, as the feoffee, lessee, &c.; privies in law, as lord by escheat, tenant by the curtesy, tenants in dower, and others that come in by act of law, or in the post; shall be bound, and take advantage of estoppels. 1882 Sweet Law Dict. s.v., In the law of fines, the heirs and successors of the parties to a fine were said to be privies to it, and were bound by it as if they had been parties, as opposed to strangers, that is, persons who were neither parties nor privies. |
† b. One who participates in the knowledge of something private or secret; a confidant; one privy to a plot or crime: see A. 4. Obs.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 164 b, The citezens glad of his commynge, made not the French capitayns, which had the gouernaunce of the towne, either parties or priuies of their entent. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. liii. (1739) 94 Mainperners are not to be punished as Principals, unless they be parties or privies to the failing of the Principal. |
† c. One who belongs to a country or place; a native or denizen, as opposed to a stranger or foreigner. Obs.
| 1565 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 312 Right ye shall doe to every person as well to ye stranger as to ye pryvye. 1641 W. Hakewill Libertie of Subject 101 (tr. Act 2 Edw. III, c. 9) All Merchants, Strangers and Privies [touz marchantz aliens & priveez], may goe and come with their merchandizes into England after the tenure of the Great Charter. |
II. Of things.
3. A private place of ease, a latrine, a necessary: see A. 8 c.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 556 The king had in custum ay For to riss airly euirilk day, And pas weill fer fra his menȝe, Quhen he vald pas to the preue. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 273 Whanne he sittiþ at priuy he schal not streyne him-silf to harde. 1423 Coventry Leet Bk. 59 Allso þai orden þat..all þe pryves & swynesties þeron be done away. 1530 Nottingham Rec. III. 364 A prevye comyng out of the Kynges Jayle in to the hie-wey, vnto the grett noysance of alle the inhabytantes. 1650 Howell Giraffi's Rev. Naples i. (1664) 104 They pried into the very privies and jakes. 1704 Swift Mech. Operat. Spirit §2 Misc. (1711) 303 As if a Traveller should go about to describe a Palace, when he had seen nothing but the Privy. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 107 The clearing out of a privy produced in twenty-three children violent vomiting. |
| attrib. a 1225 Ancr. R. 276 Ne berest tu two þurles, ase þauh hit weren two priue þurles? 1483 Cath. Angl. 292/1 A Pryvay scowrare..cloacarius. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 413 The bad privy accommodation. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases xi. 194 A peculiar mawkish, privy odour. |
† 4. Short for privy member (see A. 8 d). rare.
| c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 85 Þys ys þe þrydde medicyne, his properte ys to efforce þe pryue, and namly þe pryncypales. |
† 5. That which is secret, secrecy; in phr. in privy, in secret, in private, covertly. in privy or apert, in privy or in plain, covertly or openly.
| 1388 Wyclif Matt. vi. 18 Þi fadir þat seeþ in privye shal ȝelde to þee. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 182 Alle tho that hadden be Or in apert or in prive Of conseil to the mariage, Sche slowh hem. 1460 Rolls of Parlt. V. 378/2 Directely or indirectely, in prive or appert. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 173 To grant him self in Britane to remane, Quhair plesis ȝow in previe or in plane. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. vii. 3 Twa leirnit men in priuie I hard talk. 1569 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 652 Nor yit sall we tryist or haif intelligence with thame in previe or apart. |
† C. adv. = privily adv.; privately, secretly, in secret. Obs.
Frequent in privy or (a)pert (contracted from in privy or apert: see B. 5), secretly or openly, privately or publicly.
| 13.. Cursor M. 27180 Preist sal..knau..þe pligth..Queþ er it be priue don, or hid. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 3393 Brenne bad þem ber ham [al] pryue, Wiþ-oute noyse. 1485 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 321 That..will goo among them prevy or peart for his propre besynes. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 273, I hatit him like a hund, thought I it hid preue. |
▪ II. privy (priuie),
obs. var. privet1.