PRIVATER

Adjective

privater

comparative form of private

Source: Wiktionary


PRIVATE

Pri"vate (; 48), a. Etym: [L. privatus apart from the state, peculiar to an individual, private, properly p. p. of privare to bereave, deprive, originally, to separate, fr. privus single, private, perhaps originally, put forward (hence, alone, single) and akin to prae before. See Prior, a., and cf. Deprive, Privy, a.]

1. Belonging to, or concerning, an individual person, company, or interest; peculiar to one's self; unconnected with others; personal; one's own; not public; not general; separate; as, a man's private opinion; private property; a private purse; private expenses or interests; a private secretary.

2. Sequestered from company or observation; appropriated to an individual; secret; secluded; lonely; solitary; as, a private room or apartment; private prayer. Reason . . . then retires Into her private cell when nature rests. Milton.

3. Not invested with, or engaged in, public office or employment; as, a private citizen; private life. Shak. A private person may arrest a felon. Blackstone.

4. Not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private negotiation; a private understanding.

5. Having secret or private knowledge; privy. [Obs.] Private act or statute, a statute exclusively for the settlement of private and personal interests, of which courts do not take judicial notice; -- opposed to a general law, which operates on the whole community.

– Private nuisance or wrong. See Nuisance.

– Private soldier. See Private, n., 5.

– Private way, a right of private passage over another man's ground. Kent.

Pri"vate, n.

1. A secret message; a personal unofficial communication. [Obs.] Shak.

2. Personal interest; particular business.[Obs.] Nor must I be unmindful of my private. B. Jonson.

3. Privacy; retirement. [Archaic] "Go off; I discard you; let me enjoy my private." Shak.

4. One not invested with a public office. [Archaic] What have kings, that privates have not too Shak.

5. (Mil.)

Definition: A common soldier; a soldier below the grade of a noncommissioned officer. Macaulay.

6. pl.

Definition: The private parts; the genitals. In private, secretly; not openly or publicly.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

24 June 2025

CLINGFISH

(noun) very small (to 3 inches) flattened marine fish with a sucking disc on the abdomen for clinging to rocks etc.


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Coffee Trivia

The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.

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