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  1. privy love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Made a participant in knowledge of something private or secret: was privy to classified information.
  2. adj. Belonging or proper to a person, such as the British sovereign, in a private rather than official capacity.
  3. adj. Secret; concealed.
  4. n. An outdoor toilet; an outhouse.
  5. n. A toilet.
  6. n. Law One of the parties having an interest in the same matter.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Private; pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to private uses; not public: as, the privy purse.
  2. Secret; not seen openly; not made known in public.
  3. Private; appropriated to retirement; sequestered; retired.
  4. Privately knowing; admitted to the participation with another in knowledge of a secret transaction: generally with to.
  5. Intimate; familiar; on confidential terms; well known.
  6. Cognizant (of), acquainted (with).
  7. n. In law, one standing in a relation of privily to another. See privity, 7. A partaker: a person having a joint or common knowledge, right, or responsibility. More specifically
  8. n. A secret friend.
  9. n. A necessary.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Private, exclusive; that is one's own.
  2. adj. archaic Secret, hidden, concealed.
  3. adj. With knowledge of; party to; let in on.
  4. n. An outdoor toilet; latrine; earth closet; john; johnny house.
  5. n. law A partaker; one having an interest in an action, contract, etc. to which he is not himself a party.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Of or pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to private uses; not public; private.
  2. adj. Secret; clandestine.
  3. adj. Appropriated to retirement; private; not open to the public.
  4. adj. Admitted to knowledge of a secret transaction; secretly cognizant; privately knowing.
  5. n. (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.
  6. n. A necessary house or place for performing excretory functions in private; an outhouse; a backhouse.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
  2. adj. (followed by `to') informed about something secret or not generally known
  3. n. a small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which a user can defecate
  4. adj. hidden from general view or use

Etymologies

  1. Old French privé ("private"), from Latin privatus ("deprived"). More at private (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English prive, from Old French, from Latin prīvātus, private, from prīvus, single, alone; see per1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (7)

Words with the same meaning

  1. private
  1. secret
  1. clandestine
  1. partaker
  1. outhouse
  1. backhouse
  1. accessory

equivalents (3)

Other words for ‘privy’

  1. informed
  1. private
  1. privy signet

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. outbuilding

same context (5)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. ducal
  1. vocational
  1. mental-health
  1. latrine
  1. water-filled

rhymes (2)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. divvy
  1. kivi

reverse dictionary (69)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. water-closet
  2. divan
  3. council
  4. keeper of the privy seal
  5. prevay
  6. preve
  7. privee
  8. jakes
  9. draughthouse
  10. court of delegates
  11. latrine
  12. cloaca
  13. cockpit
  1. cesspool
  2. gong
  3. l. p.
  4. shape
  5. p
  6. garden house
  7. backhouse
  8. boggard
  9. boghouse
  10. council-book
  11. c. p.
  12. privily
  13. Bacon
  1. board of control
  2. Board of Trade
  3. lord high chancellor of england
  4. chapel of ease
  5. privy council
  6. draught
  7. earth closet
  8. PC
  9. privy
  10. stranger
  11. toilet
  12. nakedness
  13. necessary
  1. order in council
  2. outhouse
  3. private
  4. privy councilor
  5. privy seal
  6. right honorable
  7. roundhouse
  8. signet
  9. stabber
  10. Star Chamber
  11. wardrobe
  12. backside
  13. cabinet
  1. chamber
  2. consistory
  3. councilor
  4. draft
  5. earmark
  6. gang
  7. house
  8. party
  9. privity
  10. purse
  11. request
  12. seal
  13. secret
  1. silentiary
  2. sink
  3. trade
  4. vault

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Comments

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  • jwjarvis privy to campaign strategy Mar 10, 2011

  • Prolagus You are the one who's making do
    I am the one who's privy to
    'cause you saw him in the park
    'cause you saw him at the bridges with the people in the dark.

    (Mayfly, by Belle and Sebastian) Aug 24, 2008

  • arby And another example of my mispronouncing words based on their spelling. At least I know now, better late than never! Aug 20, 2007

  • jennarenn I think that it always has the short i, but I can see why you'd expect it to rhyme with ivy. Yet another reason why teaching English is harder than it really needs to be. Aug 20, 2007

  • reesetee I've never heard this pronounced with a long i at all. Aug 20, 2007

  • slumry I have always heard both pronounced the same way, with a short i, rhyming with chivvy. Aug 12, 2007

  • arby Is it pronounced the same? I always thought "privy" in the way you describe rhymed with chivvy and "privy" as in outhouse rhymed with ivy. Aug 12, 2007

  • slumry In the sense of "participating in the knowledge of something private or secret."

    An one hopes a privy would be private. Jul 14, 2007

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‘privy’ has been looked up 4215 times, loved by 7 people, added to 50 lists, commented on 8 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.