| / English Dictionary |
PRIVY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: privier , priviest
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which a user can defecate
Synonyms:
earth-closet; jakes; outhouse; privy
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("privy" is a kind of...):
outbuilding (a building that is subordinate to and separate from a main building)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A room or building equipped with one or more toilets
Synonyms:
bathroom; can; john; lav; lavatory; privy; toilet
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("privy" is a kind of...):
room (an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling)
Meronyms (parts of "privy"):
can; commode; crapper; pot; potty; stool; throne; toilet (a plumbing fixture for defecation and urination)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "privy"):
head ((nautical) a toilet on board a boat or ship)
comfort station; convenience; public convenience; public lavatory; public toilet; restroom; toilet facility; wash room (a toilet that is available to the public)
washroom (a lavatory (particularly a lavatory in a public place))
closet; loo; W.C.; water closet (a toilet in Britain)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(followed by 'to') informed about something secret or not generally known
Example:
privy to the details of the conspiracy
Classified under:
Similar:
informed (having much knowledge or education)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Hidden from general view or use
Example:
a secret garden
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
private (confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy)
Context examples:
I told him, “that in the kingdom of Tribnia, by the natives called Langdon, where I had sojourned some time in my travels, the bulk of the people consist in a manner wholly of discoverers, witnesses, informers, accusers, prosecutors, evidences, swearers, together with their several subservient and subaltern instruments, all under the colours, the conduct, and the pay of ministers of state, and their deputies. The plots, in that kingdom, are usually the workmanship of those persons who desire to raise their own characters of profound politicians; to restore new vigour to a crazy administration; to stifle or divert general discontents; to fill their coffers with forfeitures; and raise, or sink the opinion of public credit, as either shall best answer their private advantage. It is first agreed and settled among them, what suspected persons shall be accused of a plot; then, effectual care is taken to secure all their letters and papers, and put the owners in chains. These papers are delivered to a set of artists, very dexterous in finding out the mysterious meanings of words, syllables, and letters: for instance, they can discover a close stool, to signify a privy council; a flock of geese, a senate; a lame dog, an invader; the plague, a standing army; a buzzard, a prime minister; the gout, a high priest; a gibbet, a secretary of state; a chamber pot, a committee of grandees; a sieve, a court lady; a broom, a revolution; a mouse-trap, an employment; a bottomless pit, a treasury; a sink, a court; a cap and bells, a favourite; a broken reed, a court of justice; an empty tun, a general; a running sore, the administration.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
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