From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Privy \Priv"y\, a. [F. priv['e], fr. L. privatus. See
{Private}.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Of or pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to
private uses; not public; private; as, the privy purse. "
Privee knights and squires." --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
2. Secret; clandestine. " A privee thief." --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
3. Appropriated to retirement; private; not open to the
public. " Privy chambers." --Ezek. xxi. 14.
[1913 Webster]
4. Admitted to knowledge of a secret transaction; secretly
cognizant; privately knowing.
[1913 Webster]
His wife also being privy to it. --Acts v. 2.
[1913 Webster]
Myself am one made privy to the plot. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
{Privy chamber}, a private apartment in a royal residence.
[Eng.]
{Privy council} (Eng. Law), the principal council of the
sovereign, composed of the cabinet ministers and other
persons chosen by the king or queen. --Burrill.
{Privy councilor}, a member of the privy council.
{Privy purse}, moneys set apart for the personal use of the
monarch; also, the title of the person having charge of
these moneys. [Eng.] --Macaulay.
{Privy seal} or {Privy signet}, the seal which the king uses
in grants, etc., which are to pass the great seal, or
which he uses in matters of subordinate consequence which
do not require the great seal; also, elliptically, the
principal secretary of state, or person intrusted with the
privy seal. [Eng.]
{Privy verdict}, a verdict given privily to the judge out of
court; -- now disused. --Burrill.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Privy \Priv"y\, n.; pl. {Privies}.
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.
[1913 Webster]
2. A necessary house or place for performing excretory
functions in private; an outhouse; a backhouse.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
privy
adj 1: hidden from general view or use; "a privy place to rest
and think"; "a secluded romantic spot"; "a secret garden"
[syn: {privy}, {secluded}, {secret}]
2: (followed by `to') informed about something secret or not
generally known; "privy to the details of the conspiracy"
n 1: a room or building equipped with one or more toilets [syn:
{toilet}, {lavatory}, {lav}, {can}, {john}, {privy},
{bathroom}]
2: a small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which a
user can defecate [syn: {outhouse}, {privy}, {earth-closet},
{jakes}]
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