Pri"vate (?; 48), a. [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 (prī"v&asl;t), 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.) A common soldier; a soldier
below the grade of a noncommissioned officer.
Macaulay.
6. pl. The private parts; the
genitals.
In private, secretly; not openly or
publicly.
