privity Meaning, Definition & Usage

Priv"i*ty noun

Etymology

From Privy, a.: cf. F. privauté extreme familiarity.

Wordforms

plural Privities

Definitions

1. Privacy; secrecy; confidence. Chaucer.

   I will unto you, in privity, discover . . . my purpose. Spenser.

2. Private knowledge; joint knowledge with another of a private concern; cognizance implying consent or concurrence.

   All the doors were laid open for his departure, not without the privity of the Prince of Orange. Swift.

3. A private matter or business; a secret. Chaucer.
4. pl. The genitals; the privates.
5. (Law) A connection, or bond of union, between parties, as to some particular transaction; mutual or successive relationship to the same rights of property.