privy Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
toilet; bathroom; lavatory; can; lav; john.
noun a small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which a user can defecate
outhouse; earth-closet; jakes.
adjective satellite hidden from general view or use
secluded; secret.
- a privy place to rest and think
- a secluded romantic spot
- a secret garden
adjective satellite (followed by `to') informed about something secret or not generally known
- privy to the details of the conspiracy

F. privé, fr. L. privatus. See Private.

Of or pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to private uses; not public; private; as, the privy purse. " Privee knights and squires." Chaucer.
Secret; clandestine. " A privee thief." Chaucer.
Appropriated to retirement; private; not open to the public. " Privy chambers." Ezek. xxi. 14.
Admitted to knowledge of a secret transaction; secretly cognizant; privately knowing.
His wife also being privy to it. Acts v. 2.

Myself am one made privy to the plot. Shak.

plural Privies

(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.
A necessary house or place; a backhouse.