PRIVY (privier, priviest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: privier    , priviest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does privy mean? 

• PRIVY (noun)
  The noun PRIVY has 2 senses:

1. a room or building equipped with one or more toilets

2. a small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which a user can defecate

  Familiarity information: PRIVY used as a noun is rare.

• PRIVY (adjective)
  The adjective PRIVY has 2 senses:

1. hidden from general view or use

2. (followed by 'to') informed about something secret or not generally known

  Familiarity information: PRIVY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRIVY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A room or building equipped with one or more toilets

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bathroom; can; john; lav; lavatory; privy; toilet

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small outbuilding with a bench having holes through which a user can defecate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

earth-closet; jakes; outhouse; privy

Hypernyms ("privy" is a kind of...):

outbuilding (a building that is subordinate to and separate from a main building)

• PRIVY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hidden from general view or use

Synonyms:

privy; secluded; secret

Context example:

a secret garden

Similar:

private (confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(followed by 'to') informed about something secret or not generally known

Context example:

privy to the details of the conspiracy

Similar:

informed (having much knowledge or education)

 Context examples 

Had he been privy to her conversation with his son, he would not have wished her to belong to him, though her twenty thousand pounds had been forty.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Emma found that it was not Mr. Weston's fault that the number of privy councillors was not yet larger.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Henry and her own heart only were privy to the shocking suspicions which she had so idly entertained; and equally safe did she believe her secret with each.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“There has been a conspiracy to maim or kidnap my man, and I have every reason to believe that you are privy to it.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As for himself, he protested, that although few things delighted him so much as new discoveries in art or in nature, yet he would rather lose half his kingdom, than be privy to such a secret; which he commanded me, as I valued any life, never to mention any more.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I was privy to all the fors and againsts; I was the friend to whom he confided his hopes and plans; and though I did not know his wife previously, her inferior situation in society, indeed, rendered that impossible, yet I knew her all her life afterwards, or at least till within the last two years of her life, and can answer any question you may wish to put.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

And so much was said in this way, that Anne thought she could not do better than impart among them the general inclination to which she was privy, and persuaded them all to go to Lyme at once.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

She was sick of exploring, and desired but to be safe in her own room, with her own heart only privy to its folly; and she was on the point of retreating as softly as she had entered, when the sound of footsteps, she could hardly tell where, made her pause and tremble.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Her heart was grieved for a state which seemed but the more pitiable from this sort of irritation of spirits, inconsistency of action, and inequality of powers; and it mortified her that she was given so little credit for proper feeling, or esteemed so little worthy as a friend: but she had the consolation of knowing that her intentions were good, and of being able to say to herself, that could Mr. Knightley have been privy to all her attempts of assisting Jane Fairfax, could he even have seen into her heart, he would not, on this occasion, have found any thing to reprove.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

She was privy, one evening, to the hopes of her aunt Norris on the subject, as well as to her feelings, and the feelings of Mrs. Rushworth, on a point of some similarity, and could not help wondering as she listened; and glad would she have been not to be obliged to listen, for it was while all the other young people were dancing, and she sitting, most unwillingly, among the chaperons at the fire, longing for the re-entrance of her elder cousin, on whom all her own hopes of a partner then depended.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)