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Webster 1913 Edition

Private

Pri′vate

(?; 48)
,
Adj.
[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
,
Adj.
, and cf.
Deprive
,
Privy
,
Adj.
]
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.]

Pri′vate

(prī′vā̍t)
,
Noun.
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?
Shakespeare
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Private

PRI'VATE

,
Adj.
[L. privatus, from privo, to bereave, properly to strip or separate; privus, singular, several, peculiar to one's self, that is, separate; rapio, diripio, eripio; privo for perivo or berivo.]
1.
Properly, separate; unconnected with others; hence, peculiar to one's self; belonging to or concerning an individual only; as a man's private opinion, business or concerns; private property; the king's private purse; a man's private expenses. Charge the money to my private account in the company's books.
2.
Peculiar to a number in a joint concern, to a company or body politic; as the private interest of a family, of a company or of a state; opposed to public, or to the general interest of nations.
3.
Sequestered from company or observation; secret; secluded; as a private cell; a private room or apartment; private prayer.
4.
Not publicly known; not open; as a private negotiation.
5.
Not invested with public office or employment; as a private man or citizen; private lift.
A private person may arrest a felon.
6.
Individual; personal; in contradistinction from public or national; as private interest.
Private way, in law, is a way or passage in which a man has an interest and right, though the ground may belong to another person. In common language, a private way may be a secret way, one not known or public.
A private act or statute, is one which operates on an individual or company only; opposed to a general law, which operates on the whole community.
A private nuance or wrong, is one which affects an individual.
In private, secretly; not openly or publicly.

PRI'VATE

,
Noun.
A secret message; particular business. [Unusual.]
1.
A common soldier.

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