Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Policy
Pol′i-cy
,Noun.
pl.
Policies
(#)
. 1.
Civil polity.
[Obs.]
2.
The settled method by which the government and affairs of a nation are, or may be, administered; a system of public or official administration, as designed to promote the external or internal prosperity of a state.
3.
The method by which any institution is administered; system of management; course.
4.
Management or administration based on temporal or material interest, rather than on principles of equity or honor; hence, worldly wisdom; dexterity of management; cunning; stratagem.
5.
Prudence or wisdom in the management of public and private affairs; wisdom; sagacity; wit.
The very
policy
of a hostess, finding his purse so far above his clothes, did detect him. Fuller.
6.
Motive; object; inducement.
[Obs.]
What
policy
have you to bestow a benefit where it is counted an injury? Sir P. Sidney.
Syn. – See
Polity
. Pol′i-cy
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Policied
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Policying
.] To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.
[Obs.]
“Policying of cities.” Bacon.
Pol′i-cy
,Noun.
[F.
police
; cf. Pr. polissia
, Sp. pólizia
, It. pólizza
; of uncertain origin; cf. L. pollex
thumb (as being used in pressing the seal), in LL. also, seal; or cf. LL. politicum
, poleticum
, polecticum
, L. polyptychum
, account book, register, fr. Gr. [GREEK] having many folds or leaves; [GREEK] many + [GREEK] fold, leaf, from [GREEK] to fold; or cf. LL. apodixa
a receipt.] 1.
A ticket or warrant for money in the public funds.
2.
The writing or instrument in which a contract of insurance is embodied; an instrument in writing containing the terms and conditions on which one party engages to indemnify another against loss arising from certain hazards, perils, or risks to which his person or property may be exposed. See
Insurance
. 3.
A method of gambling by betting as to what numbers will be drawn in a lottery;
as, to play
. policy
Interest policy
, a policy that shows by its form that the assured has a real, substantial interest in the matter insured.
– Open policy
, one in which the value of the goods or property insured is not mentioned.
– Policy book
, a book to contain a record of insurance policies.
– Policy holder
, one to whom an insurance policy has been granted.
– Policy shop
, a gambling place where one may bet on the numbers which will be drawn in lotteries.
– Valued policy
, one in which the value of the goods, property, or interest insured is specified.
– Wager policy
, a policy that shows on the face of it that the contract it embodies is a pretended insurance, founded on an ideal risk, where the insured has no interest in anything insured.
Webster 1828 Edition
Policy
POL'ICY
,Noun.
1.
Policy, in its primary signification, is the same as polity, comprehending the fundamental constitution or frame of civil government in a state or kingdom. But by usage, policy is now more generally used to denote what is included under legislation and administration, and may be defined, the art or manner of governing a nation; or that system of measures which the sovereign of a country adopts and pursues, as best adapted to the interests of the nation. Thus we speak of domestic policy, or the system of internal regulations in a nation; foreign policy, or the measures which respect foreign nations; commercial policy, or the measures which respect commerce.2.
Art, prudence, wisdom or dexterity in the management of public affairs; applied to persons governing. It has been the policy of France to preclude females from the throne. It has been the policy of Great Britain to encourage her navy, by keeping her carrying trade in her own hands. In this she manifests sound policy. Formerly, England permitted wool to be exported and manufactured in the Low Countries, which was very bad policy. The policy of all laws has made some forms necessary in the wording of last wills and testaments.
All violent policy defeats itself.
3.
In common usage, the art, prudence or wisdom of individuals in the management of their private or social concerns.4.
Stratagem; cunning; dexterity of management.5.
A ticket or warrant for money in the public funds.6.
Policy, in commerce, the writing or instrument by which a contract of indemnity is effected between the insurer and the insured; or the instrument containing the terms or conditions on which a person or company undertakes to indemnify another person or company against losses of property exposed to peculiar hazards, as houses or goods exposed to fire, or ships and goods exposed to destruction on the high seas. This writing is subscribed by the insurer, who is called the underwriter. The terms policy of insurance, or assurance, are also used for the contract between the insured and the underwriter.Policies are valued or open; valued, when the property or goods insured are valued at prime cost; open, when the goods are not valued, but if lost, their value must be proved.
Wagering policies, which insure sums of money, interest or no interest, are illegal.
All insurances, interest or no interest, or without further proof of interest than the policy itself, are null and void.
The word policy is used also for the writing which insures against other events, as well as against loss of property.
Definition 2024
policy
policy
English
Noun
policy (plural policies)
- (obsolete) The art of governance; political science. [14th–18th c.]
- a. 1616, William Shakespeare, Henry V, I.1:
- List his discourse of Warre; and you shall heare / A fearefull Battaile rendred you in Musique. / Turne him to any Cause of Pollicy, / The Gordian Knot of it he will vnloose, / Familiar as his Garter […]
- a. 1616, William Shakespeare, Henry V, I.1:
- (obsolete) A state; a polity. [14th–16th c.]
- (obsolete) A set political system; civil administration. [15th–19th c.]
- (obsolete) A trick; a stratagem. [15th–19th c.]
- a. 1594, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus:
- 'Tis pollicie, and stratageme must doe / That you affect, and so must you resolue, / That what you cannot as you would atcheiue, / You must perforce accomplish as you may.
- a. 1594, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus:
- A principle of behaviour, conduct etc. thought to be desirable or necessary, especially as formally expressed by a government or other authoritative body. [from 15th c.]
- The Communist Party has a policy of returning power to the workers.
- Wise or advantageous conduct; prudence, formerly also with connotations of craftiness. [from 15th c.]
- 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Modern Library Edition (1995), page 140:
- These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I with greater policy concealed my struggles, and flattered you […]
- Fuller
- The very policy of a hostess, finding his purse so far above his clothes, did detect him.
- 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Modern Library Edition (1995), page 140:
- (now rare) Specifically, political shrewdness or (formerly) cunning; statecraft. [from 15th c.]
- 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.25:
- Whether he believed himself a god, or only took on the attributes of divinity from motives of policy, is a question for the psychologist, since the historical evidence is indecisive.
- 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.25:
- (Scotland, now chiefly in the plural) The grounds of a large country house. [from 18th c.]
- 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, page 36:
- Next morning was so splendid that as he walked through the policies towards the mansion house despair itself was lulled.
- 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, page 36:
- (obsolete) Motive; object; inducement.
- Sir Philip Sidney
- What policy have you to bestow a benefit where it is counted an injury?
- Sir Philip Sidney
Derived terms
Derived terms
Translations
principle of conduct
|
|
prudent conduct
Verb
policy (third-person singular simple present policies, present participle policying, simple past and past participle policied)
Etymology 2
From Middle French police, from Italian polizza, from Medieval Latin apodissa (“receipt for money”), from Ancient Greek ἀπόδειξις (apódeixis, “proof, declaration”)
Noun
policy (plural policies)
- (law)
- A contract of insurance.
- A document containing or certifying this contract.
- Your insurance policy covers fire and theft only.
- (obsolete) An illegal daily lottery in late nineteenth and early twentieth century USA on numbers drawn from a lottery wheel (no plural)
- A number pool lottery
Synonyms
- (number pool) policy racket
Derived terms
Translations
law: insurance — see insurance
law: insurance document
number pool — see number pool