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1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
private
    adj 1: confined to particular persons or groups or providing
           privacy; "a private place"; "private discussions";
           "private lessons"; "a private club"; "a private
           secretary"; "private property"; "the former President is
           now a private citizen"; "public figures struggle to
           maintain a private life" [ant: public]
    2: concerning things deeply private and personal; "private
       correspondence"; "private family matters"
    3: concerning one person exclusively; "we all have individual
       cars"; "each room has a private bath" [syn: individual(a),
       private]
    4: not expressed; "secret (or private) thoughts" [syn: secret,
       private]
    n 1: an enlisted man of the lowest rank in the Army or Marines;
         "our prisoner was just a private and knew nothing of value"
         [syn: private, buck private, common soldier]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Private \Pri"vate\ (?; 48), a. [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,
   a., and cf. Deprive, Privy, a.]
   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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Sequestered from company or observation; appropriated to
      an individual; secret; secluded; lonely; solitary; as, a
      private room or apartment; private prayer.
      [1913 Webster]

            Reason . . . then retires
            Into her private cell when nature rests. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Not invested with, or engaged in, public office or
      employment; as, a private citizen; private life. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            A private person may arrest a felon.  --Blackstone.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private
      negotiation; a private understanding.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Having secret or private knowledge; privy. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

   Private act or Private statute, a statute exclusively for
      the settlement of private and personal interests, of which
      courts do not take judicial notice; -- opposed to a
      general law, which operates on the whole community. In
      the United States Congress, similar private acts are
      referred to as private law and a general law as a
      public law.

   Private nuisance or wrong. See Nuisance.

   Private soldier. See Private, n., 5.

   Private way, a right of private passage over another man's
      ground; also, a road on private land, contrasted with
      public road, which is on a public right of way. --Kent.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Private \Pri"vate\ (pr[imac]"v[asl]t), n.
   1. A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.
      [Obs.] --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Personal interest; particular business.[Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Nor must I be unmindful of my private. --B. Jonson.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Privacy; retirement. [Archaic] "Go off; I discard you; let
      me enjoy my private." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. One not invested with a public office. [Archaic]
      [1913 Webster]

            What have kings, that privates have not too? --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Mil.) A common soldier; a soldier below the grade of a
      noncommissioned officer. --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. pl. The private parts; the genitals.
      [1913 Webster]

   In private, secretly; not openly or publicly.
      [1913 Webster]

4. The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018)
privacy
private

    An attribute of a system's security that ensures
   that only intended or desired people or bodies can read a
   message or piece of stored data.  Privacy is often enforced by
   some kind of access control or encryption.

   (2011-06-03)


5. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
PRIVATE. Not general, as a private act of the legislature; not in office; 
as, a private person, as well as an officer, may arrest a felon; individual, 
as your private interest; not public, as a private way, a private nuisance. 



6. The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906)
PRIVATE, n.  A military gentleman with a field-marshal's baton in his
knapsack and an impediment in his hope.


Thesaurus Results for private:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
Tommy, Tommy Atkins, absolute, anonymous, antisocial, behind closed doors, buck private, certain, clandestine, closet, common soldier, concealed, concrete, confidential, confidentially, covert, covertly, deep-seated, defined, definite, detailed, determinate, different, discreet, distinct, distinguished, enlisted man, esoteric, especial, exceptional, exclusive, express, extraordinary, fixed, furtively, genitalia, genitals, grunt, hermitical, hidden, hush-hush, hushed, idiosyncratic, immanent, implanted, implicit, in camera, in private, in secret, inaccessible, inalienable, incognito, individual, indwelling, infantryman, infixed, ingrained, inherent, inmost, inner, innermost, inside, interior, internal, intimate, intrinsic, inward, inwrought, irreducible, isolated, minute, noncommissioned officer, not for publication, noteworthy, off the record, on the sly, own, particular, peculiar, personal, personally, precise, private first class, privately, privileged, privy, reclusive, reserved, resident, respective, restricted, restrictive, reticent, retired, retiring, secluded, seclusive, secret, secretively, secretly, sequestered, several, sex organs, singular, sneakily, sneaking, sneakingly, solipsistic, solitary, special, specific, sub rosa, subjective, surreptitious, surreptitiously, top secret, unalienable, unchallengeable, uncommunicative, undisclosed, unofficial, unquestionable, unsociable, unsocial, withdrawn
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