Private /(?; 48)/

Pri·vate

Private

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.
  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.
  3. Not invested with, or engaged in, public office or employment; as, a private citizen; private life.
    A private person may arrest a felon.
  4. Not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private negotiation; a private understanding.
  5. Having secret or private knowledge; privy. [Obs.]

Phrases & Compounds
Private act [or] 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.
Private nuisance [or] wrong
See Nuisance.
Private soldier
See Private, n., 5.
Private way
a right of private passage over another man's ground.

Private

n.
  1. A secret message; a personal unofficial communication. [Obs.]
  2. Personal interest; particular business. [Obs.]
    Nor must I be unmindful of my private.
  3. Privacy; retirement. [Archaic]
  4. One not invested with a public office. [Archaic]
    What have kings, that privates have not too?
  5. A common soldier; a soldier below the grade of a noncommissioned officer. (Mil.)
  6. The private parts; the genitals.

Phrases & Compounds
In private
secretly; not openly or publicly.