n. [ LL. deprivatio. ] 1. The act of depriving, dispossessing, or bereaving; the act of deposing or divesting of some dignity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being deprived; privation; loss; want; bereavement. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eccl. Law) the taking away from a clergyman his benefice, or other spiritual promotion or dignity. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Deprivation may be a beneficio or ab officio; the first takes away the living, the last degrades and deposes from the order. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; G. pl. -docenten /plu>. [ Also Privatdozent. ] [ G.; privat private + docent teacher. See Docent. ] In the universities of Germany and some other European countries, a licensed teacher or lecturer having no share in the university government and dependent upon fees for remuneration. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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 ]

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 ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Privateered p. pr. & vb. n. Privateering. ] To cruise in a privateer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Private. ] 1. An armed private vessel which bears the commission of the sovereign power to cruise against the enemy. See Letters of marque, under Marque. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The commander of a privateer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Kidd soon threw off the character of a privateer and became a pirate. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Cruising in a privateer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Privateersmen An officer or seaman of a privateer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. In a private manner; not openly; without the presence of others. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In a manner affecting an individual; personally; not officially; as, he is not privately benefited. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Seclusion from company or society; retirement; privacy; secrecy. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of one not invested with public office. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. privatio: cf. F. privation. See Private. ] 1. The act of depriving, or taking away; hence, the depriving of rank or office; degradation in rank; deprivation. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being deprived or destitute of something, especially of something required or desired; destitution; need; as, to undergo severe privations. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The condition of being absent; absence; negation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Evil will be known by consequence, as being only a privation, or absence, of good. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Privation mere of light and absent day. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. privativus: cf. F. privatif. See Private. ] 1. Causing privation; depriving. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Consisting in the absence of something; not positive; negative. [ 1913 Webster ]

Privative blessings, blessings of immunity, safeguard, liberty, and integrity. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Gram.) Implying privation or negation; giving a negative force to a word; as, alpha privative; privative particles; -- applied to such prefixes and suffixes as a- (Gr. &unr_;), un-, non-, -less. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. That of which the essence is the absence of something. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blackness and darkness are indeed but privatives. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Logic) A term indicating the absence of any quality which might be naturally or rationally expected; -- called also privative term. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Gram.) A privative prefix or suffix. See Privative, a., 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a privative manner; by the absence of something; negatively. [ R. ] Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being privative. [ 1913 Webster ]