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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Private \Pri"vate\ (pr[imac]"v[asl]t), 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? --Shak.
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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Private \Pri"vate\ (?; 48), adjective [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}, adjective]
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.]
{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}, noun, 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]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
private
adjective
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)}]
4: not expressed; "secret (or private) thoughts" [syn: {secret}]
noun: an enlisted man of the lowest rank; "our prisoner was just a private and knew nothing of value" [syn: {buck private}, {common soldier}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
125 Moby Thesaurus words for "private": 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
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
PRIVATE, noun A military gentleman with a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack and an impediment in his hope.
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