Privy

a. [Fr. privé, from Lat. privatus. See PRIVATE.]

1. Pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to private uses; not public; private; as, the privy purse; the privy coffer of a king.
2. Not open or public; secret; clandestine; as, a privy attempt to kill one.
3. Appropriated to retirement; not shown; private; not open for the admission of company; as, a privy chamber.

It is the sword of the great men that are slain which entereth into their privy chambers. Ezek. xxi. 14. 4. Admitted to the participation of knowledge with another of a secret transaction; secretly cognizant; privately knowing. Myself am one made privy to the plot. Shak. He would rather lose half of his kingdom than be privy to such a secret. Swift. Privy chamber, the private apartment in a royal residence or mansion. [Eng.]—Privy council, a number of distinguished persons selected by a sovereign to advise in the administration of the government. Blackstone.—Privy councilor, a member of the privy council.—Privy purse, moneys set apart for the personal use of the monarch; also, the title of the person having charge of these moneys. [Eng.] Macaulay.—Privy seal or signet, the seal which the king uses previously in grants, &c., which are to pass the great seal, or which he uses in matters of subordinate consequence, which do not require the great seal; also, elliptically, the principal secretary of state, or person intrusted with the privy seal. [Eng.]—Privy verdict, a verdict given privily to the judge out of court; now disused. Burrill.