Search the Dictionary

A privy near the bow of the vessel.

ag in the pipe is filled with the liquid; a draintrap. Great seal. See under Great. -- Privy seal. See under Privy, a. -- Seal lock, a lock in which the keyhole is covered by a seal in such a way that the lock can not be opened without rupturing the seal. Seal manual. See under Manual, a. -- Seal ring, a ring having…

ling private letters and grants that pass by bill under the sign manual; -- called also privy signet. I had my father's signet in my purse. Shak. Signet ring, a ring containing a signet or private seal. -- Writer to the signet (Scots Law), a judicial officer who prepares warrants, writs, etc.; originally, a clerk in t…

e of dignity next in degree below knight, and above gentleman. See Esquire. [Eng.] "His privy knights and squires." Chaucer.

One who, or that which, stabs; a privy murderer.

h sat without the intervention of a jury. It consisted of the king's council, or of the privy council only with the addition of certain judges. It could proceed on mere rumor or examine witnesses; it could apply torture. It was abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641. Encyc. Brit.

One not privy or party an act, contract, or title; a mere intruder or intermeddler; one who interferes without right; as, actual possession of land gives a good title against a stranger having no title; as to strangers, a mortgage is considered merely as a pledge; a mere stranger to the levy.

a large head, used chiefly for ornament; an ornamental knob; a boss. A belt of straw and ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs. Marlowe. Crystal and myrrhine cups, embossed with gems And studs of pearl. Milton.

One who steals; one who commits theft or larceny. See Theft. There came a privy thief, men clepeth death. Chaucer. Where thieves break through and steal. Matt. vi. 19.

A staff entwined with ivy, and surmounted by a pine cone, or by a bunch of vine or ivy leaves with grapes or berries. It is an attribute of Bacchus, and of the satyrs and others engaging in Bacchic rites. A good to grow on graves As twist about a thyrsus. Mrs. Browning. In my hand I bear The thyrsus, tipped with fragra…

A bush; a thick shrub; a bushy clump. [R.] "An ivy todde." Spenser. The ivy tod is heavy with snow. Coleridge.

To write over again, or in the same words; to copy; as, to transcribe Livy or Tacitus; to transcribe a letter.

Ground ivy; alehoof.

to wind; to encircle; to unite by intertexture of parts. "Longing to twist bays with that ivy." Waller. There are pillars of smoke twisted about wreaths of flame. T. Burnet.

nish, either naturally or artificially; a glossy appearance. The varnish of the holly and ivy. Macaulay.

efolia), climbing extensively by means of tendrils; -- called also woodbine, and American ivy. [U.S.] -- Virginia fence. See Worm fence, under Fence. -- Virginia nightingale (Zoöl.), the cardinal bird. See under Cardinal. -- Virginia quail (Zoöl.), the bobwhite. -- Virginia reel, an old English contradance; -- so ca…

To watch; to observe; to take notice. [Obs.] "But [unless] ye wait well and be privy, I wot right well, I am but dead," quoth she. Chaucer.

A privy. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A privy; especially, a privy furnished with a contrivance for introducing a stream of water to cleanse it.

arms. Shak. Dusk faces with withe silken turbants wreathed. Milton. And with thy winding ivy wreathes her lance. Dryden.