\Pri"vate\ (?; 48), 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.
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 {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

\Pri"vate\, n.
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.