PRIVILEGE
Priv"i*lege, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Privileged; p. pr. & vb. n.
Privileging.] Etym: [Cf. F. privilégier.]
1. To grant some particular right or exemption to; to invest with a peculiar right or immunity; to authorize; as, to privilege representatives from arrest. To privilege dishonor in thy name. Shak.
2. To bring or put into a condition of privilege or exemption from evil or danger; to exempt; to deliver. He took this place for sanctuary, And it shall privilege him from your hands. Shak.
PRIVILEGED
Priv"i*leged, a.
Defn: Invested with a privilege; enjoying a peculiar right, advantage, or immunity. Privileged communication. (Law) (a) A communication which can not be disclosed without the consent of the party making it, — such as those made by a client to his legal adviser, or by persons to their religious or medical advisers. (b) A communication which does not expose the party making it to indictment for libel, — such as those made by persons communicating confidentially with a government, persons consulted confidentially as to the character of servants, etc. — Privileged debts (Law), those to which a preference in payment is given out of the estate of a deceased person, or out of the estate of an insolvent. Wharton. Burrill. — Privileged witnesses (Law) witnesses who are not obliged to testify as to certain things, as lawyers in relation to their dealings with their clients, and officers of state as to state secrets; also, by statute, clergymen and physicans are placed in the same category, so far as concerns information received by them professionally.
PRIVILY
Priv"i*ly, adv.
Defn: In a privy manner; privately; secretly. Chaucer. 2 Pet. ii. 1.
PRIVITY Priv"i*ty, n.; pl. Privities (-tîz). Etym: [From Privy, a.: cf. F. privauté extreme familiarity.]
1. Privacy; secrecy; confidence. Chaucer. I will unto you, in privity, discover . . . my purpose. Spenser.
2. Private knowledge; joint knowledge with another of a private concern; cognizance implying consent or concurrence. All the doors were laid open for his departure, not without the privity of the Prince of Orange. Swift.