Pri″vate (prī″vā̍t), n.
1. A secret message; a personal unofficial communication. Shak.
2. Personal interest; particular business.
Nor must I be unmindful of my private. B. Jonson.
3. Privacy; retirement. “Go off; I discard you; let me enjoy my private.” Shak.
4. One not invested with a public office.
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.