privy chambern.

Brit.

/ˌprɪvɪ ˈtʃeɪmbə/, U.S.

/ˌprɪvi ˈtʃeɪmbər/

Forms: see privy adj., n., and adv. and chamber n.

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: privy adj., chamber n.

Etymology: < privy adj. + chamber n. Compare post-classical Latin camera privata privy (1155, 1275 in British sources).

1. = privy n. 1. Now historical and rare.

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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > sanitation > privy or latrine > [noun]

gongOE

privy?c1225

room-housec1275

chamber foreignc1300

wardrobea1325

privy chamberc1325

foreignc1390

siegec1400

stool1410

jakes1432

house of easementa1438

kocayc1440

siege-hole1440

siege-house1440

privy house1463

withdraught1493

draught1530

shield1535

bench-hole1542

common house1542

stool1542

jakes house1547

boggard1552

house of office?1560

purging place1577

little house1579

issue1588

Ajax1596

draught-house1597

private1600

necessary house1612

vault1617

longhouse1622

latrine1623

necessary1633

commonsa1641

gingerbread officea1643

boghouse1644

cloaca1645

passage-house1646

retreat1653

shithouse1659

closet of ease1662

garderobe1680

backside1704

office1727

bog?1731

house of ease1734

cuz-john1735

easing-chair1771

backhouse1800

outhouse1819

netty1825

petty1848

seat of ease1850

closet1869

bathroom1883

crapper1927

lat1927

shouse1941

biffy1942

shitholec1947

toot1965

shitter1967

woodshed1974

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 10527 (MED) Some deide vaste, & þulke in priue chaumbres villiche hii caste.

1978 M. Girouard Life of Eng. Country House iii. 56 Privy, privy house or privy chamber were the commonest terms in the Middle Ages, but..latrine, necessary and gong were also current.

1986 S. Penman Here be Dragons (1991) (U.K. ed.) i. xxiv. 341 Her queasiness had mercifully abated, too, and with Branwen's help, she was even able to walk the few steps into the privy chamber.

a. A room reserved for the private or exclusive use of a particular person or persons, esp. within an official residence, public building, etc. Now rare in general sense.

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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room generally > [noun] > private or inner room

bowerc1000

chamber?c1225

privy chambera1382

closeta1387

closera1400

conclavea1400

wardrobea1400

cell?1440

garderobe?c1450

retreatc1500

parlour1561

cabinet1565

cabin1594

in-room?1615

recamera1622

sanctum sanctorum1707

adytum1800

snuggery1812

sulking-room1816

sanctum1819

anderoon1840

inner sanctum1843

thalamus1850

growlery1853

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Judith xiii. 1 Vagio closede þe doris of þe priue chaumbre [a1425 L.V. closet; L. cubiculi].

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 414 Pryvy chawmyr, conclave.

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 19 Brynge thy moder in to a prevy chamber.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 2972 Thou dissyret full depely, dame Elan..To pas fro þi palis & þi priuey chamber.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. 13 Those which couet to get learning, seeke it not in publike places..but in their studies and priuie chambers.

c1600 (?c1395) Pierce Ploughman's Crede (Trin. Cambr. R.3.15) (1873) 627 Vnder a pot he schal be put in a pryvie chambre, Þat he schal lyuen ne last but litell while after.

1632 R. Brome Northern Lasse iv. v. sig. K^v Squ. How could she know that I was here? How. Shee spied you in the Streete sir, and followed you, and follow you shee would, had you gone into the Priuy Chamber she sweares.

1882 C. M. Yonge Unknown to Hist. I. 103 He sent in a message desiring to speak to my lord [sc. the Earl of Shrewsbury] in his privy chamber.

2006 www.geocities.com 24 Mar. (O.E.D. Archive) Milady's suite had a bedroom and w.c. in the tower, a dressing room, a small parlor, and anteroom, and her privy chamber.

b. spec. A private apartment in a royal residence; (more generally) a chamber reserved for the use of the monarch. Now historical.Early examples are arguably merely contextual uses of sense 2a.Also in the titles of various members of the royal household, these being originally in personal attendance on the monarch, as Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, Groom of the Privy Chamber, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room generally > [noun] > private or inner room > in a royal residence

privy chambera1382

parlourc1384

closet1447

society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > attendant or personal servant > [noun] > lord-in-waiting

gentlemanc1400

gentleman of the privy chamber1549

privy chamberer1640

Gentleman of the Privy Chamber1681

lord of the bedchamber1717

lord in waiting1719

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) 4 Kings vi. 12 Helisee..schewith to þe kyng alle woordis, what euere þou hast spoken in þi pryue chaumbre [L. in conclavi tuo].

1529 T. Alward in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) I. 309 My Lords Grace went again unto the Kyngs Highnes beyng then in his pryvie chamber.

1540 T. Cromwell in R. B. Merriman Life & Lett. T. Cromwell (1902) II. 270 Your Magestye avauncyd toward the galerye owt of your pryvey Chambre.

1610 in W. Fraser Red Bk. Grandtully (1868) I. 110 Sir William Stewartt..gentill mane of his maiesteis moist honorabill privie chalmer.

1661–85 in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (1790) 362 None shall presume to come into Our Privy Chamber..in cloakes, or great coates, or in bootes.

1681 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Reformation: 2nd Pt. i. 6 Those that attended on him [sc. Henry VIII] in his Bed-Chamber during his sickness; though they were called Gentlemen of the Privy-Chamber; for the Service of the Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber was not then set up.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Chamber The Gentlemen of the Privy-Chamber are Servants of the King, who are to wait and attend on him and the Queen at Court, in their Diversions, Progresses, &c... Their number is 48. Their Institution is owing to King Henry VII.

1774 T. Warton Hist Eng. Poetry II. xvi. 405 He dined both in the hall, and in his privy chamber, under a cloth of estate.

1828 P. F. Tytler Hist. Scotl. (1864) I. 39 The King of England summoned Baliol..into his privy chamber at Newcastle.

1860 Times 31 Mar. 5/1 The Queen has also been pleased to appoint John Francis Campbell of Islay, Esq., to be one of the Grooms of Her Majesty's Privy Chamber in ordinary.

1933 Burlington Mag. Oct. 146/2 These..portraits..brought Holbein immediate fame and the order to decorate the King's Privy Chamber in Whitehall Palace with wall-paintings.

1953 G. R. Elton Tudor Rev. in Govt. i. 42 During Wolsey's wars household officers, whether gentlemen of the privy chamber or clerks of the kitchen and the like, did good service in the national administration.

2004 Independent (Nexis) 28 June The groom of the stool..is the head of the royal private service, he is in charge of the privy chamber.

†c. figurative and in figurative contexts. A private or intimate place; a position of close proximity or intimacy. Obsolete.

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c1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert (1910) 83 (MED) Þei whech schuld entyr in-to þe priuy chaumbyr of þe spouse, þei schuld only entende on-to þe swete halsyng of þe same spouse.

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 432 All these indiuiduall formes receiued by the senses, are..resigned vp in token of fœalty to the Common sense or priuy chamber of the soule.

1645 G. Daniel Odes xlvi, in Wks. (Grosart) II. 96 Nor can Man in this Motley, meerlie man, Stand in the privie Chamber of his heart.

1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 192 First to the Presence-chamber of Beauty went... Next to the Privy-chamber of Discourse, Where Ignorance, and Non-sense had great force.

Derivatives

† privy chamberer n. Obsolete a person who frequents the royal privy chamber.

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