privy counsellorn.
/ˌprɪvɪ ˈkaʊns(ᵻ)lə/, U.S. /ˌprɪvi ˈkaʊns(ə)lər/ 1. A private or confidential adviser; esp. a member of a council of advisers to a king, head of state, etc. (cf. privy council n. 2a). Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > advice > [noun] > adviser or counsellor > confidential
privya1325
privy counsellora1393
discreet1474
secreta1513
earworma1670
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 2052 Charl[is] consailer am y pryue, y-sent on his message.]
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 504 (MED) Antiochus..hadde a feloun bacheler, Which was his prive consailer.
c1400 J. Gower Eng. Wks. (1901) II. 485 (MED) If eny man be..Ayein the pes thi preve counseillour..putte awei the cruel werreiour.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 167 (MED) The kynge Of the Cite..sende for the Philosofre, and makyd hym his prywey consailloure.
1657 tr. A. Thevet Prosopographia 11 in T. North tr. Plutarch Lives (new ed.) Some..rashly do fancy to themselves, that they are the Almighties Privie-Counsellors.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 55. ¶4 Avarice..had likewise a Privy-Counsellor who was always at his Elbow, and whispering something or other in his Ear: The Name of this Privy-Counsellor was Poverty.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 360 My principal Guide, and Privy Councellor, was my good antient Widow.
a1725 Ld. Whitworth Acct. Russia in 1710 (1758) 61 The Court..was very numerous and magnificent, being filled on solemn occasions by the Bojars, or privy Counsellors.
1837 W. Irving Adventures Capt. Bonneville II. xxxii. 256 The old chief and his privy counsellor, the guide, had another mysterious colloquy.
1839 T. J. Newbold Polit. & Statist. Acct. Straits of Malacca I. v. 239 The Mantris were the privy councillors to the Panghúlus, two in number.
1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. II. 46/2 Some privy councillor..come to untwine and wheedle your secrets out of you.
1868 Putnam's Mag. Sept. 368 During Niebuhr's absence, in 1823, he [sc. Bunsen] was advanced to the post of Chargé d' Affaires; then, during a visit to Berlin, in 1828, he was made Privy Counsellor of Legation.
1907 J. Conrad Secret Agent ii. 20 Privy Councillor Wurmt, Chancelier d'Ambassade, was rather shortsighted.
1940 Jrnl. Warburg & Courtauld Inst. 3 199 Henri III..made him one of his privy counsellors and bishop of Châlon-sur-Saône.
2001 Thant Myint-U Making Mod. Burma i. 22 Once secure in power he entrusted many of the day-to-day affairs of state to one of his Privy Councillors.
2.
a. In the United Kingdom: a member of the Privy Council, serving (now chiefly in a formal capacity: see privy council n. 3a) as an adviser to the sovereign.Indicated by the addition P.C. to one's name, and styled Right Honourable.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > council of state > [noun] > member of council of state > in Britain or England
privy counsellor1598
wite1701
P.C.1881
1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 369 Sir Robert Cecill knight principall Secretarie to her Maiestie, and one of her Maiesties most Honorable priuie Councellors.
1605–6 House of Commons Jrnls. 4 Mar. 5 f. 59 If a member of this house complayne of another to a privy Counsellor for something done in the house, the Committees for the priviledges to examyne yt.
1659 J. Rushworth Hist. Coll. 165 The Privy-Counsellors to the late King, with all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then about London, were in the Council Chamber at Whitehall by Eight of the Clock in the morning.
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 19 Having..married a near Relative of the Dukes, with wonderfull expedition was made a Privy-Councellour.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. v. 232 The privileges of privy counsellors, as such, consist principally in the security which the law has given them against attempts and conspiracies to destroy their lives.
1814 J. Hunter Who wrote Cavendish's Wolsey? 22 He left it, at about the age of fifty, a knight, a privy counsellor, and the owner of estates.
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) IV. 277 A deed executed in the presence of four privy councillors.
1891 J. Chamberlain in Times 28 Nov. 12/3 There are those who sit upon the front bench who, by reason of not being Privy Councillors, have no right to sit there.
1907 Whitaker's Peerage 49 In the official list the members are termed Privy Counsellors, which is correct, in view of the counsel they are supposed to give; but they are equally Councillors as being members of a Council.
1954 I. Jennings Queen's Government vi. 120 The Minister is in fact sworn of the Privy Council in order that he may be bound by the oath of secrecy which all Privy Counsellors are required to take.
1990 Independent on Sunday 18 Feb. 3/8 He rubbished judges.., the Church of England..and Privy Councillors (of whom he was one).
b. In some (former) British colonies and dominions: a member of a body similar in constitution and function to the British Privy Council. Cf. privy council n. 3b.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > council of state > [noun] > member of council of state > colonial
councillora1619
privy counsellor1632
1632 R. Boyle Mem. 23 June in Jrnl. Cork Hist. & Archaeol. Soc. (1892) 90/2 Principall Secretary of State and privy Counceller in Ireland.
1692 in N. Bouton Provinc. Papers New-Hampsh. (1868) II. 75 The oaths of a privy Councilor were administered to each of the said Council this day.
1774 Court & City Reg. 15 James Hamilton E. of Abercorn, Ld Paisley, (also Viscount Strabane in Ireland), a Privy Counsellor there.
1877 Times 24 Apr. 9/6 The Privy Councillors are to be nominated by the Governor-General [of South Africa], but must be chosen from among the members of the Union Parliament.
1953 B. Hutchison Incredible Canadian xv. 126 He had long been a Privy Councillor and that, he thought, was enough to entitle him to sit as an acting Minister, in receipt of no salary, in Meighen's Cabinet.
1987 N. Ward Dawson's Govt. Canada (ed. 6) ii. 48 An association whose members range from all the party's privy councillors..to delegates from any approved group supporting the party.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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