*ivy*

n.; pl. Ivies [ AS. īfig; akin to OHG. ebawi, ebah, G. epheu. ] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Hedera (Hedera helix), common in Europe. Its leaves are evergreen, dark, smooth, shining, and mostly five-pointed; the flowers yellowish and small; the berries black or yellow. The stem clings to walls and trees by rootlike fibers. [ 1913 Webster ]

Direct
The clasping ivy where to climb. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

American ivy. (Bot.) See Virginia creeper. --
English ivy (Bot.), a popular name in America for the ivy proper (Hedera helix). --
German ivy (Bot.), a creeping plant, with smooth, succulent stems, and fleshy, light-green leaves; a species of Senecio (Senecio scandens). --
Ground ivy. (Bot.) Gill (Nepeta Glechoma). --
Ivy bush. (Bot.) See Mountain laurel, under Mountain. --
Ivy owl (Zool.), the barn owl. --
Ivy tod (Bot.), the ivy plant. Tennyson. --
Japanese ivy (Bot.), a climbing plant (Ampelopsis tricuspidata), closely related to the Virginia creeper. --
Poison ivy (Bot.), an American woody creeper (Rhus Toxicodendron), with trifoliate leaves, and greenish-white berries. It is exceedingly poisonous to the touch for most persons. --
To pipe in an ivy leaf, to console one's self as best one can. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. --
West Indian ivy, a climbing plant of the genus Marcgravia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Covered with ivy. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. privé, fr. L. privatus. See Private. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Of or pertaining to some person exclusively; assigned to private uses; not public; private; as, the privy purse. “ Privee knights and squires.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Secret; clandestine. “ A privee thief.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Appropriated to retirement; private; not open to the public. “ Privy chambers.” Ezek. xxi. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Admitted to knowledge of a secret transaction; secretly cognizant; privately knowing. [ 1913 Webster ]

His wife also being privy to it. Acts v. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

Myself am one made privy to the plot. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Privy chamber, a private apartment in a royal residence. [ Eng. ] --
Privy council (Eng. Law), the principal council of the sovereign, composed of the cabinet ministers and other persons chosen by the king or queen. Burrill. --
Privy councilor, a member of the privy council. --
Privy purse, moneys set apart for the personal use of the monarch; also, the title of the person having charge of these moneys. [ Eng. ] Macaulay. --
Privy seal or
Privy signet, the seal which the king uses in grants, etc., which are to pass the great seal, or which he uses in matters of subordinate consequence which do not require the great seal; also, elliptically, the principal secretary of state, or person intrusted with the privy seal. [ Eng. ] --
Privy verdict, a verdict given privily to the judge out of court; -- now disused. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Privies 1. (Law) A partaker; a person having an interest in any action or thing; one who has an interest in an estate created by another; a person having an interest derived from a contract or conveyance to which he is not himself a party. The term, in its proper sense, is distinguished from party. Burrill. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A necessary house or place for performing excretory functions in private; an outhouse; a backhouse. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. i. To go away in haste. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Said to be from the note of a hunting horn. ] Swiftly; speedily; rapidly; -- a fox-hunting term; as, to ride tantivy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A rapid, violent gallop; an impetuous rush. Cleverland. [ 1913 Webster ]