Public /(?)/
Pub·lic
Public
a.
-
Of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; -- opposed to private; as, the public treasury.
To the public good Private respects must yield.
He [Alexander Hamilton] touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it sprung upon its feet.
-
Open to the knowledge or view of all; general; common; notorious; as, public report; public scandal.
Joseph, . . . not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
- Open to common or general use; as, a public road; a public house.
Phrases & Compounds
- public act
- an act or statute affecting matters of public concern. Of such statutes the courts take judicial notice.
- Public credit
- See under Credit.
- Public funds
- See Fund, 3.
- Public house
- an inn, or house of entertainment.
- Public law
- See International law, under International.
- Public nuisance
- See under Nuisance.
- Public orator
- See Orator, 3.
- Public stores
- military and naval stores, equipments, etc.
- Public works
- all fixed works built by civil engineers for public use, as railways, docks, canals, etc.; but strictly, military and civil engineering works constructed at the public cost.
Public
n.
-
The general body of mankind, or of a nation, state, or community; the people, indefinitely; as, the American public; also, a particular body or aggregation of people; as, an author's public.
The public is more disposed to censure than to praise.
- A public house; an inn. [Scot.]
Phrases & Compounds
- In public
- openly; before an audience or the people at large; not in private or secrecy.