policy
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle French policie, from Late Latin politia (“citizenship; government”), classical Latin polītīa (in Cicero), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “citizenship; polis, (city) state; government”), from πολίτης (polítēs, “citizen”). Compare police and polity.
Noun[edit]
policy (countable and uncountable, plural policies)
- A principle of behaviour, conduct etc. thought to be desirable or necessary, especially as formally expressed by a government or other authoritative body. [from 15th c.]
- The Communist Party has a policy of returning power to the workers.
- It's company policy that all mobile phones are forbidden in meetings.
- Wise or advantageous conduct; prudence, formerly also with connotations of craftiness. [from 15th c.]
- 1639, Thomas Fuller, “King Richard Taken Prisoner in Austria; Sold and Sent to the Emperour; Dearly Ransomed, Returneth Home”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge [and sold by John Williams, London], OCLC 913016526, book III, page 130:
- [H]e [Richard I of England] was diſcovered in an inne in Auſtria, becauſe he diſguiſed his perſon not his expenſes; ſo that the very policie of an hoſteſſe, finding his purſe ſo farre above his clothes, did detect him: […]
- 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Pride and Prejudice, volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton […], OCLC 38659585, page 131:
- These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I with greater policy concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; […]
- (now rare) Specifically, political shrewdness or (formerly) cunning; statecraft. [from 15th c.]
- c. 1589–1590, Christopher Marlo[we], Tho[mas] Heywood, editor, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Ievv of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, OCLC 1121318438, Act I:
- Ay, 'policy! that's their profession,
And not simplicity, as they suggest.
- 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.25:
- Whether he believed himself a god, or only took on the attributes of divinity from motives of policy, is a question for the psychologist, since the historical evidence is indecisive.
- (Scotland, now chiefly in the plural) The grounds of a large country house. [from 18th c.]
- 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, Limited., published 1886, OCLC 1056292939:
- There was but one thing happened worth narrating; and that is the visit I had of Robin Oig, one of the sons of the notorious Rob Roy. He was sought upon all sides on a charge of carrying a young woman from Balfron and marrying her (as was alleged) by force; yet he stepped about Balquhidder like a gentleman in his own walled policy.
- 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, page 36:
- Next morning was so splendid that as he walked through the policies towards the mansion house despair itself was lulled.
- (obsolete) The art of governance; political science. [14th–18th c.]
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i], pages 69–70:
- Liſt his diſcourse of Warre; and you ſhall heare / A fearefull Battaile rendred you in Muſique. / Turne him to any Cauſe of Pollicy, / The Gordian Knot of it he will vnlooſe, / Familiar as his Garter: […]
- (obsolete) A state; a polity. [14th–16th c.]
- (obsolete) A set political system; civil administration. [15th–19th c.]
- (obsolete) A trick; a stratagem. [15th–19th c.]
- c. 1588–1593, [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, OCLC 222241046, [Act II, scene i]:
- Tis pollicie and ſtratageme must doo / That you affect, and ſo muſt you reſolue, / That what you cannot as you would atchiue, / You muſt perforce accompliſh as you may: […]
- (obsolete) Motive; object; inducement.
- c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The First Booke] I”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, OCLC 801077108; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, OCLC 318419127, page 9:
- I pray you (said he) honest men, what such right have you in me, as not to suffer me to doe with my self what I list? and what pollicie have you to bestow a benefite where it is counted an injury?
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- → Burmese: ပေါ်လစီ (paula.ci)
Translations[edit]
principle of conduct
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prudent conduct
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Verb[edit]
policy (third-person singular simple present policies, present participle policying, simple past and past participle policied)
- (transitive) To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.
- 1605, Francis Bacon, “(please specify |book=1 or 2)”, in The Tvvoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], OCLC 932932554:
- Policying of cities.
Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle French police, from Italian polizza, from Medieval Latin apodissa (“receipt for money”), from Ancient Greek ἀπόδειξις (apódeixis, “proof, declaration”).
Noun[edit]
policy (plural policies)
- (law)
- A contract of insurance.
- A document containing or certifying this contract.
- Your insurance policy covers fire and theft only.
- (obsolete) An illegal daily lottery in late nineteenth and early twentieth century USA on numbers drawn from a lottery wheel (no plural)
- A number pool lottery
Synonyms[edit]
- (number pool) policy racket
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
law: insurance — see insurance
law: insurance document
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number pool — see number pool
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading[edit]
policy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - policy at OneLook Dictionary Search
- policy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- policy in Britannica Dictionary
- policy in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
- policy in Sentence collocations by Cambridge Dictionary
- policy in Ozdic collocation dictionary
- policy in WordReference English Collocations
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