public 
To I In- publick good 
Private respects must yield. Hilton, S. A., 1. 867. 
2. Open to all the people; shared in or to ! 
shared or participated in or enjoyed by people 
at lar^r: not limited or restricted to any par- 
ticular class of the community: as, a \>nl>!i<- 
meeting; public worship; a public subscription ; 
a /iiililir road; a public house ; public baths. 
The church, by her publick reading of the Iwok of God, 
preached only a* * witness; now the principal thing re- 
quired In a witness Is fidelity. Hooker, Eccles. Polity. 
I saw her once 
Hop forty paces through the public street. 
Skat.. A and <:, U. 2. 234. 
And this was obserued both for their publiuue and pri- 
uate prayers. Purchat, Pilgrimage, p. 119. 
There are also divers Convents, which have spacious and 
well kept Gardens, which are always open and publick to 
People of any Note. Later, Journey to Paris, p. 185. 
We leave the narrow lanes behind, and dare 
'I'll' unequal combat in the public square. 
Dryden, ^Eneid, 11. 
3. Open to the view or knowledge of all ; no- 
torious: as, a )mblic exposure; public scandal. 
Of this ordynaunce and bondes there were made instru- 
inenU-s jiiMikeji and letters patentes. 
Berners, tr. of Froissart's Chron., I. clxxiil. 
Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing 
to make her a public example, was minded to put her away 
privily. Mat i. 19. 
4. Regarding or directed to the interests of the 
community at large, and not limited or confuted 
to private, personal, or selfish matters or in- 
terests: as, public spirit; a public benefaction. 
Every true member of the church hath a public spirit, 
preferring the church's interest to his own, and sufferiiiK 
with fellow-members in their suffering, and having a care 
of one another, 1 Cor. xli. 25, 26. Baxter, Self-Dental, it. 
In the public line, engaged in keeping a public house 
or tavern. [Colloq., Great Britain. \ 
Mysell being in the public line, 
I look for howfs I kenn d lang syne, 
Whar gentles used to drink gude wine. 
Scott, Epil. (spoken by Meg Dods) to Drama founded on 
(St. Ronan's Well. 
Notary public. See notary). Public acts, bills, laws, 
legislation, statutes, such acts, bills, etc., as concern 
the community at large, or the state or its municipalities, 
as distinguished from private acts, etc. (see private), one 
important result of the distinction being in the rule that 
the courts take judicial notice of public acts, but a pri- 
vate act must be alleged and proved by him who relies 
upon it. Public administrator, corporation, credit, 
document, domain, enemy, etc. See the nouns. Pub- 
lic funds. See/ndl. Public holiday. Sameask^aJ 
holiday (which see, under holuiay). Public house. () 
An inn or tavern ; in England, especially, one which rarely 
accommodates lodgers, and which has for its chief busi- 
ness the selling of beer and other liquors. [In the United 
States rare and used In a general sense.] I'M Public Am/xr 
and public place are used In numerous statutes against im- 
moral practices, gaming, prostitution, etc., with varying 
limitations of meaning, but generally Implying a place to 
which any one may have access without trespassing. 
Public indecency. See indecency. Public Institu- 
tion, an establishment of an educational, charitable, re- 
formatory, or sanitary character, maintained and con- 
ducted for the use and benefit of the public, and usually 
at the public expense. 
Education, shorter hours of labour, sanitary homes, and 
1/iMic institutions to take the place of the public house. 
Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 741. 
Public lands, lands belonging to government, especially 
such as are open to sale, grant, or other method of dispo- 
sal to whosoever will comply with the conditions pre- 
scribed by law. Public law, International law. See in- 
ternational, a. Public loan. See ioon'. Public nui- 
sance. Sec nuisance, 6. Public office. See ofice, 4. 
Public opinion, see opinion. Public orator, see 
orator, 6. Public policy, the policy, or general purpose 
and spirit, of the law : thus, contracts calculated to de- 
feat justice or to hinder wholesome competition in trade 
are held void, as against public policy, or against the policy 
of the law, even when there Is no positive statutory prohi- 
bition. See policy nf the lair, under Intri. Public print- 
er, prosecutor, records, etc. See the nouns. - Public 
right, iu S<-"tx fi'ii'htl law, the technical name given to a 
heritable right granted by a vassal to be held, not of him- 
self, but of his superior. Public school. See school. 
Public spirit. Sec spirit. Public stores, (a) Naval 
and military stores, equipment, etc. (6) Warehouses to 
which dutiable goods are sent for appraisement; liond- 
ed warehouses, or stores In which goods are held under 
bond for duty until sold or exported. 1 1". S.] Pub- 
lic trust, a trust constituted for the benefit either of 
the public at large or of some considerable part of It 
answering to a particular description. See private. 
Public use. (a) In the constitutional provisions author- 
izing the taking by the state or nation of private property 
fur the use of the |>eiiple at large on mailing compensa- 
tion, a use directly subservient to public necessity or con- 
venience, as for a park, a highway, a railroad, etc., as dis- 
tinguished from uses for private interest, though Inciden- 
tally lieneflcial to the public, as for a mill or factory : thus. 
the supplying of water to a town is a puUir ate tor which It 
may constitutionally be authorized to condemn the rights 
of private owners in watercourses. (6) A use so Intimately 
allied to or affecting the public welfare or convenience 
that the state may regulate It as to the management nr 
charges : thus, the great grain-elevators of modern com- 
merce, stand i Mk r t'rtwt-ru the wharves of lake or ocean navi- 
gation and the termini of trunk lines of railway, have been 
In -Id to be so affected with a public use that the state may 
rrgulate by law the rates of charges, (c) In patent lair, 
4830 
use without restriction by one or more members of the 
community, as distinguished from use by the inventor: 
thus, an in vntoi of a secret spring who should allow Its 
use by others without patenting It might be deemed to 
allow its public use, although, from its peculiarities of 
structure and relation, its use could not be seen by the 
public. Public war. seeiror. Public waters, waters 
which are deemed navigable at common law. See mtn- 
yable. Public works, all fixed works constructed for 
public use, as railways, docks, canals, water works, roads, 
etc.; more strictly, military and civil engineering works 
constructed at the public cost. 
II. n. 1. The general body of people con- 
stituting a nation, state, or community; the 
people, indefinitely: with the. 
God made man in his own Image ; but the public Is made 
by newspapers, members of parliament, excise officers, 
poor-law guardians. Disraeli, Coningsby, 111. 1. 
That . . . the nobler, and what are vulgarly called the 
higher classes of society, are insufficient in their number, 
their power, and co-operation of sentiment to support any 
particular theatre, or piece, independent of the public ; anil 
that ft is only the great mass of the people that can finally 
establish the fate of any theatrical representation. 
W. Cooke, Memoirs of S. Foote, I. 64. 
2. A public house. [Colloq., Eng.] 
It 's so far from the world, as a man may say ; not a 
decent public within a mile and a half, where one can hear 
a bit of news of an evening. 
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xli. 
In every little comfortable public within a circle of thirty 
miles' diameter, the home-brewed quivers iu the ill Mill 
on the open tables. The Atlantic, LVIII. 458. 
In public, in open view ; before the people at large ; not 
in private or secretly. 
In private grieve; but, with a careless scorn, 
In public seem to triumph, not to mourn. 
Granvillf. 
publican (pub'li-kan), . [< ttE.pubtican,<. OK. 
juiblicain, publican, puplieain,popUean, etc., P. 
pttblicaiu = Sp. Pg. It. publicnno, a publican, < 
ii.publicaniiy, pertaining to the public revenues, 
or to their farming out or collection ; as a noun, 
a farmer-general of the public revenue, a tax- 
gatherer; <. publicim, public: see pit/ilic.] 1. In 
ancient Koine, one who farmed the public rev- 
enues; a tax-gatherer. On account of their oppres- 
sive exactions, especially in the conquered provinces, the 
publicans were commonly regarded with detestation. 
As Jesus sat at meat in the hnnse. behold, many publi- 
can* &m\ sinners came and Rat down with him and his dis- 
ciples. Mat. ix. in. 
How like a fawning publican he looks ! 
Shak., M. of V., I. 3. 4i 
Hence 2. Any collector of toll, tribute, cus- 
toms, <ir the like. 
The custom-house of ceitain jntblican* that have the ton- 
nagiiig and poumlaging of all spoken truth. 
Miltim, Areopagitica. 
3. The keeper of a public house or other such 
place of entertainment. In law, under the term 
jniblican* are included innkeepers, hotel-keepers, keepers 
of ale-houses, wine-vaults, etc. Wharttm. |(ircat Britain. J 
The publican can . . . profitably combine the business 
of a bookmaker with the equally profitable business of sell- 
Ing Intoxicant fluids. nineteenth Century, XXVI. 49. 
publicatet (pub'li-kat). r. t. [< L. publicttttt*, 
>p. of publieurr, publish: see piiblixlt.] To pub- 
lish. [Rare.] 
Little sins in them [the clergy], if publicated, grow great 
by their scandall and contagion. 
Bp. (Jauden, Tears of the Church, p. 115. (Dames.) 
publication (pub-li-ka'shon), . [< F. publi- 
cation = Sp. publicticion = Pg. publira^itn = It. 
pubbUeatione,< L. pvblicatio(n-), a making pub- 
lic, an adjudging to the public treasury, < jiub- 
licare, pp. publicattts, make public: ee pitbli- 
cnte, publish.'] 1. The act of publishing, or 
bringing to public notice ; notification to people 
at large, by speech, writing, or printing; procla- 
mation ; promulgation ; announcement : as, the 
publication of statutes ; publication of banns. In 
law, the publication of defamation consists in communi- 
cating it to any third person ; the publication of a will is 
that act of a testator in which he declares to the subscrib- 
ing witnesses that the instrument he asks them to attest 
is his will ; In chancery proceedings, opening to the Inspec- 
tion of the parties depositions that have been taken and 
returned under seal to the court or clerk Is publication. 
The communication of a libel to any one person is a pub- 
lication in the eye of the law. Itlaclrstone, Com., IV . xi. 
On the third puUication they (betrothed persons] are 
said to be asked out. Dickens, David Copperfield. 
2. The act of offering a book, map, print, piece 
of music, or the like, to the public by sale or 
by gratuitous distribution. 
An Imperfect copy having been offered to a liookseller, 
you consented to the publication of one more correct, 
Pope. 
3. A work printed and published; any book, 
pamphlet, or periodical offered for salr in the 
public,: as, a monthly publiru lion, an illustrati-il 
liiililii-iitittit. 4t. Appearance in public ; public 
appearance. [Rare.] 
Rl 
h- 
public-spiritedness 
Ills jealousy . . . attends the' business, the recreations, 
the publications, and ictircnu-ntK of ever}' man. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (cd. 1835), I. 772. 
Obscene publication. See obscene. To pass publica- 
tion, to reach the stage of a cause in chancery when tin 
time for examining witnesses has expired, and the deposi- 
tions kept secret may be disclosed on the application of 
either party. 
public-hearted (pub'lik-har'tedl, a. Having 
the interests of the people at heart; public- 
spirited. 
They were public -hearted men ; as they paid all taxes, so 
they gave up all their time to their country's service, 
without any reward. Clarendon, Great Rebellion. 
publicist (pub'li-sist), n. [= P. publicixte = Sp. 
Pg. publifista = It. pubblicista : as public + -int.} 
1. A writer on the law of nature or the laws of 
nations; one who is versed in public or inter- 
national law; one who treats of the rights and 
mutual obligations of nations. 
The methodized reasonings of the great publicists and 
jurists form the digest and jurisprudence of the Christian 
world. Burke, A Regicide Peace, II. 
The mixed systems of jurisprudence and morals con- 
structed by the publicists of the f/ow Countries appear to 
have been much studied by English lawyers. 
Maine, Ancient Law, p. 45. 
Many publicists still view the allowance of transit 1 1<> 
belligerents! as reconcilable with the notion of neutrality, 
and a number of treaties have expressly granted it to cer- 
tain states. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, 1 100. 
2. One who is versed in or who writes upon 
the current political topics of the time. 
This eminent publicist, . . . Mr. Arthur Pendennis. 
Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxvi. 
"Slow and sure" is not the motto of either reader or 
writer in these days. Public and publicist are acceptable 
to each other in proportion as they are ready to conform 
to the electric influences of the times. 
Kineteenth Century, XX. 518. 
publicity (pub-lis'i-ti), w. [< V.pul>licitc = 8>p. 
publicitlad = Pg. j>i(blici<lntlc = lt.pubblicita ; as 
l>ublic + -ity.] The state of being public, or 
open to the observation or inquiry of a com- 
munity; notoriety: as, to give publicity to a 
private communication. 
publicly (pub'lik-li), arlr. In a public manner. 
(n) Openly ; without reserve or privacy. 
Sometimes also it may be private, communicating to 
the judges some things not fit to bv publicly delivered. 
llacmi. 
When Socrates reproved I'lato at a feast, Plato told him 
" it had been better he had told him his fault in private, 
for to speak it publicly is indecency." 
Jer. Taylor, Works, V. 378. 
Hut he so much scorned their charftie, and publiktly 
defied the vttermostof their erueltie, he wisely prevented 
their policies. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 162. 
(b) In the name of the community ; with general consent. 
This has been so sensibly known by trading nations that 
great rewards are publicly offered for its supply. A ddison. 
public-minded (pnb'lik-mln'ded), . Disposed 
to promote the public interest; public-spirited. 
public-mindedness (pub'lik-min'ded-nes), n. 
A disposition to promote the public interest ; 
public spirit. 
All nations that grew great out of little or nothing did 
so merely by the public-mindedness of particular persons. 
Smith. 
publicness (pub'lik-nes), n. 1. The character 
of common possession or interest; joint hold- 
ing: as, the publicness of property. 
The vast multitude of partners does detract nothing from 
each private share, nor does the publidmess of It lessen 
propriety in it lioyle, Works, 1. 
2. Openness or exposure to the notice or know- 
ledge of the community or of people at large ; 
notoriety: as, the pubiicness of a resort; the 
publicness of a scandal. 
The publickness of a sin is an aggravation of It ; makes 
tt more scandalous, and so more crimlnous also. 
Hammond, Works, I. 218. (Latham.) 
public-spirited (publik-spir'i-ted),rt. 1. Hav- 
ing or exercising a disposition to promote the 
interest or advantage of the community ; dis- 
posed to make private sacrifices for the public 
good: as, Apublic-xpirited citizen. 
At Geyra I went to the house of the aga, a venerable old 
man, who was one of those public -spirited Turks that en- 
tertains all strangers. 
Pocockf, Description of the East, II. II. 71. 
It was generous and public-spirited In you to be of the 
kingdom's side in this dispute. Str\ft. 
2. Dictated by or based on regard for the pub- 
lic good: as, a )iul>lir-xiiiritril measure. 
Another public-spirited project, which the common ene- 
my could not foresee, might set King Charles on the 
throne. Addistm. 
public-spiritedly (pub'lik-spir'i-ted-li), n<l<-. 
With pulilir >pirit. 
public spiritedness (pub'lik-spir'i-ted-nesi. . 
The quality or character of bt-iti"; piiblir-Npir- 
