policy
UK /ˈpɒl.ə.si/ · US /ˈpɑ.lə.si/ noun, verb
Forms policies policying policied
- noun A principle of behaviour, conduct which an entity (government, organization, etc.) applies or seeks to follow, especially as formally expressed by an authoritative body. “The Communist Party has a policy of returning power to the workers.”
- noun A document describing such a policy. “Please print extra copies of this policy and post them where it will be easy for everyone to see.”
- noun Wise, advantageous, or politic conduct; prudence, formerly also with connotations of craftiness.
- noun (now rare) Specifically, political shrewdness or (formerly) cunning; statecraft.
- noun (Scotland, now chiefly in the plural) The grounds of a large country house.
- noun (obsolete) The art of governance; political science.
- noun (obsolete) A state; a polity.
- noun (obsolete) A set political system; civil administration.
- verb (transitive) To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.
- noun A contract of insurance.
- noun A document containing or certifying this contract. “Your insurance policy covers fire and theft only.”
- noun (obsolete) An illegal daily lottery in late nineteenth and early twentieth century USA on numbers drawn from a lottery wheel (no plural)
- noun A number pool lottery
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English policie, from Old French policie, pollicie and police, 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”). Doublet of police, polis (“police”), and polity.
From Middle French police, from Italian polizza, from Medieval Latin apodissa (“receipt for money”), from Ancient Greek ἀπόδειξις (apódeixis, “proof, declaration”). Doublet of apodixis.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Civil polity. [Obs.]
- noun The settled method by which the government and affairs of a nation are, or may be, administered; a system of public or official administration, as designed to promote the external or internal prosperity of a state.
- verb To regulate by laws; to reduce to order. [Obs.] "Policying of cities." Bacon.
- noun A ticket or warrant for money in the public funds.
Etymology [L. politia, Gr. police, Of. police. See Police, n.]
Etymology [F. police; cf. Pr. polissia, Sp. pólizia, It. pólizza; of uncertain origin; cf. L. pollex thumb (as being used in pressing the seal), in LL. also, seal; or cf. LL. politicum, poleticum, polecticum, L. polyptychum, account book, register, fr. Gr. apodixa a receipt.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “policy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details