private Idiom, Proverb
Private Stock
a brand of malt liquor
in private
privately;secretly私人地;秘密地
I wish to talk to you in private.我想同你私下谈谈。
in private|private
adj. or
adv. phr. Not openly or in public; apart from others; confidentially; secretly.
Mr. Jones waited until they were home in private before he punished his son. The teacher told Susan that she wanted to talk to her in private after class. Compare: IN SECRET.
Antonym: IN PUBLIC.
private eye|eye|private
n.,
colloquial A private investigator; a detective.
Buddy Ebsen played a private eye on "Bamaby Jones."
private
private In addition to the idiom beginning with
private, also see
free enterprise;
in private.
private eye
private eye A privately employed detective, as opposed to one working for the police or another authority. For example,
The children loved stories about private eyes, and Janey wanted to become one. This expression comes from the term
private investigator, the “i” of investigator being changed to “eye,” which plays on the idea of a person looking into things. [1930s]