Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To reduce to order; regulate by laws; police.
  • noun A written contract by which a person, company, or party engages to pay a certain sum on certain contingencies, as in the case of fire or shipwreck, in the event of death, etc., on the condition of receiving a fixed sum or percentage on the amount of the risk, or certain periodical payments. See insurance.
  • noun A ticket or warrant for money in the public funds.
  • noun A form of gambling in which bets are made on numbers to be drawn by lottery. [U. S.]
  • noun Polity; administration; public business.
  • noun Object or course of conduct, or the principle or body of principles to be observed in conduct; specifically, the system of measures or the line of conduct which a ruler, minister, government, or party adopts and pursues as best for the interests of the country, as regards its foreign or its domestic affairs: as, a spirited foreign policy; the commercial policy of the United States; a policy of peace; public policy.
  • noun Prudence or wisdom in action, whether public or private; especially, worldly wisdom: as, honesty is the best policy.
  • noun In Scotland, the pleasure-grounds around a nobleman's or gentleman's country house.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.
  • noun obsolete Civil polity.
  • 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.
  • noun The method by which any institution is administered; system of management; course.
  • noun Management or administration based on temporal or material interest, rather than on principles of equity or honor; hence, worldly wisdom; dexterity of management; cunning; stratagem.
  • noun Prudence or wisdom in the management of public and private affairs; wisdom; sagacity; wit.
  • noun obsolete Motive; object; inducement.
  • noun A ticket or warrant for money in the public funds.
  • noun The writing or instrument in which a contract of insurance is embodied; an instrument in writing containing the terms and conditions on which one party engages to indemnify another against loss arising from certain hazards, perils, or risks to which his person or property may be exposed. See Insurance.
  • noun A method of gambling by betting as to what numbers will be drawn in a lottery.
  • noun a policy that shows by its form that the assured has a real, substantial interest in the matter insured.
  • noun one in which the value of the goods or property insured is not mentioned.
  • noun a book to contain a record of insurance policies.
  • noun one to whom an insurance policy has been granted.
  • noun a gambling place where one may bet on the numbers which will be drawn in lotteries.
  • noun one in which the value of the goods, property, or interest insured is specified.
  • noun a policy that shows on the face of it that the contract it embodies is a pretended insurance, founded on an ideal risk, where the insured has no interest in anything insured.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A contract of insurance
  • 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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a line of argument rationalizing the course of action of a government
  • noun a plan of action adopted by an individual or social group
  • noun written contract or certificate of insurance

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French policie, from Late Latin politia ("citizenship; government"), classical Latin polītīa (in Cicero), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeia, "citizenship; polis, (city) state; government"), from πολίτης ("citizen"). Compare police.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French police, from Italian polizza, from Medieval Latin apodissa ("receipt for money"), from Ancient Greek ἀπόδειξις (apodeixis, "proof, declaration")

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