public

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Of, concerning, or affecting the community or the people.
• adjective Maintained for or used by the people or community.
• adjective Capitalized in shares of stock that can be traded on the open market.
• adjective Participated in or attended by the people or community.
• adjective Connected with or acting on behalf of the people, community, or government.
• adjective Enrolled in or attending a public school.
• adjective Open to the knowledge or judgment of all.
• noun The community or the people as a whole.
• noun A group of people sharing a common interest.
• noun Admirers or followers, especially of a famous person.
• idiom (go public with) To reveal to the public a previously unknown or secret piece of information.
• idiom (in public) In such a way as to be visible to the scrutiny of the people.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Of or belonging to the people at large; relating to or affecting the whole people of a state, nation, or community: opposed to private: as, the public good; public affairs; the public service; a public calamity; public opinion.
• Open to all the people; shared in or to be shared or participated in or enjoyed by people at large; not limited or restricted to any particular class of the community: as, a public meeting; public worship; a public subscription; a public road; a public house; public baths.
• Open to the view or knowledge of all; notorious: as, a public exposure; public scandal.
• Regarding or directed to the interests of the community at large, and not limited or confined to private, personal, or selfish matters or interests: as, public spirit; a public benefaction.
• Public house and public place are used in numerous statutes against immoral practices, gaming, prostitution, etc., with varying limitations of meaning, but generally implying a place to which any one may have access without trespassing.
• Warehouses to which dutiable goods are sent for appraisement; bonded warehouses, or stores in which goods are held under bond for duty until sold or exported.
• A use so intimately allied to or affecting the public welfare or convenience that the state may regulate it as to the management or charges: thus, the great grain-elevators of modern commerce, standing between the wharves of lake or ocean navigation and the termini of trunk lines of railway, have been held to be so affected with a public use that the state may regulate by law the rates of charges.
• In patent law, use without restriction by one or more members of the community, as distinguished from use by the inventor: thus, an inventor 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.
• noun The general body of people constituting a nation, state, or community; the people, indefinitely: with the.
• noun A public house.

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

• noun The general body of mankind, or of a nation, state, or community; the people, indefinitely; ; also, a particular body or aggregation of people.
• noun Scot. A public house; an inn.
• noun openly; before an audience or the people at large; not in private or secrecy.
• adjective Of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community; -- opposed to private.
• adjective Open to the knowledge or view of all; general; common; notorious
• adjective Open to common or general use
• adjective (Law) an act or statute affecting matters of public concern. Of such statutes the courts take judicial notice.
• adjective See under Credit.
• adjective See Fund, 3.
• adjective an inn, or house of entertainment.
• adjective A public act or statute.
• adjective (Law) See under Nuisance.
• adjective (Eng. Universities) See Orator, 3.
• adjective military and naval stores, equipments, etc.
• adjective all fixed works built by civil engineers for public use, as railways, docks, canals, etc.; but strictly, military and civil engineering works constructed at the public cost.

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

• adjective of a company Traded publicly via a stock market.
• noun The people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group.

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

• noun a body of people sharing some common interest
• noun people in general considered as a whole
• adjective affecting the people or community as a whole
• adjective not private; open to or concerning the people as a whole