policy

Meanings

Noun

• A principle of behaviour, conduct etc. thought to be desirable or necessary, especially as formally expressed by a government or other authoritative body.
• Wise or advantageous conduct; prudence, formerly also with connotations of craftiness.
• Specifically, political shrewdness or (formerly) cunning; statecraft.
• The grounds of a large country house.
• The art of governance; political science.
• A state; a polity.
• A set political system; civil administration.
• A trick; a stratagem.
• Motive; object; inducement.
• An illegal daily lottery in late nineteenth and early twentieth century USA on numbers drawn from a lottery wheel (no plural)
• A number pool lottery

Verb

• To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.

Related

Similar words

• (number pool) policy racket

Origin

• From Middle French policie, from Late Latin politia, classical Latin polītīa (in Cicero), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία, from πολίτης. Compare police, and polity.
• From Middle French police, from Italian polizza, from Medieval Latin apodissa, from Ancient Greek ἀπόδειξις