Policy

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈpÉ’lÉ™si/, /ˈpÉ’lɪsi/,
• US IPA: /ˈpÉ‘lÉ™si/

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.

Full definition of policy

Noun

1. (obsolete) The art of governance; political science. 14th–18th c.
• a. 1616, William Shakespeare, Henry V, I.1:List his discourse of Warre; and you shall heare
  A fearefull Battaile rendred you in Musique.
  Turne him to any Cause of Pollicy,
  The Gordian Knot of it he will vnloose,
  Familiar as his Garter ...
2. (obsolete) A state; a polity. 14th–16th c.
3. (obsolete) A set political system; civil administration. 15th–19th c.
4. (obsolete) A trick; a stratagem. 15th–19th c.
• a. 1594, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus:'Tis pollicie, and stratageme must doe
  That you affect, and so must you resolue,
  That what you cannot as you would atcheiue,
  You must perforce accomplish as you may.
5. A principle of behaviour, conduct etc. thought to be desirable or necessary, especially as formally expressed by a government or other authoritative body. from 15th c.The Communist Party has a policy of returning power to the workers.
6. Wise or advantageous conduct; prudence, formerly also with connotations of craftiness. from 15th c.
• 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Modern Library Edition (1995), page 140:These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I with greater policy concealed my struggles, and flattered you ...
• FullerThe very policy of a hostess, finding his purse so far above his clothes, did detect him.
7. (now rare) Specifically, political shrewdness or (formerly) cunning; statecraft. from 15th c.
• 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.25:Whether he believed himself a god, or only took on the attributes of divinity from motives of policy, is a question for the psychologist, since the historical evidence is indecisive.
8. (Scotland, now chiefly in the plural) The grounds of a large country house. from 18th c.
• 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, p. 36:Next morning was so splendid that as he walked through the policies towards the mansion house despair itself was lulled.
9. (obsolete) Motive; object; inducement.
• Sir Philip SidneyWhat policy have you to bestow a benefit where it is counted an injury?

Derived terms

• policied
• policymaker
• policy shift
• endowment policy
• fiscal policy
• honesty is the best policy
• monetary policy
• policy mix

Verb

1. (transitive) To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.
• Francis BaconPolicying of cities.''

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

Noun

1. A contract of insurance
• Your insurance policy covers fire and theft only.
2. (obsolete) An illegal daily lottery in late nineteenth and early twentieth century USA on numbers drawn from a lottery wheel (no plural)
3. A number pool lottery

Synonyms

• (number pool) policy racket

Derived terms

• policyholder