Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Privilege

Priv′i·lege (prĭv′ĭ·lĕj), n. [F. privilège, L. privilegium an ordinance or law against or in favor of an individual; privus private + lex, legis, law. See Private, and Legal.]

1. A peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor; a right or immunity not enjoyed by others or by all; special enjoyment of a good, or exemption from an evil or burden; a prerogative; advantage; franchise.

He pleads the legal privilege of a Roman. Kettlewell.

The privilege birthright was a double portion. Locke.

A people inheriting privileges, franchises, and liberties. Burke.

2. (Stockbroker's Cant) See Call, Put, Spread, etc.

Breach of privilege. See under Breach. — Question of privilege (Parliamentary practice), a question which concerns the security of a member of a legislative body in his special privileges as such. — Water privilege, the advantage of having machinery driven by a stream, or a place affording such advantage. [ U. S.] — Writ of privilege (Law), a writ to deliver a privileged person from custody when arrested in a civil suit. Blackstone.

Syn. — Prerogative; immunity; franchise; right; claim; liberty. — Privilege, Prerogative. Privilege, among the Romans, was something conferred upon an individual by a private law; and hence, it denotes some peculiar benefit or advantage, some right or immunity, not enjoyed by the world at large. Prerogative, among the Romans, was the right of voting first; and, hence, it denotes a right of precedence, or of doing certain acts, or enjoying certain privileges, to the exclusion of others. It is the privilege of a member of Congress not to be called in question elsewhere for words uttered in debate. It is the prerogative of the president to nominate judges and executive officers. It is the privilege of a Christian child to be instructed in the true religion. It is the prerogative of a parent to govern and direct his children.

Priv′i·lege (prĭv′ĭ·lĕj), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Privileged; p. pr. & vb. n. Privileging.] [Cf. F. privilégier.]

1. To grant some particular right or exemption to; to invest with a peculiar right or immunity; to authorize; as, to privilege representatives from arrest.

To privilege dishonor in thy name. Shak.

2. To bring or put into a condition of privilege or exemption from evil or danger; to exempt; to deliver.

He took this place for sanctuary, And it shall privilege him from your hands. Shak.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.