policy

Less common meanings

4. 4
   numbers lotterynoununcountable

   A lottery, usually illegal, in which people bet on which numbers will be drawn; popular in American cities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

   Before state lotteries existed, many city workers played policy, betting a few cents a day on numbers drawn by an illegal operator.

   Her grandfather, who grew up in the city in the 1920s, remembered neighbors spending their last dimes on policy in the hope of a big win.

5. 5
   nounobsoleteuncountable

   The art of governance; the study of government and political affairs.

   Note

   An obsolete use in which the word named a whole field of learning, not a single plan. In Shakespeare's Henry V the king can be turned to "any Cause of Pollicy" and untie its Gordian knot. The compliment is to his command of government as a subject. In older texts, a man learned in policy is versed in statecraft, not in particular rules. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Policy had an obsolete sense meaning governance or political science. en.wiktionary.org
   • Shakespeare's Henry V contains the quoted phrase and the claim that the king will untie its Gordian knot; Canterbury speaks these lines. firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
   • The passage praises the king's knowledge of government. firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
   • In this historical sense, learning in policy means knowledge of statecraft. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   political skillnounarchaiccountable or uncountable

   Political shrewdness or cunning; skill in the practical art of statecraft.

   I, 'policie? that's their profession, And not simplicity, as they suggest.

   c. 1589, Christopher Marlo[we], The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta.

   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.

   1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy

   Similarcalculation

   Note

   This sense carries prudence into politics, and in older use it slid easily into cunning: Marlowe's line sneers that "policie" is "their profession, And not simplicity." Now archaic, it is still at home in the phrase from motives of policy, which Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy uses for calculated rather than sincere conduct. In fresh writing, statecraft or shrewdness is the safer choice. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The political sense includes shrewdness and formerly cunning, alongside the broader sense of prudence. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quoted line is Marlowe's; Barabas speaks it in The Jew of Malta, Act I. gutenberg.org
   • Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy uses 'from motives of policy' to distinguish calculated adoption of divinity from sincere belief. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   estate groundsnoundialectalScotlandcountableplural

   The enclosed grounds, gardens, and parkland that surround a large country house.

   The estate's policy was planted with avenues of beech in the eighteenth century.

   Visitors may wander the policies of the castle between dawn and dusk.

   Similargrounds, parkland

   Note

   Scots English keeps this sense, now chiefly in the plural: in Robin Jenkins's The Cone-Gatherers (1955), a man walks "through the policies towards the mansion house." Samuel Johnson, writing of Scotland in 1775, recorded it as the Scotch name for a small plantation about a gentleman's house. Outside Scotland it can puzzle readers, which is why the AA Book of British Villages (1980) glosses policies as "grounds." Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • Robin Jenkins wrote The Cone-Gatherers, first published in 1955. en.wikipedia.org
   • The novel's narration describes a man walking through the policies towards the mansion house. en.wiktionary.org
   • Samuel Johnson's account of Scotland was published in 1775. en.wikipedia.org
   • Johnson recorded 'policy' as the Scotch name for a small plantation around a gentleman's house. gutenberg.org
   • AA Book of British Villages was published in 1980. en.wikipedia.org
   • AA Book of British Villages glosses 'policies' as 'grounds'. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   nounobsoletecountable

   A trick or stratagem; a cunning scheme devised to gain an advantage.

   Note

   One particular trick or scheme is meant here, so the noun is countable, unlike the prudent-conduct meaning, which names a quality. Shakespeare pairs it with its near twin, "Tis pollicie and stratageme must doo," and the pairing shows how close the two words once stood. The sense is obsolete. Meeting a policy in Elizabethan drama, think scheme, not plan. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Shakespeare pairs policy with stratagem in the quoted wording, with long s normalized. The line belongs to Aaron in Titus Andronicus, Act II, scene i. en.wiktionary.org
   • The trick or stratagem sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

   An established political system; the civil administration of a state.
10. 10
    nounobsoletecountable

    A state or organized political community; a polity.

    Note

    The word once named the state itself, a usage now obsolete. It comes from the same Greek politeia as polity, and polity is the word that now does this job. Polity also covers the political-system meaning. When an old text uses policy where a nation or commonwealth would fit, read it as polity. In new writing, use polity. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Policy formerly meant a state or polity; this sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
    • Policy and polity ultimately derive from the same Ancient Greek word, politeia. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    nounobsoletecountable

    A motive, aim, or inducement; the purpose behind an action.

    I pray you (said he) honest men, what such right have you in me, as not to suffer me to doe with my self what I list? and what pollicie have you to bestow a benefite where it is counted an injury?

    c. 1580, Philip Sidney, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia]

    Note

    The word answers the question "why?" in this obsolete use. Philip Sidney, in the Arcadia (1590), has a speaker ask "what pollicie have you to bestow a benefite where it is counted an injury?" In other words: what motive do you have for doing good that is unwanted? The construction is policy followed by to plus a verb, the slot where modern English puts reason or motive. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Policy has an obsolete sense meaning motive, purpose, or inducement. en.wiktionary.org
    • The passage belongs to the New Arcadia, first published in 1590. Under the stipulated publication-date rule, use 1590. celm.folger.edu
    • Sidney gives a character the quoted question, with the wording reproduced in the note. en.wiktionary.org
    • The question concerns the motive for giving unwanted help. gutenberg.org
    • The example uses policy with a following infinitive expressing the action whose motive is questioned. gutenberg.org
12. 12
    verbobsolete

    To regulate by laws; to bring or reduce to order.

    Policying of cities.

    1605, Francis Bacon, The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon