public

Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.

VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.

[T]he Apoſtles preached as vvell vvhen they vvrote as vvhen they ſpake the Goſpell of Chriſt, and our vſuall publique reading of the vvord of God for the peoples inſtruction is preaching.

Open to all members of a community, as opposed to only a segment of it; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.

public library    public park

I ſavv her once / Hop forty Paces through the publicke ſtreete, […]

Open to all members of a community, as opposed to only a segment of it; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.

Pertaining to the people as a whole, as opposed to a group of people; concerning the whole community or country.

[S]tanding publick Records have been kept of theſe vvell atteſted Relations, and Epocha’s made of thoſe unvvonted events.

[I]f the nominated be to a place vvherein he is entruſted vvith the management of public moneys, he that nominates is ſurety for him, and is to make good vvhat he defrauds the Common-vvealth of.

Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the government or state on behalf of the community, rather than by a private organization.

public housing    public officer    public prosecutor    public servant

Hee brought-in likevvise the ancient cuſtome againe, that in vvhat moneth hee had not the Knitches of rods vvith Axes borne before him, a publique Officer called Accensvs ſhould huiſher him before, and the Serjeants or Lictours follovv after behinde.

Chiefly preceded by the: members of the community or the people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group.

Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.

In ſũ [sum], you are a Prince, & a father of people, vvho ought vvith the eye of vviſdome, the hand of fortitude, and the hart of iuſtice to ſet dovvne all priuate conceits, in compariſon of vvhat for the publike is profitable.

Preceded by a possessive determiner such as my, your, or their: a group of people who support a particular person, especially a performer, a writer, etc.; an audience, a following.

By dint of drinking acid tiff, as above mentioned, and smoking segars, in which I am no novice, my Public are to be informed, that I gradually drank and smoked myself into a certain degree of acquaintance with un homme comme il faut [a decent man], one of the few fine old specimens of nobility who are still to be found in France; […]

Ellipsis of public house or (dated) public bar (“an inn, a pub: the more basic bar in a public house, as contrasted with the lounge bar or saloon bar which has more comfortable seats, personalized service, etc.”).

[T]hese inconsiderate lads will be out of the house, and away to the publicks, wasting their precious time, and, it may be, missing the morning tide.

[I]t is a terrible long and slippery descent, and a shocking bad road. At the bottom, however, there is a pleasant public; whereat we must really take a modest quencher, for the down air is provocative of thirst.

Often preceded by the and a qualifying word: a particular demographic or group of people, or segment of the population, sharing some common characteristic.

the cinema-going public

the reading public

Often preceded by the and a qualifying word: a particular demographic or group of people, or segment of the population, sharing some common characteristic.

To make (something) openly or widely known; to publicize, to publish.

[H]e is such a barefooted rubber with my supersocks pulled over his face which I publicked in my bestback garden for the laetification of siderodromites and to the irony of the stars.