POLICY

Definitions

1. 1. Civil polity. [Obs.]
2. 2. The settled method by which the government and affairs of a nation are, or may be, administered; a system of public or official administration, as designed to promote the external or internal prosperity of a state.
3. 3. The method by which any institution is administered; system of management; course.
4. 4. Management or administration based on temporal or material interest, rather than on principles of equity or honor; hence, worldly wisdom; dexterity of management; cunning; stratagem.
5. 5. Prudence or wisdom in the management of public and private affairs; wisdom; sagacity; wit. The very policy of a hostess, finding his purse so far above his clothes, did detect him. Fuller.
6. 6. Motive; object; inducement. [Obs.] What policy have you to bestow a benefit where it is counted an injury Sir P. Sidney.