Of or belonging to the people at large; relating to or affecting the whole people of a state, nation, or community: opposed to private: as, the public good; public affairs; the public service; a public calamity; public opinion.Open to all the people; shared in or to be shared or participated in or enjoyed by people at large; not limited or restricted to any particular class of the community: as, a public meeting; public worship; a public subscription; a public road; a public house; public baths.Open to the view or knowledge of all; notorious: as, a public exposure; public scandal.Regarding or directed to the interests of the community at large, and not limited or confined to private, personal, or selfish matters or interests: as, public spirit; a public benefaction.Public house and public place are used in numerous statutes against immoral practices, gaming, prostitution, etc., with varying limitations of meaning, but generally implying a place to which any one may have access without trespassing.Warehouses to which dutiable goods are sent for appraisement; bonded warehouses, or stores in which goods are held under bond for duty until sold or exported.A use so intimately allied to or affecting the public welfare or convenience that the state may regulate it as to the management or charges: thus, the great grain-elevators of modern commerce, standing between the wharves of lake or ocean navigation and the termini of trunk lines of railway, have been held to be so affected with a public use that the state may regulate by law the rates of charges.In patent law, use without restriction by one or more members of the community, as distinguished from use by the inventor: thus, an inventor of a secret spring who should allow its use by others without patenting it might be deemed to allow its public use, although, from its peculiarities of structure and relation, its use could not be seen by the public.n. The general body of people constituting a nation, state, or community; the people, indefinitely: with the.n. A public house.
