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. The method by which any institution is administered;
system of management; course.
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. 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. Motive; object; inducement. [Obs.]
What policy have you to bestow a benefit where it is
counted an injury? --Sir P.
Sidney.
2. The writing or instrument in which a contract of insurance
is embodied; an instrument in writing containing the terms
and conditions on which one party engages to indemnify
another against loss arising from certain hazards, perils,
or risks to which his person or property may be exposed.
See {Insurance}.
3. A method of gambling by betting as to what numbers will be
drawn in a lottery; as, to play policy.
{Interest policy}, a policy that shows by its form that the
assured has a real, substantial interest in the matter
insured.
{Open policy}, one in which the value of the goods or
property insured is not mentioned.
{Policy book}, a book to contain a record of insurance
policies.
{Policy holder}, one to whom an insurance policy has been
granted.
{Policy shop}, a gambling place where one may bet on the
numbers which will be drawn in lotteries.
{Valued policy}, one in which the value of the goods,
property, or interest insured is specified.
{Wager policy}, a policy that shows on the face of it that
the contract it embodies is a pretended insurance, founded
on an ideal risk, where the insured has no interest in
anything insured.