Privy (noun): 1 a: a small building having a bench with holes through which the user may defecate or urinate; b: toilet; (Merriam-Webster)
Found on Page 61, paragraph 2 of Beloved–>“She hoped Paul D wouldn’t take it upon himself to come looking for her and be obliged to see her squatting in front of her own privy making a mudhole too deep to be witnessed without shame.”
I believe this word in the quote means that Sethe did not want Paul D to witness her urinating heavily in the outhouse.
The word privy here is a noun. Check out the definition further down on the page you linked us to–it’s for a noun rather than for an adjective.
You include two very different definitions. Which do you think is the one in use here?
Also, you explain the context by saying Sethe didn’t want Paul D. to see her in the bathroom, but your definition clearly explains it as something different from a bathroom proper. What is it instead?
Professor, what do you mean?