Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRI-VA'TION, n. [Fr. from L. privatio, from privo. See Private.]

1. The state of being deprived; particularly, deprivation or absence of what is necessary for comfort. He endures his privations with wonderful fortitude.
2. The act of removing something possessed; the removal or destruction of any thing or quality. The garrison was compelled by privation to surrender. For what is this contagious sin of kind / But a privation of that grace within? – Davies.
3. Absence, in general. Darkness is a privation of light. – Encyc.
4. The act of the mind in separating a thing from something appendant. – Johnson.
5. The act of degrading from rank or office. Bacon. [But in this sense, deprivation is now used. See Deprivation.]