person
person definition
per·son (pʉr′sən)
noun
- a human being, esp. as distinguished from a thing or lower animal; individual man, woman, or child: now usually pluralized as people, which formerly was used only to indicate an indefinite number of persons
- Now Rare an individual regarded slightingly, as one of a lower status
- a living human body
- bodily form or appearance to be neat about one's person
- personality; self; being
- Gram.
- a characteristic, as of pronouns and verbs, indicating whether a given utterance refers to the speaker(s), the one(s) spoken to, or the one(s) spoken about; also, an analytic category based on this characteristic
- the form a verb takes to indicate this characteristic
- Archaic a role in a play; character
- Law any individual or incorporated group having certain legal rights and responsibilities
- Christian Theol. any of the three modes of being (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) in the Trinity
Etymology: ME persone < OFr < L persona, lit., actor's face mask, hence a character, person, prob. < Etr phersu, mask
person Idioms
in person
actually present
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