Dictionary
peo•ple
Pronunciation: (pē'pul), [key]
—n., pl. -ples for 4,
—v., -pled, -pling.
—
n.
1. persons indefinitely or collectively; persons in general:
to find it easy to talk to people; What will people think?
2. persons, whether men, women, or children, considered as numerable individuals forming a group:
Twenty people volunteered to help.
3. human beings, as distinguished from animals or other beings.
4. the entire body of persons who constitute a community, tribe, nation, or other group by virtue of a common culture, history, religion, or the like:
the people of Australia; the Jewish people.
5. the persons of any particular group, company, or number (sometimes used in combination):
the people of a parish; educated people; salespeople.
6. the ordinary persons, as distinguished from those who have wealth, rank, influence, etc.:
a man of the people.
7. the subjects, followers, or subordinates of a ruler, leader, employer, etc.:
the king and his people.
8. the body of enfranchised citizens of a state:
representatives chosen by the people.
9. a person's family or relatives:
My grandmother's people came from Iowa.
10. (used in the possessive in Communist or left-wing countries to indicate that an institution operates under the control of or for the benefit of the people, esp. under Communist leadership):
people's republic; people's army.
11. animals of a specified kind:
the monkey people of the forest.
—
v.t.
1. to furnish with people; populate.
2. to supply or stock as if with people:
a meadow peopled with flowers. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
