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caste

8 dictionary results for: Caste

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

caste

[kast, kahst] Pronunciation Key

–noun

Sociology.

a.	an endogamous and hereditary social group limited to persons of the same rank, occupation, economic position, etc., and having mores distinguishing it from other such groups.

b.	any rigid system of social distinctions.

2.	Hinduism. any of the social divisions into which Hindu society is traditionally divided, each caste having its own privileges and limitations, transferred by inheritance from one generation to the next; jati. Compare class (def. 13).

3.	any class or group of society sharing common cultural features: low caste; high caste.

4.	social position conferred upon one by a caste system: to lose caste.

5.	Entomology. one of the distinct forms among polymorphous social insects, performing a specialized function in the colony, as a queen, worker or soldier.

–adjective

6.	of, pertaining to, or characterized by caste: a caste society; a caste system; a caste structure.

[Origin: 1545–55; < Pg casta race, breed, n. use of casta, fem. of casto < L castus pure, chaste

]

—Related forms

casteism, noun

casteless, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

caste (kāst) Pronunciation Key
n.

Any of the hereditary, endogamous social classes or subclasses of traditional Hindu society, stratified according to Hindu ritual purity, especially the Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra castes.
A social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank, profession, or wealth.
1. A social system or the principle of grading society based on castes.
2. The social position or status conferred by a system based on castes: lose caste by doing work beneath one's station.
A specialized level in a colony of social insects, such as ants, in which the members, such as workers or soldiers, carry out a specific function.

[Spanish casta, race, and Portuguese casta, race, caste, both from feminine of casto, pure, from Latin castus; see kes- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
caste

1555, "a race of men," from L. casto "chaste," from castus "pure, cut off, separated," pp. of carere "to be cut off from" (and related to castrate), from PIE base *kes- "to cut."Application to Hindu social groups picked up in India 17c. from Port. casta "breed, race, caste," earlier casta raca "unmixed race," from the same L. word.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

caste
noun
1.	social status or position conferred by a system based on class; "lose caste by doing work beneath one's station"
2.	(Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity
3.	a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth
4.	in some social insects (such as ants) a physically distinct individual or group of individuals specialized to perform certain functions in the colony

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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

caste (kāst) Pronunciation Key

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A specialized group carrying out a specific function within a colony of social insects. For example, in an ant colony, members of the caste of workers forage for food outside the colony or tend eggs and larvae, while the members of the caste of soldiers, often larger with stronger jaws, are responsible for defense of the colony.

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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
caste [(kast)]

One of the four hereditary social divisions in Hinduism. Members of any one caste are restricted in their choice of occupation and may have only limited association with members of other castes.

Note: Caste has come to mean a group of persons set apart by economic, social, religious, legal, or political criteria, such as occupation, status, religious denomination, legal privilege, skin color, or some other physical characteristic. Members of a caste tend to associate among themselves and rarely marry outside the caste. Castes are more socially separate from each other than are social classes.

Note: During the height of segregation in the United States, African-Americans were sometimes loosely referred to as a caste.

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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Caste Village, PA Zip code(s): 15236

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Caste

Caste\, n. [Pg. casta race, lineage, fr. L. castus pure, chaste: cf. F. caste, of same origin.]

1. One of the hereditary classes into which the Hindoos are divided according to the laws of Brahmanism.

Note: The members of the same caste are theoretically of equal rank, and same profession or occupation, and may not eat or intermarry with those not of their own caste. The original are four, viz., the Brahmans, or sacerdotal order; the Kshatriyas, or soldiers and rulers; the Vaisyas, or husbandmen and merchants; and the Sudras, or laborers and mechanics. Men of no caste are Pariahs, outcasts. Numerous mixed classes, or castes, have sprung up in the progress of time.

2. A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly hold intercourse among themselves.

The tinkers then formed an hereditary caste. --Macaulay.

To lose caste, to be degraded from the caste to which one has belonged; to lose social position or consideration.

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