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.
–verb (used with object)
12.
to furnish with people; populate.
13.
to supply or stock as if with people: a meadow peopled with flowers.
[Origin: 1225–75; ME peple < AF poeple, OF pueple < L populus.See popular]
—Usage note People is usually followed by a plural verb and referred to by a plural pronoun: People are always looking for a bargain. The people have made their choice. The possessive is formed regularly, with the apostrophe before the -s:people's desire for a bargain; the people's choice. When people means “the entire body of persons who constitute a community or other group by virtue of a common culture, history, etc.,” it is used as a singular, with the plural peoples: This people shares characteristics with certain inhabitants of central Asia. The aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere speak many different languages. The formation of the possessive is regular; the singular is people's and the plural is peoples'. At one time, some usage guides maintained that people could not be preceded by a number, as in Fewer than 30 people showed up. This use is now unquestionably standard in all contexts.
Humans considered as a group or in indefinite numbers: People were dancing in the street. I met all sorts of people.
A body of persons living in the same country under one national government; a nationality.
pl.peo·ples A body of persons sharing a common religion, culture, language, or inherited condition of life.
Persons with regard to their residence, class, profession, or group: city people.
The mass of ordinary persons; the populace. Used with the:"those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes"(Thomas Jefferson).
The citizens of a political unit, such as a nation or state; the electorate. Used with the.
Persons subordinate to or loyal to a ruler, superior, or employer: The queen showed great compassion for her people.
Family, relatives, or ancestors.
Informal Animals or other beings distinct from humans: Rabbits and squirrels are the furry little people of the woods.
tr.v.
peo·pled, peo·pling, peo·ples
To furnish with or as if with people; populate.
[Middle English peple, from Old French pueple, from Latin populus, of Etruscan origin.]
peo'pler n.
Usage Note: As a term meaning "a body of persons sharing a culture," people is a singular noun, as in As a people the Pueblo were noteworthy for their peacefulness. Its plural is peoples: the many and varied peoples of West Africa. But when used to mean "humans," people is plural and has no corresponding singular form. English is not unique in this respect; Spanish, Italian, Russian, and many other languages have a plural word meaning "people" that has no singular. Some grammarians have insisted that people is a collective noun that should not be used as a substitute for persons when referring to a specific number of individuals. By this thinking, it is correct to say Six persons were arrested, not Six people were arrested. But people has always been used in such contexts, and almost no one makes the distinction anymore. Persons is still preferred in legal contexts, however, as in Vehicles containing fewer than three persons may not use the left lane during rush hours. Only the singular person is used in compounds involving a specific numeral: a six-person car; a two-person show. But people is used in other compounds: people mover; people power. These examples are exceptions to the general rule that plural nouns cannot be used in such compounds; note that we do not say teethpaste or books-burning. See Usage Note at man.
c.1275, "humans, persons in general," from Anglo-Fr. people, O.Fr. peupel, from L. populus "people," of unknown origin, possibly from Etruscan. Replaced native folk. Meaning "body of persons comprising a community" first recorded 1292 in Anglo-Fr.; meaning "common people, masses" (as distinguished from the nobility) first recorded 1306 in Anglo-Fr. The verb is c.1489 (intrans.), c.1500 (trans.). The word was adopted after c.1920 by Communist totalitarian states to give a spurious sense of populism to their governments. Legal phrase The People vs., in U.S. cases of prosecution under certain laws, dates from 1801. People of the Book "those whose religion entails adherence to a book of divine revelation (1834) translates Arabic Ahl al-Kitab.
De*pop"u*late\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Depopulated; p. pr. & vb. n. Depopulating.] [L. depopulatus, p. p. of depopulari to ravage; de- + populari to ravage, fr. populus people: cf. OF. depopuler, F. d['e]peupler. See People.] To deprive of inhabitants, whether by death or by expulsion; to reduce greatly the populousness of; to dispeople; to unpeople. Where is this viper, That would depopulate the city? --Shak. Note: It is not synonymous with laying waste or destroying, being limited to the loss of inhabitants; as, an army or a famine may depopulate a country. It rarely expresses an entire loss of inhabitants, but often a great diminution of their numbers; as, the deluge depopulated the earth.
Na"tion\, n. [F. nation, L. natio nation, race, orig., a being born, fr. natus, p. p. of nasci, to be born, for gnatus, gnasci, from the same root as E. kin. [root]44. See Kin kindred, and cf. Cognate, Natal, Native.]1. (Ethnol.) A part, or division, of the people of the earth, distinguished from the rest by common descent, language, or institutions; a race; a stock. All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. --Rev. vii. 9. 2. The body of inhabitants of a country, united under an independent government of their own. A nation is the unity of a people. --Coleridge. Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. --F. S. Key. 3. Family; lineage. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 4. (a) One of the divisions of university students in a classification according to nativity, formerly common in Europe. (b) (Scotch Universities) One of the four divisions (named from the parts of Scotland) in which students were classified according to their nativity. 5. A great number; a great deal; -- by way of emphasis; as, a nation of herbs. --Sterne. Five nations. See under Five. Law of nations. See International law, under International, and Law. Syn: people; race. See People.
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