[pee-puh
l] 
noun, plural -ples for 4, verb, -pled, -pling.| 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. |
| 12. | to furnish with people; populate. |
| 13. | to supply or stock as if with people: a meadow peopled with flowers. |
| peo·ple (pē'pəl) n. pl. people
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. |
