[jen-er-uh
l] 
| 1. | of or pertaining to all persons or things belonging to a group or category: a general meeting of the employees. |
| 2. | of, pertaining to, or true of such persons or things in the main, with possible exceptions; common to most; prevalent; usual: the general mood of the people. |
| 3. | not limited to one class, field, product, service, etc.; miscellaneous: the general public; general science. |
| 4. | considering or dealing with overall characteristics, universal aspects, or important elements, esp. without considering all details or specific aspects: general instructions; a general description; a general resemblance one to another. |
| 5. | not specific or definite: I could give them only a general idea of what was going on. |
| 6. | (of anesthesia or an anesthetic) causing loss of consciousness and abolishing sensitivity to pain throughout the body. |
| 7. | having extended command or superior or chief rank: the secretary general of the United Nations; the attorney general. |
| 8. | Military.
|
| 9. | Ecclesiastical. the chief official of a religious order. |
| 10. | something that is general; generality. |
| 11. | Archaic. the general public. |
| 12. | in general,
|
| 1. | a diminutive hero of folk tales. |
| 2. | an extremely small person; dwarf. |
| 3. | General, nickname of Charles Sherwood Stratton. |
| gen·er·al (jěn'ər-əl) adj.
[Middle English, from Latin generālis, from genus, gener-, kind; see genə- in Indo-European roots.] gen'er·al·ness n. Synonyms: These adjectives mean belonging to, relating to, or affecting the whole: the general welfare; a common enemy; generic likenesses; universal military conscription. |
A thumb-sized hero of children's stories from the sixteenth century on.
general
title and rank of a senior army officer, usually one who commands units larger than a regiment or its equivalent or units consisting of more than one arm of the service. Frequently, however, a general is a staff officer who does not command troops but who plans their operations in the field. General, lieutenant general, and major general are the first, second, and third grades of general officers in many armies. The United States Army, Air Force, and Marines have a fourth general officer grade, brigadier general (brigadier in the British Army). The highest U.S. Army rank, five-star general of the army, was created in 1944 and was conferred upon Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, and George C. Marshall in that year and upon Omar N. Bradley in 1950. The four-star rank of general of the army of the United States was established for Ulysses S. Grant in 1866 and was bestowed later upon William T. Sherman and Philip Sheridan; the unique four-star rank of general of the armies of the United States, created in 1799 for George Washington but never held by him, was conferred upon John J. Pershing in 1919.
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