Hypertext Webster Gateway: "people"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

People \Peo"ple\, n. [OE. peple, people, OF. pueple, F. peuple,
fr. L. populus. Cf. {Populage}, {Public}, {Pueblo}.]
1. The body of persons who compose a community, tribe,
nation, or race; an aggregate of individuals forming a
whole; a community; a nation.

Unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
--Gen. xlix.
10.

The ants are a people not strong. --Prov. xxx.
25.

Before many peoples, and nations, and tongues.
--Rev. x. 11.

Earth's monarchs are her peoples. --Whitter.

A government of all the people, by all the people,
for all the people. --T. Parker.

Note: Peopleis a collective noun, generally construed with a
plural verb, and only occasionally used in the plural
form (peoples), in the sense of nations or races.

2. Persons, generally; an indefinite number of men and women;
folks; population, or part of population; as, country
people; -- sometimes used as an indefinite subject or
verb, like on in French, and man in German; as, people in
adversity.

People were tempted to lend by great premiums.
--Swift.

People have lived twenty-four days upon nothing but
water. --Arbuthnot.

3. The mass of comunity as distinguished from a special
class; the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the
common crowd; as, nobles and people.

And strive to gain his pardon from the people.
--Addison.

4. With a possessive pronoun:
(a) One's ancestors or family; kindred; relations; as, my
people were English.
(b) One's subjects; fellow citizens; companions;
followers. ``You slew great number of his people.''
--Shak.

Syn: {People}, {Nation}.

Usage: When speaking of a state, we use people for the mass
of the community, as distinguished from their rulers,
and nation for the entire political body, including
the rulers. In another sense of the term, nation
describes those who are descended from the same stock;
and in this sense the Germans regard themselves as one
nation, though politically subject to different forms
of government.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

People \Peo"ple\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Peopled} p. pr. & vb. n.
{Peopling}.] [Cf. OF. popler, puepler, F. puepler. Cf.
{Populate}.]
To stock with people or inhabitants; to fill as with people;
to populate. ``Peopled heaven with angels.'' --Dryden.

As the gay motes that people the sunbeams. --Milton.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

people
n 1: (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or
children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at
least 200 people in the audience"
2: the body of citizens of a state or country; "the Spanish
people" [syn: {citizenry}]
3: the common people generally; "separate the warriors from the
mass"; "power to the people" [syn: {multitude}, {masses},
{mass}, {hoi polloi}]
4: members of a family line; "his people have been farmers for
generations"; "are your people still alive?"
v 1: fill with people; "people a room"
2: make one's home or live in; "There are only 250,000 people
in Iceland"; "I live in a 200-year old house"; "These
people inhabited all the islands that are now deserted";
"The plains are sparsely populated" [syn: {dwell}, {shack},
{reside}, {live}, {inhabit}, {populate}]


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