English
person
see also: Person
Etymology

From Middle English persoun, personne et al.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈpɜːsn̩/, [ˈpʰɜːsn̩]
  • (General American) enPR: pûrʹsn, pûrʹsən, IPA: /ˈpɜɹs(ə)n/, [ˈpʰɝsn̩]
  • (New England, obsolete) IPA: /ˈpɑsən/
Noun

person (plural persons)

  1. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. [from 13th c.]
    • 1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., [http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=4SoIAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=ph%C3%A6nomena#PPA1,M1 PREFACE]
      THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Perſons of the firſt diſtinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ſeveral new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and diſtinguiſh it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗, page 85 ↗:
      “A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. […]”
    Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.
    1. A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.
      • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC ↗, page 186 ↗:
        […] his firſt appearance vpon the Stage, in his new perſon of a Sycophant or Iugler […]
      • 1664, Robert South, Of the Love of Christ to his Disciples:
        How different […] is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate, and […] that of a friend!
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX ↗”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗, lines 155–156:
        […] to beare rule, which was thy part / And perſon, had’ſt thou known thy ſelf aright.
      • 1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC ↗:
        No man can long put on a person and act a part.
    2. (Christianity) Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
      • 1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie:
        three persons and one God
    3. Any sapient or socially intelligent being.
    4. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing). [from 20th c.]
      Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.
    5. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).
    6. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) A worker in a specified function or specialty.
      I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.
  2. The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc. [from 14th c.]
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC ↗, partition 3, section 1, member 2, subsection 3, page 347 ↗:
      […] when the young Ladies laughed at her for it, ſhe replied that it was not his perſon that ſhe did embrace and reverence, but the divine beauty of his Soule.
    • 1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter XVI, in What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC ↗, page 188 ↗:
      The Captain, inclining his military person, sat sideways to be closer and kinder […].
    • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), page 418:
      At first blush it seemed that what was striking about him rested on the fact that his dress was exotic, his person foreign.
    • 2004, The New York Times:
      Meanwhile, the dazed Sullivan, dressed like a bum with no identification on his person, is arrested and put to work on a brutal Southern chain gang.
  3. (law) Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts. [from 14th c.]
    At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.
  4. (law, euphemism) The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.
    • 1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83 ↗, United Kingdom), section 4:
      [E]very Person wilfully, openly, lewdly, and obscenely exposing his Person in any Street, Road, or public Highway, or in the View thereof, or in any Place of public Resort, with Intent to insult any Female ... and being subsequently convicted of the Offence for which he or she shall have been so apprehended, shall be deemed a Rogue and Vagabond, within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act ...
  5. (grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person. [from 14th c.]
  6. (biology) A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals[19th century].
    • 1884, Patrick Geddes, “Morphology”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 16:
      True corms, composed of united personae […] usually arise by gemmation, […] yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

person (third-person singular simple present persons, present participle personing or personning, simple past and past participle personed or personned)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.
    • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], “That Beza’s opinion of regulating sinne by a politick law, cannot be sound”, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC ↗, book II, page 59 ↗:
      Or let us perſon him like ſome wretched itinerary Judge, […]
  2. (transitive, gender-neutral) To man, to supply with staff or crew.
Person
Proper noun
  1. Surname.


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