PERSON, n. per'sn. [L. persona; said to be compounded of per, through or by, and sonus, sound; a Latin word signifying primarily a mask used by actors on the state.] 1. An individual human being consisting of body and soul. We apply the word to living beings only, possessed of a rational nature; the body when dead is not called a person. It is applied alike to a man, woman or child. A person is a thinking intelligent being.2. A man, woman or child, considered as opposed to things, or distinct from them. A zeal for persons is far more easy to be perverted, than a zeal for things.3. A human being, considered with respect to the living body or corporeal existence only. The form of her person is elegant. You'll find her person difficult to gain. The rebels maintained the fight for a small time, and for their persons showed no want of courage.4. A human being, indefinitely; one; a man. Let a person's attainments be never so great, he should remember he is frail and imperfect.5. A human being represented in dialogue, fiction, or on the state; character. A player appears in the person of king Lear. These tables, Cicero pronounced under the person of Crassus, were of more use and authority than all the books of the philosophers.6. Character of office. How different is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate and that of a friend.7. In grammar, the nominative to a verb; the agent that performs or the patient that suffers any thing affirmed by a verb; as, I write; he is smitten; she is beloved; the rain descends in torrents. I, thou or you, he, she or it, are called the first, second and third persons. Hence we apply the word person to the termination or modified form of the verb used in connection with the persons; as the first or the third person of the verb; the verb is in the second person.8. In law, an artificial person, is a corporation or body politic.In person, by one's self; with bodily presence; not be representative. The king in person visits all around. |
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In celebration of Noah Webster's Birthday (October 16, 2009), we have prepared an updated website. 
