A Topical Dictionary: Search for family

Dictionary Results For "family" [?]/[OPML]

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Wiktionary Articles [RSS] - [GNU, www.Wiktionary.org]

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GNU Project's publication of CIDE, the Collaborative International Dictionary of English natural family \nat"u*ral fam"i*ly\, n. (Biol.)
a group of living organisms classed as a family in a
toxonomic classification.
[PJC]

GNU Project's publication of CIDE, the Collaborative International Dictionary of English Family \Fam"i*ly\, n.; pl. Families. [L. familia, fr. famulus
servant; akin to Oscan famel servant, cf. faamat he dwells,
Skr. dh[=a]man house, fr. dh[=a]to set, make, do: cf. F.
famille. Cf. Do, v. t., Doom, Fact, Feat.]
1. The collective body of persons who live in one house, and
under one head or manager; a household, including parents,
children, and servants, and, as the case may be, lodgers
or boarders.
[1913 Webster]

2. The group comprising a husband and wife and their
dependent children, constituting a fundamental unit in the
organization of society.
[1913 Webster]

The welfare of the family underlies the welfare of
society. --H. Spencer.
[1913 Webster]

3. Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe,
clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family; the
family of Abraham; the father of a family.
[1913 Webster]

Go ! and pretend your family is young. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]

4. Course of descent; genealogy; line of ancestors; lineage.
[1913 Webster]

5. Honorable descent; noble or respectable stock; as, a man
of family.
[1913 Webster]

6. A group of kindred or closely related individuals; as, a
family of languages; a family of States; the chlorine
family.
[1913 Webster]

7. (Biol.) A group of organisms, either animal or vegetable,
related by certain points of resemblance in structure or
development, more comprehensive than a genus, because it
is usually based on fewer or less pronounced points of
likeness. In Zoology a family is less comprehesive than an
order; in botany it is often considered the same thing as
an order.
[1913 Webster]

Family circle. See under Circle.

Family man.
(a) A man who has a family; esp., one who has a wife and
children living with him and dependent upon him.
(b) A man of domestic habits. "The Jews are generally,
when married, most exemplary family men." --Mayhew.

Family of curves or Family of surfaces (Geom.), a group
of curves or surfaces derived from a single equation.

In a family way, like one belonging to the family. "Why
don't we ask him and his ladies to come over in a family
way, and dine with some other plain country gentlefolks?"
--Thackeray.

In the family way, pregnant. [Colloq. euphemism]
[1913 Webster]

WordNet Family
n 1: a social unit living together; "he moved his family to
Virginia"; "It was a good Christian household"; "I
waited until the whole house was asleep"; "the teacher
asked how many people made up his home" [syn: household,
house, home, menage]
2: primary social group; parents and children; "he wanted to
have a good job before starting a family" [syn: {family
unit}]
3: people descended from a common ancestor; "his family has
lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower" [syn: {family
line}, folk, kinfolk, kinsfolk, sept, phratry]
4: a collection of things sharing a common attribute; "there
are two classes of detergents" [syn: class, category]
5: an association of people who share common beliefs or
activities; "the message was addressed not just to
employees but to every member of the company family"; "the
church welcomed new members into its fellowship" [syn: fellowship]
6: (biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more genera;
"sharks belong to the fish family"
7: a person having kinship with another or others; "he's kin";
"he's family" [syn: kin, kinsperson]
8: a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized
criminal activities [syn: syndicate, crime syndicate,
mob]

Moby Dictionary
affiliation , agnate , ancestors , ancestry , animal kingdom ,
antonomasia , apparentation , ashram , binomial nomenclature ,
biosystematics , biosystematy , biotype , birth , blood ,
blood relation , blood relative , bloodline , body , branch , breed ,
brood , caste , children , clan , clannish , clansman , class ,
classification , cognate , collateral , collateral relative , colony ,
common ancestry , commonwealth , commune , community , connections ,
consanguinean , consanguinity , deme , derivation , descendants ,
descent , diphyletic , direct , direct line , distaff side ,
distant relation , division , dynasty , economic class , enate ,
endogamous group , ethnic , extended family , extraction , family tree ,
female line , filiation , flesh , flesh and blood , folk , folks ,
forebears , forefathers , fruit , genealogical , genealogy , genetic ,
genotype , genre , gens , gentile , gentilic , genus , german , get ,
glossology , grandchildren , great-grandchildren , group , hearth ,
heirs , home , homefolks , hostages to fortune , house , household ,
inheritors , issue , kids , kin , kind , kindred , kinfolk , kingdom ,
kinnery , kinsfolk , kinship group , kinsman , kinsmen , kinswoman ,
kith and kin , line , line of descent , lineage , lineal , little ones ,
male line , matriclan , menage , moiety , nation , national ,
near relation , new generation , next of kin , nomenclature ,
nuclear family , offspring , onomastics , onomatology , order ,
orismology , parentage , patriclan , pedigree , people , phratria ,
phratry , phyle , phyletic , phylogenetic , phylum , place-names ,
place-naming , plant kingdom , polyonymy , posterity , progenitors ,
progeny , race , racial , relations , relatives , rising generation ,
section , seed , sept , series , set , settlement , sib , sibling , side ,
social class , society , sons , spear kin , spear side , species ,
spindle kin , spindle side , stem , stirp , stirps , stock , strain ,
subcaste , subclass , subdivision , subfamily , subgenus , subkingdom ,
suborder , subspecies , subtribe , succession , superclass ,
superfamily , superorder , superspecies , sword side , systematics ,
taxonomy , terminology , toponymy , totem , totemic , treasures , tribal ,
tribe , tribesman , trinomialism , type , uterine kin , variety ,
younglings , youngsters

FAMILY, domestic relations. In a limited sense it signifies the father, mother, and children. In a more extensive sense it comprehends all the individuals who live under the authority of another, and includes the servants of the family. It is also employed to signify all the relations who descend from a common ancestor, or who spring from a common root. Louis. Code, art. 3522, No. 16; 9 Ves. 323. 2. In the construction of wills, the word family, when applied to personal property is synonymous with kindred, or relations. It may, nevertheless, be confined to particular relations by the context of the will, or may be enlarged by it, so that the expression may in some cases mean children, or next of kin, and in others, may even include relations by marriage. 1 Rop. on Leg. 115 1 Hov. Supp. 365, notes, 6 and 7; Brown v. Higgs; 4 Ves. 708; 2 Ves. jr. 110; 3 East, Rep. 172 5 Ves. 156 1,7 Ves. 255 S. 126. Vide article Legatee. See Dig. lib. 50, t. 16, 1. 195, s. 2.