class

class (klas), n. [F. classe, fr. L. classis class, collection, fleet; akin to Gr. κλῆσις a calling, καλεῖν to call, E. haul.]

1. Rom. Hist. Any one of the six divisions into which the Roman people were divided under the constitution ascribed to Servius Tullius. Five classes were formed according to property, each to furnish a certain number of equipped centuries to the army, while the sixth consisted of those not having property enough to warrant military equipment. Cf. TRIBE,
2. 2. A group of individuals ranked together as possessing common characteristics or as having the same status; as, the educated class; the lower classes.
3. Specif., the system of dividing society thus; caste; social rank, esp. high rank; as, the feeling of class; the classes, that portion of the community which is regarded, because of birth, wealth, education, etc., as being higher than, or distinct from, the masses. We shall then have Mr. Gladstone's democracy with its cry of “the classes vs. the masses” — a motto subscribed to at present neither by the French nor ourselves. Class, in France no more than in America, implies caste.

   W. C. Brownell.

4. (a) A body of students in a school or college grouped together as pursuing the same or equivalent studies; — often called a form in England. (b) An assembling of students, as for lecture or recitation; as, an announcement given out during class; also, the studies or instruction given or arranged for such a body. (c) In the United States, a body of students of an institution whose year of graduation is the same; as, the class of 1910.
5. A group of persons, things, qualities, or activities, having common characteristics or attributes; a set; a kind, description, species, or variety.

   She had lost one class of energies. Macaulay. As soon as we employ a name to connote attributes, the things, be they more or fewer, which happen to possess those attributes, are constituted ipso facto a class. J. S. Mill.

6. Bot. & Zoöl. A comprehensive group of animals or plants, forming a category ranking above an order and below a phylum. (See CLASSIFICATION.) In the Linnæan system it was the highest category. Modern zoölogists have greatly increased the number of classes of animals, more than fifty being sometimes recognized. The mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians are examples of groups universally recognized as classes. The angiosperms and gymnosperms are the two classes of seed plants.
7. A division, grouping, or distinction, as of goods or of accommodation on a steamer or railroad train, based upon grade or quality; as, goods of the first or second class; to travel first class.
8. (a) Methodist Ch. One of the sections into which a church or congregation is divided, and which is under the supervision of a class leader. (b) Reformed Ch. A classis.
9. Horse Racing. A division or grouping of horses according to their speed or weight-carrying ability, — the division to which a horse belongs, and hence the particular purse for which it may be entered, being determined by its record; as, the 2.20 class.
10. A division of igneous rocks. See PETROGRAPHY.
11. Math. A totality of all entities (called elements) that satisfy a certain test or condition which defines the class and which every entity in the universe considered must either satisfy or not satisfy; — called also aggregate, assemblage, collection, mass, manifold, set — all rendering the French ensemble and German menge or mannigfaltigkeit. — Webster's New International (1923), p. 410

class (klas), v. t. [CLASSED (klast); CLASS'ING] [Cf. F. classer. See CLASS, n.]

1. To arrange in, or distribute into, classes; to classify; as, to class words or passages. ☞ In scientific arrangement, to classify is used instead of to class. Dana.
2. To place in a class; to refer to the proper class; to place or group, as students, in a class or classes, or in a particular class as a result of examination. Thackeray. — Webster's New International (1923), p. 410

class, v. i. To be grouped or classed; to fall into a class. class day. In American colleges and universities, a day of the commencement season on which the senior class celebrates the completion of its course by exercises conducted by the members, such as the reading of the class histories and poem, the delivery of the class oration, the planting of the class ivy, etc.

The genus or family under which it classes. Tatham. — Webster's New International (1923), p. 410

class Abbr. Classic; classical; classification. [-ABLE. — Webster's New International (1923), p. 410

Machine transcription of the scan (Haiku 5.5's re-reading where done, else the Internet Archive's OCR): read the entry image before quoting.

Class \Class, n. [F. classe, fr. L. classis class, collection, fleet; akin to Gr. klh^sis a calling, kalei^n to call, E. claim, haul.]

1. A group of individuals ranked together as possessing common characteristics; as, the different classes of society; the educated class; the lower classes.
2. A number of students in a school or college, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies.
3. A comprehensive division of animate or inanimate objects, grouped together on account of their common characteristics, in any classification in natural science, and subdivided into orders, families, tribes, genera, etc.
4. A set; a kind or description, species or variety. She had lost one class energies. —Macaulay.
5. (Methodist Church) One of the sections into which a church or congregation is divided, and which is under the supervision of a class leader.
6. One session of formal instruction in which one or more teachers instruct a group on some subject. The class may be one of a course of classes, or a single special session.
7. A high degree of elegance, in dress or behavior; the quality of bearing oneself with dignity, grace, and social adeptness. Class of a curve (Math.), the kind of a curve as expressed by the number of tangents that can be drawn from any point to the curve. A circle is of the second class. Class meeting (Methodist Church), a meeting of a class under the charge of a class leader, for counsel and relegious instruction.

Class \Class, a. exhibiting refinement and high character; as, a class act. Opposite of low-class [informal] Syn. high-class. (a later addition to GCIDE — PJC — not in the 1913 text)

Class \Class, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Classed (klȧst); p. pr. & vb. n. Classing.] [Cf. F. classer. See Class, n.]

1. To arrange in classes; to classify or refer to some class; as, to class words or passages.
2. To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes. Note. In scientific arrangement, to classify is used instead of to class. —Dana.

Class \Class, v. i. To be grouped or classed. The genus or family under which it classes. —Tatham.

— Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), the [1913 Webster] text of GCIDE on dict.org

The dictionary on a 1939 desk was Webster's Second New International (1934), in copyright until 2030; the Collegiate above is its 1939 abridgment, from a local scan, and the New International of 1923 the unabridged edition before it, public domain. Webster's Revised Unabridged (1913) is the nearest public-domain dictionary online.

CLASS, noun 1., An order or rank of persons; a number of persons in society, supposed to have some resemblance or equality, in rank, education, property, talents, and the like; as in the phrase, all classes of men in society. The readers of poetry may be distinguished into three classes, according to their capacity of judging. 2., A number of students in a college or school, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies. In colleges, the students entering or becoming members the same year, and pursuing the same studies. In academies and schools, the pupils who learn the same lesson, and recite together. In some cases, students of different standings, pursuing the same studies and reciting together, or attending the same professor, or the same course of lectures. 3., Scientific division or arrangement; a set of beings or things, having something in common, or ranged under a common denomination. Hence in zoology, animals are divided into classes; as quadrupeds, fowls, fishes, etc. So in botany, plants are arranged in classes. Classes are natural or artificial; natural, when founded on natural relations, or resemblances; artificial, when formed arbitrarily, for want of a complete knowledge of natural relations. CLASS, verb transitive 1., class To arrange in a class or classes; to arrange in sets, or ranks, according to some method founded on natural distinctions; to place together, or in one division, men or things which have or are supposed to have something in common. 2., class To place in ranks or divisions students that are pursuing the same studies; to form into a class or classes. — Webster's 1828

• noun 1: a collection of things sharing a common attribute — “there are two classes of detergents” [syn: class, category, family]
• noun 2: a body of students who are taught together — “early morning classes are always sleepy” [syn: class, form, grade, course]
• noun 3: people having the same social, economic, or educational status — “the working class” [syn: class, stratum, social class, socio-economic class]
• noun 4: education imparted in a series of lessons or meetings — “he took a course in basket weaving” [syn: course, course of study, course of instruction, class]
• noun 5: a league ranked by quality — “he played baseball in class D for two years” [syn: class, division]
• noun 6: a body of students who graduate together — “the class of '97” [syn: class, year]
• noun 7: (biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more orders
• noun 8: elegance in dress or behavior — “she has a lot of class”
• verb 1: arrange or order by classes or categories — “How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?” [syn: classify, class, sort, assort, sort out, separate]

— WordNet 3.0 on dict.org