person

plural people · plural persons

1. An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.First known use 13th c.

   Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.

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   1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., 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.

   “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.[…]”

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 85

   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.

      No man can long put on a person and act a part.

      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

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      […]his firſt appearance vpon the Stage, in his new perſon of a Sycophant or Iugler[…]

      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

      How different […]is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate, and […]that of a friend!

      1664, Robert South, Of the Love of Christ to his Disciples

      […]to beare rule, which was thy part / And perſon, had’ſt thou known thy ſelf aright.

      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

   2. ChristianityAny one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.

      three persons and one God

      1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie

   3. Any sapient or socially intelligent being.
   4. Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).

      Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.

   5. A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).
   6. 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.First known use 14th c.

   The Captain, inclining his military person, sat sideways to be closer and kinder[…].

   1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter XVI, in What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC, page 188

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   […]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.

   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

   At first blush it seemed that what was striking about him rested on the fact that his dress was exotic, his person foreign.

   1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), page 418

3. lawAny individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.First known use 14th c.

   At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.

4. euphemisticlawThe human genitalia; specifically, the penis.

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   [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 ...

   1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4

5. grammarA linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person.First known use 14th c.
6. biologyA 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.First known use 19th c.

   True corms, composed of united personae […] usually arise by gemmation, […] yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons.

   1884, Patrick Geddes, “Morphology”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 16

7. A soulmate; someone, especially a romantic partner, with whom one is exceptionally compatible and connected.

   'I still miss her. Every day,' she said. 'She was my person. […] [And when she died,] I'd lost my person. I was eight years old and I'd lost my person. Willow and I even had our own language, as lots of twins do, but I stopped talking after she died.'

   2022 January 25, Emily Forbes, The Perfect Mother for His Son, Harlequin, →ISBN

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   Standing in the rain, she looked at me and said, "I have lost my person. Cal was my person. What am I going to do? I lost my person." The words didn't make sense to me. […] She lost her person? What does that even mean? Cal was more than a person. He was this great man and legendary basketball coach. I get if you have lost your dog or cat [...] But I lost my person? […] I finally understood [...] Because I realized that you are my person. It means that in a world of eight billion people, if I lost you, there would still be seven billion, nine-hundred and ninety-nine million, nine-hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-nine people [...] But none of those people matter. None of them are you.

   2022 August 23, Chris Brinkley, My Story of Us: Thomas, Smartypants Romance, →ISBN

present singular third person persons · participle present personing · participle present personning · participle past personed · past personed · participle past personned · past personned

1. obsoletetransitiveTo represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.

   Or let us perſon him like ſome wretched itinerary Judge, […]

   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

2. gender neutraltransitiveTo man, to supply with staff or crew.

   We had hit the iceberg, and it was time to person the lifeboats.

   2007, Brian R. Brenner, Don't Throw This Away!: The Civil Engineering Life, page 40

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   “Okay. Soon as Natalie heard, and while she was flailing around trying to turn up a Valium, she decided she had better call Scott Harrison and ask his opinion on what sort of advice, re legal moves, she ought to call back to Iréné, or Rama, or Wilkerson, or whoever’s personning the fort back there.” / “Whoever’s whatening the fort?” / “Please.[…]”

   1981, John Nichols, “Sunday”, in The Nirvana Blues, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published May 1983, page 89

   Thank you to the many who helped the festival succeed (and apologies to anyone omitted): […] Kevin and Mary Jannsen, for tireless work including the initial survey, soliciting raffle donations, selling tickets, personning the raffle booth during the festival, etc.

   1996 fall/winter, Sharon Dezurick, “Glen Park Community Festival a Success”, in Kristin Nash, editor, Glen Park News, San Francisco, Calif.: Glen Park Association, →OCLC, columns 1–2

   And I sat at the counter and watched the cooker cat personning the griddle with one hand and the grill with the other.

   2006 March 22–28, L.E. [Lady Exister] Leone [pseudonym; Dani Leone], “Ah, Sprrr-ing!”, in Tim Redmond, editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian, volume 40, number 25, San Francisco, Calif., →ISSN, page 61, column 1

   I was just mulling over the merits of working the fryer at McDonald’s versus personning the complaints desk at Wal-Mart when I took a right onto the dirt road leading to New Millennium Bible Camp.

   2008, Jess Lourey, chapter 21, in August Moon: A Murder-By-Month Mystery, Woodbury, Minn.: Midnight Ink, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 207

   We went so far as to stop in a hotel on the way out of Speyer — to ask for directions — but the teenaged girl personing the desk there seemed to be such an idiot[…]

   2008, William Guy, Something Sensational, page 337

1. A surname.