Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Family
Fam′i-ly
,Noun.
pl.
Families
(#)
. 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.
2.
The group comprising a husband and wife and their dependent children, constituting a fundamental unit in the organization of society.
The welfare of the
family
underlies the welfare of society. H. Spencer.
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
.Go ! and pretend your
family
is young. Pope.
4.
Course of descent; genealogy; line of ancestors; lineage.
5.
Honorable descent; noble or respectable stock;
as, a man of
. family
6.
A group of kindred or closely related individuals;
as, a
family
of languages; a family
of States; the chlorine family
.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.
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]
Webster 1828 Edition
Family
FAM'ILY
,Noun.
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.2.
Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe or race; kindred; lineage. Thus the Israelites were a branch of the family of Abraham; and the descendants of Reuben, of Manasseh, &c., were called their families. The whole human race are the family of Adam, the human family.3.
Course of descent; genealogy; line of ancestors. Go and complain thy family is young.
4.
Honorable descent; noble or respectable stock. He is a man of family.5.
A collection or union of nations or states.The states of Europe were, by the prevailing maxims of its policy, closely united in one family.
6.
In popular language, an order, class or genus of animals or of other natural productions, having something in common, by which they are distinguished from others; as, quadrupeds constitute a family of animals, and we speak of the family or families of plants.