people

1 /'pi:pFl/ noun

1 (plural) persons: Were there many people at the meeting? | Most people in our neighborhood drive to work. | a retirement home for elderly people

—see person

2 PEOPLE IN GENERAL (plural) people in general, or people other than yourself: Sometimes people think we're sisters. | People enjoy reading about the rich and famous. | theatre/business etc people: Computer people are notoriously bad at arithmetic.

3 the people (plural) all the ordinary people in a country or a state who do not have special rank or position: Abraham Lincoln spoke of `government of the people, by the people, for the people'. | the common people | man of the people: a politician who was regarded as a man of the people because his father had been a miner

4 (C) a race or nation: the national heritage of the American people | the peoples of Africa | The Chinese people share a common written language.

—see race 1

5 sb's people (plural)

a) the people that God, a king, or a leader rules or leads: the exaltation of God's people

b) your parents, grandparents etc: His people have lived in this valley for centuries.

c) old-fashioned your close relatives, especially parents: Come home with me to meet my people.

6 of all people spoken used to say that someone is the one person who you would not have expected to do something: Why should he, of all people, get a promotion? | You of all people should have known better.

7 AmE spoken used to get the attention of a group of people: Listen up, people!

—compare folk 1 (3), —see also: little people, person 2 verb

1 be peopled with/by literary to be filled with people or things of a particular type: Her little world was peopled with imaginary friends.

2 (T) technical to live in a place; inhabit: the tribes who first peopled the peninsula