[syn: party, company]
4. an occasion on which people can assemble for social interaction and entertainment;
- Example: "he planned a party to celebrate Bastille Day"
5. a person involved in legal proceedings;
- Example: "the party of the first part"
VERB (1)
1. have or participate in a party;
- Example: "The students were partying all night before the exam"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Party \Par"ty\ (p[aum]r"t[y^]), n.; pl. Parties
(p[aum]r"t[i^]z). [F. parti and partie, fr. F. partir to
part, divide, L. partire, partiri. See Part, v.]
1. A part or portion. [Obs.] "The most party of the time."
--Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
2. A number of persons united in opinion or action, as
distinguished from, or opposed to, the rest of a community
or association; esp., one of the parts into which a people
is divided on questions of public policy.
[1913 Webster]
Win the noble Brutus to our party. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The peace both parties want is like to last.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
3. A part of a larger body of company; a detachment;
especially (Mil.), a small body of troops dispatched on
special service.
[1913 Webster]
4. A number of persons invited to a social entertainment; a
select company; as, a dinner party; also, the
entertainment itself; as, to give a party.
[1913 Webster]
5. One concerned or interested in an affair; one who takes
part with others; a participator; as, he was a party to
the plot; a party to the contract.
[1913 Webster]
6. The plaintiff or the defendant in a lawsuit, whether an
individual, a firm, or corporation; a litigant.
[1913 Webster]
The cause of both parties shall come before the
judges. --Ex. xxii. 9.
[1913 Webster]
7. Hence, any certain person who is regarded as being opposed
or antagonistic to another.
[1913 Webster]
If the jury found that the party slain was of
English race, it had been adjudged felony. --Sir J.
Davies.
[1913 Webster]
8. Cause; side; interest.
[1913 Webster]
Have you nothing said
Upon this Party 'gainst the Duke of Albany? --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
9. A person; as, he is a queer party. [Now accounted a
vulgarism.]
[1913 Webster]
Note: "For several generations, our ancestors largely
employed party for person; but this use of the word,
when it appeared to be reviving, happened to strike,
more particularly, the fancy of the vulgar; and the
consequence has been, that the polite have chosen to
leave it in their undisputed possession." --Fitzed.
Hall.
[1913 Webster]
Party jury (Law), a jury composed of different parties, as
one which is half natives and half foreigners.
Party man, a partisan. --Swift.
Party spirit, a factious and unreasonable temper, not
uncommonly shown by party men. --Whately.
Party verdict, a joint verdict. --Shak.
Party wall.
(a) (Arch.) A wall built upon the dividing line between
two adjoining properties, usually having half its
thickness on each property.
(b) (Law) A wall that separates adjoining houses, as in a
block or row.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Party \Par"ty\, a. [F. parti divided, fr. partir to divide. See
Part, v., and cf. Partite.]
1. (Her.) Parted or divided, as in the direction or form of
one of the ordinaries; as, an escutcheon party per pale.
[1913 Webster]
2. Partial; favoring one party; partisan.
[1913 Webster]
I will be true judge, and not party. --Chaucer.
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Charter party. See under Charter.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Party \Par"ty\, adv.
Partly. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
party
n 1: an organization to gain political power; "in 1992 Perot
tried to organize a third party at the national level"
[syn: party, political party]
2: a group of people gathered together for pleasure; "she joined
the party after dinner"
3: a band of people associated temporarily in some activity;
"they organized a party to search for food"; "the company of
cooks walked into the kitchen" [syn: party, company]
4: an occasion on which people can assemble for social
interaction and entertainment; "he planned a party to
celebrate Bastille Day"
5: a person involved in legal proceedings; "the party of the
first part"
v 1: have or participate in a party; "The students were partying
all night before the exam"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
366 Moby Thesaurus words for "party":
Adamite, American Party, Anti-Monopoly Party, Bull Moose Party,
Communist Party, Conservative Party, Constitutional Union Party,
Democratic Party, Democratic-Republican Party, Farmer-Labor Party,
Federalist Party, Free Soil Party, Greenback Party, Kaffeeklatsch,
Know-Nothing Party, Labour Party, Liberal Party,
Liberal Republican Party, Liberty Party, Mardi Gras,
National Republican Party, Populist Party, Progressive Party,
Prohibition Party, Republican Party, Saturnalia,
Socialist Labor Party, Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party,
Tammany Hall, Tory Party, Whig Party, a party to, accessory,
accomplice, accusant, accuser, actor, adherents, advocate,
affiliation, age group, aid, allegator, alliance, ally, appellant,
approver, assemblee, assembly, assignation, associate, at home,
bacchanal, bacchanalia, backer, ball, band, banquet, bash,
battalion, beano, being, bevy, bipartisan, biparty, bloc, blowout,
body, branch, brawl, breakaway group, brigade, bunch, bust, cabal,
cadre, caller, calling party, camp, carnival, carousal, carouse,
cast, cat, caucus, celebration, certifier, champion, chap,
character, church, city hall, claimant, clique, club, cluster,
coalition, cocktail party, coffee klatch, cohort, colloquium,
combine, commission, committee, communion, community, company,
complainant, complement, conclave, concourse, confederacy,
confederate, confederation, confirmer, congregation, congress,
contingent, contributor, conventicle, convention, convocation,
copartner, corps, cosignatory, cosigner, costume party, cotenant,
coterie, council, covey, creature, crew, crowd, customer, dance,
date, debauch, defendant, defender, delator, denomination,
denominational, detachment, detail, diet, dinner, dinner party,
division, do, donation party, duck, earthling, eisteddfod,
endorser, entertainment, ethnic group, exponent, faction,
factional, fair, feast, federation, fellow, fellowship, festival,
festive occasion, festivity, fete, field day, fiesta, fleet,
forgathering, forum, frolic, function, gala, gala affair, gala day,
gang, garden party, gathering, get-together, great doings,
groundling, group, grouping, groupment, guarantor, guy, hand, head,
helper, hen party, high jinks, homo, hop, house party,
house-raising, housewarming, human, human being, impeacher,
impugner, in-group, indictor, individual, informer, insurer,
interest, interest group, interested, jamboree, joker, junta,
junto, kermis, lawn party, league, levee, libelant, life, litigant,
litigationist, litigator, living soul, machine, major party, man,
mask, masque, masquerade, masquerade party, meet, meeting,
minor party, minority group, mob, mortal, movement,
multiple party system, nose, notary, notary public, offshoot, one,
one-party system, opposition party, order, organization, orgy,
out-group, outfit, pack, panel, partaker, partial, participant,
participator, parties litigant, partisan, partner, party in power,
peer group, person, personage, personality, persuasion, petitioner,
phalanx, phoner, picnic, plaintiff, platoon, plenum,
political machine, political party, posse, pressure group, prom,
promoter, proponent, prosecutor, quorum, rally, ratifier, rave,
reception, regiment, religious order, rendezvous, ring, romp,
salon, saturnalia, schism, school, seance, seconder, sect,
sectarian, sectarism, sectary, sectional, segment, session, set,
shareholder, sharer, shindig, shindy, shower, side, signatory,
signer, silent majority, single, sit-in, sitting, smoker,
social gathering, society, soiree, somebody, someone, soul,
splinter, splinter group, splinter party, spree, squad, stable,
stag, stag party, string, subscriber, suitor, supporter,
surprise party, symposium, synod, team, telephoner, tellurian,
terran, the prosecution, third party, tribe, troop, troupe,
turnout, two-party system, underwriter, union, unit, upholder,
variety, version, vocal minority, waygoose, wayzgoose, wing,
wingding, witness, worldling
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
PARTY, practice, contracts. When applied to practice, by party is understood
either the plaintiff or defendant. In contracts, a party is one or more
persons who engage to perform or receive the performance of some agreement.
Vide Parties to contracts; Parties to 'actions; Parties to a suit in equity.