*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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A number of students in a school or college, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A set; a kind or description, species or variety. [ 1913 Webster ]

She had lost one class energies. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ PJC ]

7. A high degree of elegance, in dress or behavior; the quality of bearing oneself with dignity, grace, and social adeptness. [ PJC ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Classed 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In scientific arrangement, to classify is used instead of to class. Dana. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be grouped or classed. [ 1913 Webster ]

The genus or family under which it classes. Tatham. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. exhibiting refinement and high character; as, a class act. Opposite of low-class [ informal ]
Syn. -- high-class. [ PJC ]

. 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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Capable of being classed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A work of acknowledged excellence and authority, or its author; -- originally used of Greek and Latin works or authors, but now applied to authors and works of a like character in any language. [ 1913 Webster ]

In is once raised him to the rank of a legitimate English classic. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One learned in the literature of Greece and Rome, or a student of classical literature. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. classique. See Class, n. ] 1. Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give, as thy last memorial to the age,
One classic drama, and reform the stage. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mr. Greaves may justly be reckoned a classical author on this subject [ Roman weights and coins ]. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks and Romans, esp. to Greek or Roman authors of the highest rank, or of the period when their best literature was produced; of or pertaining to places inhabited by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or rendered famous by their deeds. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though throned midst Latium's classic plains. Mrs. Hemans. [ 1913 Webster ]

The epithet classical, as applied to ancient authors, is determined less by the purity of their style than by the period at which they wrote. Brande & C. [ 1913 Webster ]

He [ Atterbury ] directed the classical studies of the undergraduates of his college. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined; as, a classical style. [ 1913 Webster ]

Classical, provincial, and national synods. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Classicals orders. (Arch.) See under Order. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A classical idiom, style, or expression; a classicism. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Adherence to what are supposed or assumed to be the classical canons of art. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who adheres to what he thinks the classical canons of art. Ruskin. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In a classical manner; according to the manner of classical authors. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In the manner of classes; according to a regular order of classes or sets. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. The quality of being classical. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A classic idiom or expression; a classicalism. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One learned in the classics; an advocate for the classics. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. of or pertaining to classicism; as, classicistic tradition. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. to make classic or classical. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. pl. the branch of learning concerned with study of the literary works of ancient Greece and Rome. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Capable of being classified. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Characterizing a class or classes; relating to classification. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. classification. ] The act of forming into a class or classes; a distribution into groups, as classes, orders, families, etc., according to some common relations or affinities. [ 1913 Webster ]

Artificial classification. (Science) See under Artifitial. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to classification; admitting of classification. “A classificatory system.” Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. arranged into classes or categories; as, unclassified.
Syn. -- categorized. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. assigned to a class of documents withheld from general circulation; -- of information or documents. Opposite of unclassified. [ Narrower terms: eyes-only; confidential; restricted; secret; sensitive; top-secret ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who classifies. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Classified p. pr. & vb. n. Classifying. ] [ L. classis class + -fy. ] To distribute into classes; to arrange according to a system; to arrange in sets according to some method founded on common properties or characters.

Syn. -- To arrange; distribute; rank. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Classes [ L. See Class, n. ] 1. A class or order; sort; kind. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His opinion of that classis of men. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl.) An ecclesiastical body or judicatory in certain churches, as the Reformed Dutch. It is intermediate between the consistory and the synod, and corresponds to the presbytery in the Presbyterian church. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Classmen 1. A member of a class; a classmate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A candidate for graduation in arts who is placed in an honor class, as opposed to a passman, who is not classified. [ Oxford, Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who is in the same class with another, as at school or college. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. having elegance or taste or refinement in manners or dress. Opposite of styleless. [ informal ]
Syn. -- posh, swish, stylish. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. exhibiting refinement and high character. Opposite of low-class [ informal ]
Syn. -- high-class. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Declassed p. pr. & vb. n. Declassing. ] [ Cf. F. déclasser. ] To remove from a class; to separate or degrade from one's class. North Am. Rev. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖pos>adj. [ F. Cf. F. déclasser. ] 1. Reduced or fallen in status, social position, class or rank; fallen from a high status or rank to a lower one. [ PJC ]

2. Of inferior grade, rank, status, or prestige. [ PJC ]

n. Reduction by the government of restrictions on a classified document or weapon. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. having a security classification removed so as to be open to public inspection; -- of documents or information. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. to lift the restriction on publication [ of documents ] by reducing or eliminating the secrecy classification of; -- usually applied to government documents classified as secret.
Syn. -- make available again. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of the best class; of the highest rank; in the first division; of the best quality; first-rate; as, a first-class telescope. [ 1913 Webster ]

First-class car or
First-class railway carriage, any passenger car of the highest regular class, and intended for passengers who pay the highest regular rate; -- distinguished from a second-class car. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. Occupying the lowest socioeconomic position in a society. Contrasted with middle-class and upper-class. [ Narrower terms: propertyless, wage-earning, working-class, blue-collar ] Also See: lowborn, proletarian, propertyless.
Syn. -- lower-class (vs. upper-class). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. characteristic of the lower classes. [ Narrower terms: non-U, vulgar ] PJC ]

adj. same as low-class. Contrasted with middle-class and upper-class.
Syn. -- low-class. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. an undergraduate who is not yet a senior.
Syn. -- underclassman. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. occupying the lower part of the middle socioeconomic range in a society. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Grammar) Any of the parts of speech of traditional grammar. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ Neo- + classic. ] Belonging to, or designating, the modern revival or adaptation of classical, esp. Greco-Roman, style, taste and manner of work in architecture, arts, literature, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl.+ WordNet 1.5 ]

. All that architecture which, since the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, about 1420, has been designed with deliberate imitation of Greco-Roman buildings. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. a revival of the classical Greek and Roman style in art or literature. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. an advocate of neoclassicism. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of the rank or degree below the best or highest; inferior; second-rate; as, a second-class house; a second-class passage; a second-class citizen. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ G. sonderklasse special class. ] (Yachting) A special class of small yachts developed in Germany under the patronage of Emperor William and Prince Henry of Prussia, and so called because these yachts do not conform to the restrictions for the regular classes established by the rules of the International Yacht Racing Union. In yachts of the sonderclass, as prescribed for the season of 1911, the aggregate of the length on water line, extreme beam, and extreme draft must be not more than 32 feet; the weight, not less than 4, 035 pounds (without crew); the sail area, not more than 550 square yards; and the cost of construction (for American boats) not more than $2400. The crew must be amateurs and citizens of the country in which the yacht was built. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. One of the natural groups, more important than an order, into which some classes are divided; as, the angiospermous subclass of exogens. [ 1913 Webster ]