Webster's English Dictionary

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person

per.son \'p*rs-*n\ n [ME, fr. OF persone, fr. L persona actor's mask, 
   character in a pla]y, person, prob. fr. Etruscan phersu mask 1a: a human 
   being  1b: a human being as distinguished from an animal or thing  1c: an 
   inferior human being  2: CHARACTER, GUISE  3a: one of the three modes of 
   being in the godhead as understood by Trinita rians 3b: the unitary 
   personality of Christ that unites the divine and human natu res archaic  
   4a: bodily appearance  4b: the body of a human being  5a: the individual 
   personality of a human being : SELF  5b: bodily presence {appear in ~}  6: 
   a human being, body of persons, corporation, partnership, or other legal  
   entity recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties 7: reference 
   of a segment of discourse to the speaker, to one spoken to, or  to one 
   spoken of as indicated by means of certain pronouns or in many languages by 
   verb inflection