PERSON

[noun] [C] [plural] people or [formal or legal] persons - a man, woman or childWho was the first person to swim the English Channel?Democracy rests on the principle of one person, one vote.A meal at the restaurant costs about $70 for two people.(formal) The aim of the council is to provide temporary accommodation for homeless persons.(legal) Four persons have been charged with the murder.Person is also used when describing someone and their particular type of character.She's an extremely kind person.He's nice enough as a person (= He has a nice character), but he's not the right man for this job.(informal) I don't think of him as a book person (= a person who likes books).(specialized) In grammar, person is used to describe the verbs and pronouns that refer to the different people in a conversation. The first person ('I' or 'we') refers to the person speaking, the second person ('you') refers to the person being spoken to and the third person ('he', 'she', 'it' or 'they') refers to another person or thing being spoken about or described.'I' is a first-person pronoun.The novel is written in the first person, so that the author and narrator seem to be the same.'Are' is the second person plural of the verb 'to be'.If you do something or go somewhere in person, you do it or go there yourself so that you are physically present.He rarely pays visits in person.I had seen her before on TV, but she looked very different when I met her in person.(formal) The editorial board has an expert with a world-wide reputation in the person of (= in the form of) Professor Jameson.(formal) If someone has something such as weapon on/about their person, they have it with them, usually hidden in their clothing.Police officers must check that suspects do not have weapons concealed about their person. (US and ANZ) A person-to-person telephone call is one where you ask the telephone operator to let you speak directly to a particular person.(esp. US) If you talk to or meet someone person-to-person, you talk to or meet them directly. -person [suffix]Sometimes -person is used to combine with nouns to form new nouns which refer to the particular job or duty that someone has. It is often used instead of -man or -woman to avoid making an unnecessary statement about the sex of the particular person.spokespersonchairpersonsalespersontownspeoplebusiness people