member - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English membre, from Old French membre, from Latin membrum (“limb, body part”), from Proto-Italic *memzrom, from Proto-Indo-European *mḗms, *mēms-rom (“flesh”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌼𐌶 (mimz, “meat, flesh”), Crimean Gothic menus.

Coexists with native limb, from Old English lim (“limb, joint, main branch”). Mostly displaced lith (“limb, joint, member”), from Old English liþ (“limb, member, join, tip”), which still survives in British dialect.

member (plural members)

  1. One who belongs to a group.
    • 2014 January 14, Roberta Rogow, The Problem of the Surly Servant‎[1], →ISBN, page 109:
      “Were it not for the fancy French and Latin in it, I'd have swore it was the sort of thing I do not print as a rule, but being as how the order was from one of the members upstairs...”
  2. A part of a whole.
    Synonym: integrant
    The I-beams were to become structural members of a pedestrian bridge.
    • 1979, Kenneth J. Englund, "The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian (Carbonfierous) Systems in the United States - Virginia", Page C-14, in Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 1110
      The member intertongues and grades laterally with the lower sandstone member of the Pocahontas Formation of Early Pennslyvanian age
  3. Part of an animal capable of performing a distinct office; an organ; a limb.
    Synonyms: limb, lith
  4. (euphemistic) The penis.
    Synonyms: pintle, tarse, virile member
    • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 168:
      If your wife is old and your member is exhausted, eat onions in plenty.
  5. (logic) One of the propositions making up a syllogism.
    Synonyms: premise, premiss
  6. (set theory) An element of a set.
    Synonym: element
  7. (Australia, law) the judge or adjudicator in a consumer court.
  8. A part of a discourse or of a period, sentence, or verse; a clause.
  9. (mathematics) Either of the two parts of an algebraic equation, connected by the equality sign.
  10. (computing) A file stored within an archive file.
    The zip file holding the source code of this application has 245 members.
  11. (object-oriented programming) A function or piece of data associated with each separate instance of a class.

one who officially belongs to a group

organ, limb

penis

logic: one of the propositions making up a syllogism — see premise

object-oriented programming: function or piece of data

law: judge or adjudicator in a consumer court

part of a discourse, period, sentence, or verse — see clause

computing: file stored within an archive file

Clipping of remember (by apheresis).

member (third-person singular simple present members, present participle membering, simple past and past participle membered)

  1. (obsolete outside dialects) Pronunciation spelling of remember.

From English member.

member

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) member
  2. (Hong Kong Cantonese gay slang, euphemistic) gay male

Borrowed from English member, from Middle English membre, from Old French membre, from Latin membrum (“limb, body part”), from Proto-Italic *memzrom, from Proto-Indo-European *mḗms, *mēms-rom (“flesh”).

mémber (Jawi spelling ميمبر, plural **member-member or **member2)

  1. (Malaysia, informal) A close friend.
    Synonyms: kawan, rakan, sahabat
    Member ajak lepak jap.
    A friend invited me to hang out for a bit.

Middle English, via Old French from Latin membrum.

member (plural members)

  1. member