party

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A social gathering especially for pleasure or amusement: a cocktail party.
2. n. A group of people who have gathered to participate in an activity. See Synonyms at band².
3. n. An established political group organized to promote and support its principles and candidates for public office.
4. n. A person or group involved in an enterprise; a participant or an accessory: I refuse to be a party to your silly scheme.
5. n. Law A person or group involved in a legal proceeding as a litigant.
6. n. A subscriber to a telephone party line.
7. n. A person using a telephone.
8. n. A person: "And though Grainger was a spry old party, such steps couldn't be his” ( Anthony Hyde).
9. n. A selected group of soldiers: a raiding party.
10. n. Slang An act of sexual intercourse.
11. n. Slang An orgy.
12. adj. Of, relating to, or participating in an established political organization: party members; party politics.
13. adj. Suitable for use at a social gathering: party dresses; a party hat.
14. adj. Characteristic of a pleasurable social gathering: a party atmosphere.
15. v. To celebrate or carouse at or as if at a party: That night we partied until dawn.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A part; a portion; a division.
2. n. Part; side.
3. n. A company or number of persons ranged on one side, or united in opinion or design, in opposition to others in the community; those who favor or are united to promote certain views or opinions: as, the Liberal party; the Democratic party; the party of moral ideas.
4. n. Hence Side; cause.
5. n. A company or band of persons collected or gathered together for some particular purpose; especially, a select company invited to be present and participate in some form of amusement or entertainment: as, a pleasure-party; a dinner-party; a theater-party.
6. n. A detached part of a larger body or company; specifically (military), a detachment or small number of troops sent on a special service, as to intercept an enemy's convoy,to reconnoiter, to seek forage.
7. n. In law: One of the lit-igants in a legal proceeding; a plaintiff or de-fendant in a suit: sometimes used collectively to include all the persons named on one side.
8. n. One expressly concerned or interested in an affair: as, a party to a contract or an agreement; the party of the first part.
9. n. One who is privy to a transaction or affair, or connected with it in any way; one who is more or less of an accomplice or accessory.
10. n. A person; a particular person, as distinct from and opposed to any other; a person under special consideration; a person in general; an individual: as, an old party of my acquaintance.
11. n. Compact; treaty.
12. n. Synonyms Combination, Faction, etc. (see cabal), league, set, clique, alliance, coalition.
13. Partial; manifesting partiality.
14. Of or pertaining to a faction or party; partizan: as, party lines; party issues.
15. Divided; in part.
16. Specifically In heraldry, divided into parts, usually equal: said of the field, especially when the division is in the direction of one of the ordinaries. Thus, party per fesse is divided by a horizontal line passing through the fesse-point; party per bend is divided by a line in the direction of the bend and into equal parts; etc. In actual blazoning, however, the word party is usually omitted, and instead of writing party per pale or and azure is written per pale, etc. Also parted.
17. n. Same as parti.

Wiktionary

1. adj. obsolete, except in compounds Divided; in part.
2. adv. obsolete Partly.
3. n. law A person or group of people constituting a particular side in a contract or legal action.
4. n. With to: an accessory, someone who takes part.
5. n. A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest etc.
6. n. A political group considered as a formal whole, united under one specific political platform of issues and campaigning to take part in government.
7. n. military A discrete detachment of troops, especially for a particular purpose.
8. n. A social gathering for entertainment and fun.
9. n. A group of people traveling or attending an event together, or participating in the same activity.
10. n. gaming, online gaming Active player characters organized into a single group.
11. n. video games Group of characters controlled by the player.
12. n. obsolete A part or division.
13. n. A gathering of acquaintances so that one of them may offer items for sale to the rest of them.
14. v. intransitive To celebrate at a party, to have fun, to enjoy oneself.
15. v. intransitive, slang, euphemistic To take recreational drugs.
16. v. gaming, online gaming, intransitive To form a party (with).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A part or portion.
2. n. 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.
3. n. (Mil.) A part of a larger body of company; a detachment a small body of troops dispatched on special service.
4. n. A number of persons invited to a social entertainment; a select company; ; also, the entertainment itself.
5. n. One concerned or interested in an affair; one who takes part with others; a participator
6. n. The plaintiff or the defendant in a lawsuit, whether an individual, a firm, or corporation; a litigant.
7. n. Hence, any certain person who is regarded as being opposed or antagonistic to another.
8. n. Cause; side; interest.
9. n. Now accounted a vulgarism. A person.
10. adj. (Her.) Parted or divided, as in the direction or form of one of the ordinaries.
11. adj. Partial; favoring one party; partisan.
12. adv. obsolete Partly.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a group of people gathered together for pleasure
2. n. a band of people associated temporarily in some activity
3. n. an organization to gain political power
4. n. an occasion on which people can assemble for social interaction and entertainment
5. n. a person involved in legal proceedings
6. v. have or participate in a party