party

Noun

party (plural parties)

1. (law) A person or group of people constituting a particular side in a contract or legal action.

   The contract requires that the party of the first part pay the fee.

   • 1612, Sir John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:

     if the Jury had found that the party slain had been of English race and nation, it had been adjudged felony

2. A person.
   1. (slang, dated) A person; an individual.

      He is a queer party.

      • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

        `These young parties have a way of looking at one, sir,' he would say apologetically, `which I don't call respectable.'

   2. With to: an accessory, someone who takes part.

      I can't possibly be a party to that kind of reckless behaviour.

3. (now rare in general sense) A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest etc.
   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 6, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     A mile back in the forest the tribe had heard the fierce challenge of the gorilla, and, as was his custom when any danger threatened, Kerchak called his people together, partly for mutual protection against a common enemy, since this gorilla might be but one of a party of several, and also to see that all members of the tribe were accounted for.

   1. (roleplaying games, online gaming) Active player characters organized into a single group.
   2. (video games) A group of characters controlled by the player.
5. (politics) Political party; political group considered as a formal whole, united under one specific political platform of issues and campaigning to take part in government.

   The green party took 12% of the vote.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. […] A strong man—a strong one; and a heedless." ¶ "Of what party is he?" she inquired, as though casually.

   • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four‎, page 103:

     The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

   • 1996, John Gittings, “Peasants in Revolt”, in Real China: From Cannibalism to Karaoke‎, Pocket Books, published 1997, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 46:

     In the freer political atmosphere before the 1989 repression, peasant protests against the Party in Henan were sometimes openly discussed. A transcript of a meeting between peasants and cadres in Jili district near Luoyang published in the Peasants’ Daily recorded some vivid complaints.

7. (military) A discrete detachment of troops, especially for a particular purpose.

   The settlers were attacked early next morning by a scouting party.

8. A group of persons collected or gathered together for some particular purpose.
   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 163–164:

     […] the whole party were still standing and talking together very agreeably, when the sound of horses drew their notice, and Darcy and Bingley were seen riding down the street.

   • 1944 May and June, “Nature Provides a Railway Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 132:

     When the line was being surveyed in 1880, the survey party, proceeding along the course of Stock Creek, reached a natural amphitheatre with a rock wall 200 ft. high, in the face of which there was an arched tunnel entrance, [...] into which the stream passed.

   2. A gathering of usually invited guests for entertainment, fun and socializing.

      I'm throwing a huge party for my 21st birthday.

      • 2016 April 3, “Congressional Fundraising”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 7, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

        So-So, tonight, tonight, let’s look at where that time actually goes, and let’s begin with the most obvious form of fundraising: fundraisers. These are usually shitty parties in D.C. bars, restaurants, or townhouses, and there are a lot of them! The Sunlight Foundation estimates that, in the last election cycle, members of Congress held over 28 hundred fundraisers! Washington is like Rod Stewart’s haircut: party in the front, party in the back, frankly too much party and no business anywhere to be found!

      • 2017, “Any Party”, in Pleasure, performed by Feist:

        You know I’d leave any party for you / 'Cause no party’s so sweet as a party of two

   3. A group of people traveling or attending an event together, or participating in the same activity.

      We're expecting a large party from the London office.

      Do you have a table available for a party of four?

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 63:

        We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.

   4. A gathering of acquaintances so that one of them may offer items for sale to the rest of them.

      Tupperware party

      lingerie party

9. A small group of birds or mammals.
   • 1903, D.D. Cunningham, Some Indian Friends and Acquaintances, London: John Murray, page 28:

     A party of mynas, consisting of several males and females, once selected the top of a low terraced roof, just below my verandah, as a site for courting and quarrelling.

   • 2009, Mark Brazil, The Birds of East Asia, London: Christopher Helm, page 272:

     Small parties and flocks close to breeding sites commonly give shrill, high-pitched, trilling screams.

10. (obsolete) A part or division.
    • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum xv”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book II, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

      And so the moost party of the castel that was falle doune thorugh that dolorous stroke laye vpon Pellam and balyn thre dayes.

      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Verb

party (third-person singular simple present parties, present participle partying, simple past and past participle partied)

1. (intransitive) To celebrate at a party, to have fun, to enjoy oneself.

   We partied until the early hours.

2. (intransitive, slang, euphemistic) To take recreational drugs.
   • 2004, Daniel Nicholas Shields, Firewoman:

     “Miss, do you party?” the boy asked. “What?” Jennifer asked back. “Do you smoke? I'll get you some cheap. One American dollar equals forty Jamaican dollars. I'll get you as much of the stuff as you need.”

3. (intransitive) To engage in flings, to have one-night stands, to sow one's wild oats.
4. (online gaming, intransitive) To form a party (with).

   If you want to beat that monster, you should party with a healer.

References

• Party (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• party on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Adjective

party (not comparable)

1. Of a fence or wall: shared by two properties and serving to divide them.
   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

     Now converging, now diverging, these fences presented a striking irregularity of contour. No fence was party, nor any part of any fence.

2. (obsolete, except in compounds) Divided; in part.
3. (heraldry) Parted or divided, as in the direction or form of one of the ordinaries.

   an escutcheon party per pale

Derived terms

Related terms

• See part

Synonyms

• feest, fuif

Derived terms

• schuimparty

Usage notes

party has two genders in French: In Canada, it is a masculine noun, and in France it is a feminine noun.

Derived terms

• garden-party
• party hot-dog
• suicide-party

Synonyms

• fest

Synonyms

• fest

Participle

party (passive adjectival)

1. masculine singular passive adjectival participle of przeć

Noun

party m inan

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of part

Declension

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Declension