from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
World \World\, n. [OE. world, werld, weorld, weoreld, AS.
weorold, worold; akin to OS. werold, D. wereld, OHG. weralt,
worolt, werolt, werlt, G. welt, Icel. ver["o]ld, Sw. verld,
Dan. verden; properly, the age of man, lifetime, humanity;
AS. wer a man + a word akin to E. old; cf. AS. yld lifetime,
age, ylde men, humanity. Cf. {Werewolf}, {Old}.]
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1. The earth and the surrounding heavens; the creation; the
system of created things; existent creation; the universe.
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The invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen. --Rom. 1. 20.
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With desire to know,
What nearer might concern him, how this world
Of heaven and earth conspicuous first began.
--Milton.
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2. Any planet or heavenly body, especially when considered as
inhabited, and as the scene of interests analogous with
human interests; as, a plurality of worlds. "Lord of the
worlds above." --I. Watts.
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Amongst innumerable stars, that shone
Star distant, but high-hand seemed other worlds.
--Milton.
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There may be other worlds, where the inhabitants
have never violated their allegiance to their
almighty Sovereign. --W. B.
Sprague.
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3. The earth and its inhabitants, with their concerns; the
sum of human affairs and interests.
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That forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe.
--Milton.
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4. In a more restricted sense, that part of the earth and its
concerns which is known to any one, or contemplated by any
one; a division of the globe, or of its inhabitants; human
affairs as seen from a certain position, or from a given
point of view; also, state of existence; scene of life and
action; as, the Old World; the New World; the religious
world; the Catholic world; the upper world; the future
world; the heathen world.
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One of the greatest in the Christian world
Shall be my surety. --Shak.
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Murmuring that now they must be put to make war
beyond the world's end -- for so they counted
Britain. --Milton.
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5. The customs, practices, and interests of men; general
affairs of life; human society; public affairs and
occupations; as, a knowledge of the world.
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Happy is she that from the world retires. --Waller.
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If knowledge of the world makes man perfidious,
May Juba ever live in ignorance. --Addison.
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6. Individual experience of, or concern with, life; course of
life; sum of the affairs which affect the individual; as,
to begin the world with no property; to lose all, and
begin the world anew.
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7. The inhabitants of the earth; the human race; people in
general; the public; mankind.
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Since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to
any purpose that the world can say against it.
--Shak.
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Tell me, wench, how will the world repute me
For undertaking so unstaid a journey? --Shak.
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8. The earth and its affairs as distinguished from heaven;
concerns of this life as distinguished from those of the
life to come; the present existence and its interests;
hence, secular affairs; engrossment or absorption in the
affairs of this life; worldly corruption; the ungodly or
wicked part of mankind.
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I pray not for the world, but for them which thou
hast given me; for they are thine. --John xvii.
9.
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Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
but is of the world. --1 John ii.
15, 16.
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9. As an emblem of immensity, a great multitude or quantity;
a large number. "A world of men." --Chapman. "A world of
blossoms for the bee." --Bryant.
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Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company. --Shak.
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A world of woes dispatched in little space.
--Dryden.
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{All . . . in the world}, all that exists; all that is
possible; as, all the precaution in the world would not
save him.
{A world to see}, a wonder to see; something admirable or
surprising to see. [Obs.]
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O, you are novices; 't is a world to see
How tame, when men and women are alone,
A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.
--Shak.
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{For all the world}.
(a) Precisely; exactly.
(b) For any consideration.
{Seven wonders of the world}. See in the Dictionary of Noted
Names in Fiction.
{To go to the world}, to be married. [Obs.] "Thus goes every
one to the world but I . . .; I may sit in a corner and
cry heighho for a husband!" --Shak.
{World's end}, the end, or most distant part, of the world;
the remotest regions.
{World without end}, eternally; forever; everlastingly; as if
in a state of existence having no end.
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Throughout all ages, world without end. --Eph. iii.
21.
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