Character

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Character \Char"ac*ter\, n. [L., an instrument for marking,
     character, Gr. ?, fr. ? to make sharp, to cut into furrows,
     to engrave: cf. F. caract[`e]re.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A distinctive mark; a letter, figure, or symbol.
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              It were much to be wished that there were throughout
              the world but one sort of character for each letter
              to express it to the eye.             --Holder.
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     2. Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the peculiar
        form of letters used by a particular person or people; as,
        an inscription in the Runic character.
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              You know the character to be your brother's? --Shak.
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     3. The peculiar quality, or the sum of qualities, by which a
        person or a thing is distinguished from others; the stamp
        impressed by nature, education, or habit; that which a
        person or thing really is; nature; disposition.
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              The character or that dominion.       --Milton.
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              Know well each Ancient's proper character;
              His fable, subject, scope in every page;
              Religion, Country, genius of his Age. --Pope.
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              A man of . . . thoroughly subservient character.
                                                    --Motley.
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     4. Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality;
        as, he has a great deal of character.
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     5. Moral quality; the principles and motives that control the
        life; as, a man of character; his character saves him from
        suspicion.
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     6. Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct
        with respect to a certain office or duty; as, in the
        miserable character of a slave; in his character as a
        magistrate; her character as a daughter.
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     7. The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or
        thing; reputation; as, a man's character for truth and
        veracity; to give one a bad character.
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              This subterraneous passage is much mended since
              Seneca gave so bad a character of it. --Addison.
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     8. A written statement as to behavior, competency, etc.,
        given to a servant. [Colloq.]
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     9. A unique or extraordinary individuality; a person
        characterized by peculiar or notable traits; a person who
        illustrates certain phases of character; as, Randolph was
        a character; C[ae]sar is a great historical character.
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     10. One of the persons of a drama or novel.
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     Note: "It would be well if character and reputation were used
           distinctively. In truth, character is what a person is;
           reputation is what he is supposed to be. Character is
           in himself, reputation is in the minds of others.
           Character is injured by temptations, and by wrongdoing;
           reputation by slanders, and libels. Character endures
           throughout defamation in every form, but perishes when
           there is a voluntary transgression; reputation may last
           through numerous transgressions, but be destroyed by a
           single, and even an unfounded, accusation or
           aspersion." --Abbott.
           [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Character \Char"ac*ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Charactered}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To engrave; to inscribe. [R.]
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              These trees shall be my books.
              And in their barks my thoughts I 'll character.
                                                    --Shak.
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     2. To distinguish by particular marks or traits; to describe;
        to characterize. [R.] --Mitford.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  character
       n 1: an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play
            or film or story); "she is the main character in the
            novel" [syn: {fictional character}, {fictitious
            character}]
       2: a characteristic property that defines the apparent
          individual nature of something; "each town has a quality
          all its own"; "the radical character of our demands" [syn:
           {quality}, {lineament}]
       3: the inherent complex of attributes that determine a persons
          moral and ethical actions and reactions; "education has
          for its object the formation of character"- Herbert
          Spencer [syn: {fiber}, {fibre}]
       4: an actor's portrayal of someone in a play; "she played the
          part of Desdemona" [syn: {role}, {theatrical role}, {part},
           {persona}]
       5: a person of a specified kind (usually with many
          eccentricities); "a real character"; "a strange
          character"; "a friendly eccentric"; "the capable type"; "a
          mental case" [syn: {eccentric}, {type}, {case}]
       6: good repute; "he is a man of character"
       7: a formal recommendation by a former employer to a potential
          future employer describing the person's qualifications and
          dependability; "requests for character references are all
          to often answered evasively" [syn: {reference}, {character
          reference}]
       8: a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the
          Greek alphabet has 24 characters" [syn: {grapheme}, {graphic
          symbol}]
       v : engrave or inscribe characters on

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  633 Moby Thesaurus words for "character":
     Adamite, Altmann theory, DNA, De Vries theory, Galtonian theory,
     Mendelianism, Mendelism, RNA, Roscius, VIP, Verworn theory,
     Weismann theory, Weismannism, Wiesner theory, abnormal, accent,
     accent mark, acclaim, actor, actress, advocacy, advocating,
     advocation, affection, alien, allele, allelomorph, alphabet,
     alphabetic character, alphabetize, animus, antagonist, antihero,
     aptitude, arbitrary, aroma, arrowhead, assured probity, attribute,
     atypical, autolithograph, bad guy, badge, banner, bar, barnstormer,
     bastard, bat, be a printmaker, being, bent, bias, big shot,
     big-timer, bigwig, binary digit, bird, birth, birthmark, bit,
     bit part, blamelessness, blood, body, body-build, brand, breed,
     bring to life, bugger, cachet, cameo, cancel, capacity, capitalize,
     card, carve, case, cast, cat, catalog, cataloging,
     catch a likeness, celebrity, certificate of character, chap,
     character actor, character man, character reference,
     character sketch, character woman, characteristic, characteristics,
     characterization, characterize, chart, chief, child actor, chisel,
     chromatid, chromatin, chromosome, cipher, clan, cleanness,
     clothing, color, complexion, composition, condition, configuration,
     constituents, constitution, courage, cove, crackpot, crank, crasis,
     crease, creature, credential, cribble, crosshatch, cue, cuneiform,
     customer, custos, cut, decency, delineate, delineation,
     demotic character, denomination, depict, depiction, describe,
     description, designation, details, determinant, determinative,
     determiner, device, dharma, diagram, diathesis, differentia,
     differential, digit, dignitary, direct, diseur, diseuse,
     disposition, distinction, distinctive feature, dot, dramatizer,
     draw, duck, duty, earmark, earthling, eccentric, eccentricity,
     eclat, emblem, eminence, enchase, endowment, engrave, erectness,
     erratic, estimableness, ethos, eugenics, evocation, evoke,
     expected, express, expression mark, factor, fairness, fame,
     famousness, fanatic, fat part, feather, feature, feeder, feller,
     fellow, fermata, fiber, figure, fitting, flake, flavor, foil,
     footing, form, frame, freak, function, furrow, gene, genesiology,
     genetic code, genetics, genius, genre, genus, give words to, glory,
     good character, goodness, grain, grammalogue, graph, grapheme,
     graphic account, grave, groove, groundling, gust, guy, habit,
     hallmark, hand, hatch, head, heavy, hereditability, heredity,
     heritability, heritage, hermit, hero, heroine, hieratic symbol,
     hieroglyph, hieroglyphic, hieroglyphics, high ideals,
     high principles, high-mindedness, hiragana, histrio, histrion,
     hit off, hobo, hold, homo, honesty, honor, honorableness, hue,
     human, human being, humor, humors, ideogram, ideograph, idiocrasy,
     idiosyncrasy, ilk, image, imagery, immaculacy, impress, impression,
     in character, in keeping, inborn capacity, incise, inclination,
     index, indicant, indicator, individual, individualism,
     individuality, ingenue, inheritability, inheritance, initial,
     inscribe, insignia, integrity, intellect, intelligence,
     irreproachability, irreproachableness, itemization, jasper, job,
     joker, justice, justness, juvenile, kana, katakana, key signature,
     keynote, kidney, kin, kind, kook, kudos, label, lad, lead,
     lead role, leading lady, leading man, leading woman, leaning,
     letter, letter of introduction, lexigraphic character, life,
     ligature, limn, limning, line, lineaments, lines, lithograph,
     living soul, logogram, logograph, lone wolf, loner, loony, lot,
     make, make prints, makeup, man, manner, mannerism, map, mark,
     marking, matinee idol, matrocliny, maverick, measure, mental set,
     meshuggenah, metronomic mark, mettle, mime, mimer, mimic, mind,
     mind-set, mold, monogram, monologist, moral excellence,
     moral strength, morality, mortal, mummer, nabob, name, natural,
     nature, nobility, nonconformist, normal, nose, notability, notate,
     notation, note, notoriety, notoriousness, number, numeral, numero,
     nut, odd fellow, oddball, oddity, odor, office, ogham, one,
     original, out of character, outline, outsider, paint, pantomime,
     pantomimist, pariah, part, particularity, particularization, party,
     patrocliny, patronage, pause, peculiar, peculiarity, person,
     personage, personality, persuasion, pharmacogenetics, phonetic,
     phonetic character, phonetic symbol, photograph, phylum, physique,
     pictogram, pictograph, pictographic character, picture, picturize,
     piece, place, playactor, player, point, popularity, portrait,
     portraiture, portray, portrayal, position, predilection,
     predisposition, preference, presa, principles, print, probity,
     proclivity, profile, propensity, proper, property, protagonist,
     protean actor, province, publicity, pureness, purity, quality,
     queer duck, queer fish, queer specimen, quirk, quiz, race, radical,
     rank, rara avis, recessive character, reciter, reclame, recluse,
     recognition, recommend, recommendation, rectitude, reference,
     register, relation, render, rendering, rendition, renown,
     replication, report, represent, representation, representative,
     reputability, reputation, repute, resolution, respectability,
     righteousness, role, rub, rune, savor, schematize, score, scrape,
     scratch, screwball, sculpture, seal, segno, set, set forth, shape,
     shorthand, side, sigil, sign, signal, signature, single,
     singularity, situation, sketch, slant, slur, smack, solitary,
     somatotype, somebody, someone, sort, soubrette, soul, specialty,
     species, specification, spirit, spook, stage performer,
     stage player, stainlessness, stamp, standing, state, station,
     status, stipple, stooge, straight man, straight part, strain,
     strange duck, streak, stripe, stroller, strolling player, stud,
     style, suchness, suitable, supporting character, supporting role,
     sure sign, swell, syllabic, symbol, symbolize, symptom, system,
     taint, take a rubbing, tang, taste, telltale sign, tellurian,
     temper, temperament, tempo mark, tendency, tenor, terran,
     testimonial, the bubble reputation, the like of, the likes of,
     theatrical, thespian, tie, time signature, title role, token, tone,
     tool, trace, trace out, trace over, trait, tramp, transcribe,
     transliterate, tribe, trick, trouper, turn, turn of mind, twist,
     type, typical, uncharacteristic, unexpected, unfitting,
     unimpeachability, unimpeachableness, uniqueness, unspottedness,
     untypical, uprightness, upstandingness, utility man, variety, vein,
     vignette, villain, vinculum, virtue, virtuousness,
     vivid description, vogue, voucher, walk-on, walking part, warp,
     way, wedge, weirdo, word letter, word painting, worldling,
     worthiness, write, writing, written character, zealot, zombie
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  character
       
           An {atom} in a {character repertoire}.
       
          Compare with {glyph}.
       
          (1998-10-18)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CHARACTER, evidence. The opinion generally entertained of a person derived 
  from the common re 'port of the people who are acquainted with him. 3 Serg. 
  & R. 336; 3 Mass. 192; 3 Esp. C. 236. 
       2. There are three classes of cases on which the moral character and 
  conduct of a person in society may be used in proof before a jury, each 
  resting upon particular and distinct grounds. Such evidence is admissible, 
  1st. To afford a presumption that a particular party has not been guilty of 
  a criminal act. 2d. To affect the damages in particular cases, where their 
  amount depends on the character and conduct of any individual; and, 3d. To 
  impeach or confirm the veracity of a witness. 
       3.-1. Where the guilt of an accused party is doubtful, and the 
  character of the supposed agent is involved in the question, a presumption 
  of innocence arises from his former conduct in society, as evidenced by his 
  general character, since it is not probable that a person of known probity 
  and humanity, would commit a dishonest or outrageous act in the particular 
  instance. Such presumptions, however, are so remote from fact, and it is 
  frequently so difficult to estimate a person's real character, that 
  they are entitled to little weight, except in doubtful cases. Since the law 
  considers a presumption of this nature to be admissible, it is in principle 
  admissible 'Whenever a reasonable presumption arises from it, as to the fact 
  in question; in practice it is admitted whenever the character of the party 
  is involved in the issue. See 2 St. Tr. 1038 1 Coxes Rep. 424; 5 Serg. & R. 
  352 3 Bibb, R. 195; 2 Bibb, R. 286; 5 Day, R. 260; 5 Esp. C. 13; 3 Camp. C. 
  519; 1 Camp. C. 460; Str. R. 925. Tha. Cr. Cas. 230; 5 Port. 382. 
       4.-2. In some instances evidence in disparagement of character is 
  admissible, not in order to prove or disprove the commission of a particular 
  fact, but with a view to damages. In actions for criminal conversation with 
  the plaintiff's wife, evidence may be given of the wife's general bad 
  character, for want of chastity, and even of particular acts of adultery 
  committed by her, previous to her intercourse with the defendant. B. N. P. 
  27, 296; 12 Mod. 232; 3 Esp. C. 236. See 5 Munf. 10. In actions for slander 
  and libel, when the defendant has not justified, evidence of the plaintiff's 
  bad character has also been admitted. 3 Camp. C. 251; 1 M. & S. 284; 2 Esp. 
  C. 720; 2 Nott & M'Cord, 511; 1 Nott & M'Cord, 268; and see 11 Johns. R. 38; 
  1 Root, R. 449; 1 Johns. R. 46; 6 Penna. St. Rep. 170. The ground of 
  admitting such evidence is, that a person of disparaged fame is not entitled 
  to the same measure of damages with one whose character is unblemished. 
  When, however, the defendant justifies the slander, it seems to be doubtful 
  whether the evidence of reports as to the conduct and character of the 
  plaintiff can be received. See 1 M. & S. 286, n (a) 3 Mass. R. 553 1 Pick. 
  R. 19. When evidence is admitted touching the general character of a party, 
  it is manifest that it is to be confined to matters in reference to the 
  nature of the, charge against him. 2 Wend. 352. 
       5.-3. The party against whom a witness is called, may disprove the 
  fact& stated by him, or may examine other witnesses as to his general 
  character; but they will not be allowed to speak of particular facts or 
  parts of his conduct. B. N. P. 296. For example, evidence of the general 
  character of a prosecutrix for a rape, may be given, as that she was a 
  street walker; but evidence of specific acts of criminality cannot be 
  admitted. 3 Carr. & P. 589. The regular mode is to inquire whether the 
  witness under examination has the means of knowing the former witness 
  general character, and whether from such knowledge he would believe, him on 
  his oath. 4 St. Tr. 693; 4 Esp. C. 102. In answer to such evidence against 
  character, the other party may cross-examine the witness as to his means of 
  knowledge, and the grounds of his opinion; or he may attack such witness 
  general character, and by fresh evidence support the character of his own. 2 
  Stark. C. 151; Id. 241; St. Ev. pt. 4, 1753 to 1758; 1 Phil. Ev. 229. A 
  party cannot give evidence to confirm the good character of a witness, 
  unless his general character has been impugned by his antagonist. 9 Watts, 
  R. 124. See, in general, as to character, Phil. Ev. Index, tit. Character; 
  Stark. Ev. pl. 4, 364 Swift's Ev. 140 to 144 5 Ohio R. 227; Greenl. Ev. Sec. 
  54; 3 Hill, R. 178 Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.