A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below regnum and above classis.
The lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
Wage earners collectively, excluding salaried workers; people who own no capital and depend on their labour for survival; the working class, especially when seen as engaged in a class struggle with the bourgeoisie (“the capital-owning class”).
The lowest class of citizens, who had no property and few rights, and were regarded as contributing only their offspring to the state.