party

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑː.ti/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹ.ti/, [ˈpʰɑɹɾi]

  • Audio (US)

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  • Audio (Canada)

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑ(ː)ɾi/, [ˈpʰɑ(ː)ɾi]
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)ti
• Hyphenation: par‧ty

From Anglo-Norman partie, Old French partie, from Medieval Latin partita (“a part, party”), from Latin partita, feminine of partitus, past participle of partiri (“to divide”); see part.

A birthday party (def. 6.1) for a child

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.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Sir John Davies

     If the jury found that the party slain was of English race, it had been adjudged felony.

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

      He is a queer party.

   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, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Ch.6:

     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. (role-playing games, online gaming) Active player characters organized into a single group.
   2. (video games) A group of characters controlled by the player.
4. A 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 639762314, page 0124:

     "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.

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

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

6. A social gathering.
   1. A gathering of usually invited guests for entertainment, fun and socializing.

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

      • 2016 April 3, John Oliver, “Congressional Fundraising”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 7, 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!

   2. 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.

      • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

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

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

      Tupperware party

      lingerie party

7. (obsolete) A part or division.
   • 1485 July 31, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London]: […] [by William Caxton], OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:

     , Bk.II, Ch.xv:

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

• (social gathering): bash, do, rave
• See also Thesaurus:party

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.

• party down
• party on

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

From Middle English, from Old French parti (“parted”), from Latin partītus (“parted”), past participle of partiri (“to divide”). More at part.

party (not comparable)

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

   an escutcheon party per pale

party (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Partly.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

• party in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• party in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

• praty, yrapt

From Dutch partij, from Middle Dutch partie, from Old French partie.

party (plural partye)

1. party (group, especially a political one)

party

1. some, a few

• párty

party f

1. party (gathering of usually invited guests for entertainment, fun and socializing)

• See večírek

• See part

• party in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu
• party in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Borrowed from English party.

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party f or m (plural party's, diminutive party'tje n)

1. party

• feest, fuif

• schuimparty

Borrowed from English party.

• IPA^(key): /paʁ.ti/

• Audio (CAN)

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party m or f (plural parties or partys)

1. (Canada) party (social gathering)

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

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

• “party” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowed from English party.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpar.ti/

party m (invariable)

1. party (social gathering)

Borrowed from English party.

party n (definite singular partyet, indefinite plural party or partyer, definite plural partya or partyene)

1. a party (social event)

• fest

• “party” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Borrowed from English party.

party n (definite singular partyet, indefinite plural party, definite plural partya)

1. a party (social event)

• fest

• “party” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpar.tɨ/

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party

1. masculine singular passive adjectival participle of przeć

party

1. Obsolete spelling of parti

Borrowed from English party.

party m (plural partys or parties)

1. party

Borrowed from English party.

• (file)

party n

1. party; social gathering