Main Entry: ¹class

Pronunciation: \ˈklas\

Function: noun

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: French classe, from Latin classis group called to military service, fleet, class; perhaps akin to Latin calare to call — more at low

Date: 1602

1 a : a body of students meeting regularly to study the same subject b : the period during which such a body meets c : a course of instruction d : a body of students or alumni whose year of graduation is the same
2 a : a group sharing the same economic or social status <the working class> b : social rank; especially : high social rank c : high quality : elegance <a hotel with class>
3 : a group, set, or kind sharing common attributes: as a : a major category in biological taxonomy ranking above the order and below the phylum or division b : a collection of adjacent and discrete or continuous values of a random variable c : set 21
4 : a division or rating based on grade or quality
5 : the best of its kind <the class of the league>
6 : a data type in object-oriented programming that consists of a group of objects with the same properties and behaviors and that is arranged in a hierarchy with other such data types — compare object