Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Civil
1.
Pertaining to a city or state, or to a citizen in his relations to his fellow citizens or to the state; within the city or state.
2.
Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not barbarous; – said of the community.
England was very rude and barbarous; for it is but even the other day since England grew
civil
. Spenser.
3.
Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to government; – said of an individual.
Civil
men come nearer the saints of God than others; they come within a step or two of heaven. Preston
4.
Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous; complaisant; affable.
☞ “A civil man now is one observant of slight external courtesies in the mutual intercourse between man and man; a civil man once was one who fulfilled all the duties and obligations flowing from his position as a ’civis' and his relations to the other members of that 'civitas.'”
Trench
5.
Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from military, ecclesiastical, or official state.
6.
Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit distinct from criminal proceedings.
Civil action
, an action to enforce the rights or redress the wrongs of an individual, not involving a criminal proceeding.
– Civil architecture
, the architecture which is employed in constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in distinction from military and naval architecture, as private houses, palaces, churches, etc.
– Civil death
. (Law.)
See under
– Death
. Civil engineering
. See under
– Engineering
. Civil law
. See under
– Law
. Civil list
. See under
– List
. Civil remedy
(Law)
, that given to a person injured, by action, as opposed to a criminal prosecution.
– Civil service
, all service rendered to and paid for by the state or nation other than that pertaining to naval or military affairs.
– Civil service reform
, the substitution of business principles and methods for the spoils system in the conduct of the civil service, esp. in the matter of appointments to office.
– Civil state
, the whole body of the laity or citizens not included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical states.
– Civil suit
. Same as
– Civil action
. Civil war
. See under
– War
. Civil year
. See under
Year
.Webster 1828 Edition
Civil
CIVIL
, a.1.
Relating to the community, or to the policy and government of the citizens and subjects of a state; as in the phrases, civil rights, civil government, civil privileges, civil war, civil justice. It is opposed to criminal; as a civil suit, a suit between citizens alone; whereas a criminal process is between the state and a citizen. It is distinguished from ecclesiastical, which respects the church; and from military, which respects the army and navy.2.
Relating to any man as a member of a community; as civil power, civil rights, the power or rights which a man enjoys as a citizen.3.
Reduced to order, rule and government; under a regular administration; implying some refinement of manners; not savage or wild; as civil life; civil society.4.
Civilized; courteous; complaisant; gentle and obliging; well-bred; affable; kind; having the manners of a city, as opposed to the rough, rude, coarse manners of a savage or clown.Where civil speech and soft persuasion hung.
5.
Grave; sober; not gay or showy.Till civil suited morn appear.
6.
Compaisant; polite; a popular colloquial use of the word.7.
Civil death, in law, is that which cuts off a man from civil society, or its rights and benefits, as banishment, outlawry, excommunication, entering into a monastery, &c., as distinguished from natural death.8.
Civil law, in a general sense, the law of a state, city or country; but in an appropriate sense, the Roman empire, comprised in the Institutes, Code and Digest of Justinian and the Novel Constitutions.9.
Civil list, the officers of civil government, who are paid from the public treasury; also, the revenue appropriated to support the civil government.The army of James II was paid out of his civil list.
10.
Civil state, the whole body of the laity or citizens, not included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical states.11.
Civil war, a war between people of the same state or city; opposed to foreign war.12.
Civil year, the legal year, or annual account of time which a government appoints to be used in its own dominions, as distinguished from the natural year, which is measured by the revolution of the heavenly bodies.13.
Civil architecture, the architecture which is employed in constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in distinction from military and naval architecture; as private houses, palaces, churches, &c.