Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Folks
{
, Folk
(fōk)
, Folks
(fōks)
}Noun.
collect.
& pl.
[AS.
folc
; akin to D. volk
, OS. & OHG. folk
, G. volk
, Icel. fōlk
, Sw. & Dan. folk
, Lith. pulkas
crowd, and perh. to E. follow
.] 1.
(Eng. Hist.)
In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe.
[Obs.]
The organization of each
folk
, as such, sprang mainly from war. J. R. Green.
2.
People in general, or a separate class of people; – generally used in the plural form, and often with a qualifying adjective;
as, the old
folks
; poor folks
. [Colloq.]
In winter’s tedious nights, sit by the fire
With good old
With good old
folks
, and let them tell thee tales. Shakespeare
3.
The persons of one's own family;
as, our
. folks
are all well[Colloq. New Eng.]
Bartlett.
Folk song
, one of a class of songs long popular with the common people.
– Folk speech
, the speech of the common people, as distinguished from that of the educated class.