The meanest of the people and such as have the least society with
the acts and crimes of kings.
Jer. Taylor.
3. A number of persons associated for any temporary or permanent
object; an association for mutual or joint usefulness, pleasure, or
profit; a social union; a partnership; as, a missionary society.
4. The persons, collectively considered, who live in any region or at
any period; any community of individuals who are united together by a
common bond of nearness or intercourse; those who recognize each other
as associates, friends, and acquaintances.
5. Specifically, the more cultivated portion of any community in its
social relations and influences; those who mutually give receive formal
entertainments.
Society of Jesus. See Jesuit. -- Society verses [a translation of F.
vers de société], the lightest kind of lyrical poetry; verses for the
amusement of polite society.
So*cin"i*an (?), a. Of or pertaining to Socinus, or the Socinians.
So*cin"i*an, n. One of the followers of Socinus; a believer in
Socinianism.
So*cin"i*an*ism (?), n. (Eccl. Hist.) The tenets or doctrines of
Faustus Socinus, an Italian theologian of the sixteenth century, who
denied the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the personality of the Devil,
the native and total depravity of man, the vicarious atonement, and the
eternity of future punishment. His theory was, that Christ was a man
divinely commissioned, who had no existence before he was conceived by
the Virgin Mary; that human sin was the imitation of Adam's sin, and
that human salvation was the imitation and adoption of Christ's virtue;
that the Bible was to be interpreted by human reason; and that its
language was metaphorical, and not to be taken literally.
So*cin"i*an*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Socinianized (?); p. pr. & vb.
n. Socinianizing (?).] To cause to conform to Socinianism; to regulate
by, or imbue with, the principles of Socinianism.
{ So`ci*o*log"ic (?), So`ci*o*log"ic*al (?) } a. Of or pertaining to
sociology, or social science. -- So`ci*o*log"ic*al*ly, adv.
So`ci*ol"o*gist (?), n. One who treats of, or devotes himself to, the
study of sociology. J. S. Mill.
So`ci*ol"o*gy (?), n. [L. socius a companion + -logy.] That branch of
philosophy which treats of the constitution, phenomena, and development
of human society; social science. H. Spencer.
Sock (?), n. [F. soc, LL. soccus, perhaps of Celtic origin.] A
plowshare. Edin. Encyc.
Sock, n. [OE. sock, AS. socc, fr. L. soccus a kind of low-heeled, light
shoe. Cf. Sucket.] 1. The shoe worn by actors of comedy in ancient
Greece and Rome, -- used as a symbol of comedy, or of the comic drama,
as distinguished from tragedy, which is symbolized by the buskin.
Great Fletcher never treads in buskin here, Nor greater Jonson
dares in socks appear.
Dryden.
2. A knit or woven covering for the foot and lower leg; a stocking with
a short leg.