Part 35

There is nothing more familiar than this.

Locke.

5. Improperly acquainted; wrongly intimate. Camden.

Familiar spirit, a demon or evil spirit supposed to attend at call. 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 7-9.

Fa*mil"iar, n. 1. An intimate; a companion.

All my familiars watched for my halting.

Jer. xx. 10.

2. An attendant demon or evil spirit. Shak.

3. (Court of Inquisition) A confidential officer employed in the service of the tribunal, especially in apprehending and imprisoning the accused.

Fa*mil`iar"i*ty (?), n.; pl. Familiarities (#). [OE. familarite, F. familiaritÈfr. L. faniliaritas. See Familiar.] 1. The state of being familiar; intimate and frequent converse, or association; unconstrained intercourse; freedom from ceremony and constraint; intimacy; as, to live in remarkable familiarity.

2. Anything said or done by one person to another unceremoniously and without constraint; esp., in the pl., such actions and words as propriety and courtesy do not warrant; liberties.

Syn. -- Acquaintance; fellowship; affability; intimacy. See Acquaintance.

Fa*mil`iar*i*za"tion (?), n. The act or process of making familiar; the result of becoming familiar; as, familiarization with scenes of blood.

Fa*mil"iar*ize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Familiarized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Familiarizing (?).] [Cf. F. familiariser.] 1. To make familiar or intimate; to habituate; to accustom; to make well known by practice or converse; as, to familiarize one's self with scenes of distress.

2. To make acquainted, or skilled, by practice or study; as, to familiarize one's self with a business, a book, or a science.

Fa"mil"iar*ly, adv. In a familiar manner.

Fa*mil"iar*ness, n. Familiarity. [R.]

Fa*mil"ia*ry (?), a. [L. familiaris. See Familiar.] Of or pertaining to a family or household; domestic. [Obs.] Milton.

Fam"i*lism (?), n. The tenets of the Familists. Milton.

Fam"i*list (?), n. [From Family.] (Eccl. Hist.) One of afanatical Antinomian sect originating in Holland, and existing in England about 1580, called the Family of Love, who held that religion consists wholly in love.

Fam"i*lis*ter*y (?), n.; pl. Familisteries (&?;). [F. familistËre.] A community in which many persons unite as in one family, and are regulated by certain communistic laws and customs.

{ Fam`i*listic (?), Fam`i*lis"tic*al (?), } a. Pertaining to Familists. Baxter.

Fam"i*ly (?), n.; pl. Families (#). [L. familia, fr. famulus servant; akin to Oscan famel servant, cf. faamat he dwells, Skr. dhman house, fr. dhto set, make, do: cf. F. famille. Cf. Do, v. t., Doom, Fact, Feat.] 1. The collective body of persons who live in one house, and under one head or manager; a household, including parents, children, and servants, and, as the case may be, lodgers or boarders.

2. The group comprising a husband and wife and their dependent children, constituting a fundamental unit in the organization of society.

The welfare of the family underlies the welfare of society.

H. Spencer.

3. Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe, clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family; the family of Abraham; the father of a family.

Go ! and pretend your family is young.