Tribe

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·vt To distribute into tribes or classes.

II. Tribe ·noun A number of species or genera having certain structural characteristics in common; as, a tribe of plants; a tribe of animals.

III. Tribe ·noun A family of animals descended from some particular female progenitor, through the female line; as, the Duchess tribe of shorthorns.

IV. Tribe ·noun A nation of savages or uncivilized people; a body of rude people united under one leader or government; as, the tribes of the Six Nations; the Seneca tribe.

V. Tribe ·noun A division, class, or distinct portion of a people, from whatever cause that distinction may have originated; as, the city of Athens was divided into ten tribes.

VI. Tribe ·noun A family, race, or series of generations, descending from the same progenitor, and kept distinct, as in the case of the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob.