party

The contract requires that the party of the first part pay the fee.

if the Jury had found that the party slain had been of English race and nation, it had been adjudged felony

1612, Sir John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:

(law) A person or group of people constituting a particular side in a contract or legal action.

He is a queer party.

`These young parties have a way of looking at one, sir,' he would say apologetically, `which I don't call respectable.'

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

A person.
(slang, dated) A person; an individual.

I can't possibly be a party to that kind of reckless behaviour.

With to: an accessory, someone who takes part.

(now rare in general sense) A group of people forming one side in a given dispute, contest etc.

(roleplaying games, online gaming) Active player characters organized into a single group.

(video games) A group of characters controlled by the player.

A mile back in the forest the tribe had heard the fierce challenge of the gorilla, and, as was his custom when any danger threatened, Kerchak called his people together, partly for mutual protection against a common enemy, since this gorilla might be but one of a party of several, and also to see that all members of the tribe were accounted for.

1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 6, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

The green party took 12% of the vote.

"A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day.[…]A strong man—a strong one; and a heedless." ¶ "Of what party is he?" she inquired, as though casually.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, page 103:

In the freer political atmosphere before the 1989 repression, peasant protests against the Party in Henan were sometimes openly discussed. A transcript of a meeting between peasants and cadres in Jili district near Luoyang published in the Peasants’ Daily recorded some vivid complaints.

1996, John Gittings, “Peasants in Revolt”, in Real China: From Cannibalism to Karaoke, Pocket Books, published 1997, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 46:

(politics) Political party; political group considered as a formal whole, united under one specific political platform of issues and campaigning to take part in government.

The settlers were attacked early next morning by a scouting party.

(military) A discrete detachment of troops, especially for a particular purpose.

I'm throwing a huge party for my 21st birthday.

So-So, tonight, tonight, let’s look at where that time actually goes, and let’s begin with the most obvious form of fundraising: fundraisers. These are usually shitty parties in D.C. bars, restaurants, or townhouses, and there are a lot of them! The Sunlight Foundation estimates that, in the last election cycle, members of Congress held over 28 hundred fundraisers! Washington is like Rod Stewart’s haircut: party in the front, party in the back, frankly too much party and no business anywhere to be found!

2016 April 3, “Congressional Fundraising”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 7, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

You know I’d leave any party for you / 'Cause no party’s so sweet as a party of two

2017, “Any Party”, in Pleasure, performed by Feist:

A group of persons collected or gathered together for some particular purpose.

A gathering of usually invited guests for entertainment, fun and socializing.

We're expecting a large party from the London office.

Do you have a table available for a party of four?

We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 63:

A group of people traveling or attending an event together, or participating in the same activity.

Tupperware party

lingerie party

A gathering of acquaintances so that one of them may offer items for sale to the rest of them.

[…] the whole party were still standing and talking together very agreeably, when the sound of horses drew their notice, and Darcy and Bingley were seen riding down the street.

1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 163–164:

When the line was being surveyed in 1880, the survey party, proceeding along the course of Stock Creek, reached a natural amphitheatre with a rock wall 200 ft. high, in the face of which there was an arched tunnel entrance, [...] into which the stream passed.

1944 May and June, “Nature Provides a Railway Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 132:

A party of mynas, consisting of several males and females, once selected the top of a low terraced roof, just below my verandah, as a site for courting and quarrelling.

1903, D.D. Cunningham, Some Indian Friends and Acquaintances, London: John Murray, page 28:

Small parties and flocks close to breeding sites commonly give shrill, high-pitched, trilling screams.

2009, Mark Brazil, The Birds of East Asia, London: Christopher Helm, page 272:

And so the moost party of the castel that was falle doune thorugh that dolorous stroke laye vpon Pellam and balyn thre dayes.

1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum xv”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book II, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

business in the front, party in the back

→ Bulgarian: парти (parti)

desc

Cantonese: → 派對 /派对 (paai³ deoi³), → party, ⇒ P

→ Dhivehi: ޕާޓީ (pāṭī)

→ Japanese: パーティー (pātī)

→ Korean: 파티 (pati)

→ Maori: pāti

→ Malay: parti

→ Mandarin: 趴體 /趴体 (pātǐ), 派對 /派对 (pàiduì)

→ Russian: парти (parti)

طَرَف

law: particular side in a contract or legal action

гру́па

group of people travelling or attending an event together

joukko

online gaming: player characters organized into a single group

joukko

video games: group of characters controlled by the player

From Middle English party, partye, partie, from Anglo-Norman partie, from Medieval Latin partīta (“a part, party”), from Latin partīta, feminine of partītus, past participle of partiō (“to divide”); see part. Doublet of partita.


party

We partied until the early hours.

(intransitive) To celebrate at a party, to have fun, to enjoy oneself.

“Miss, do you party?” the boy asked. “What?” Jennifer asked back. “Do you smoke? I'll get you some cheap. One American dollar equals forty Jamaican dollars. I'll get you as much of the stuff as you need.”

2004, Daniel Nicholas Shields, Firewoman:

(intransitive, slang, euphemistic) To take recreational drugs.

(intransitive) To engage in flings, to have one-night stands, to sow one's wild oats.

If you want to beat that monster, you should party with a healer.

(online gaming, intransitive) To form a party (with).

en-verb

party (third-person singular simple present parties, present participle partying, simple past and past participle partied)

parties (present singular third-person)
partying (participle present)
partied (participle past)
partied (past)


party

Now converging, now diverging, these fences presented a striking irregularity of contour. No fence was party, nor any part of any fence.

1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

Of a fence or wall: shared by two properties and serving to divide them.

(obsolete, except in compounds) Divided; in part.

an escutcheon party per pale

(heraldry) Parted or divided, as in the direction or form of one of the ordinaries.

From Middle English party, from Old French parti (“parted”), from Latin partītus (“parted”), past participle of partiō (“to divide”). More at part.