person

[…]his firſt appearance vpon the Stage, in his new perſon of a Sycophant or Iugler[…]

1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC, page 186:

How different […]is the same man from himself, as he sustains the person of a magistrate, and […]that of a friend!

1664, Robert South, Of the Love of Christ to his Disciples:

[…]to beare rule, which was thy part / And perſon, had’ſt thou known thy ſelf aright.

1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 155–156:

No man can long put on a person and act a part.

1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC:

An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being.

A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character.

three persons and one God

1892, Book of Common Prayer, The Litanie:

(Christianity) Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.

Any sapient or socially intelligent being.

Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats.

(in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing).

(in a compound noun or noun phrase) A human of unspecified gender (in terms usually constructed with man or woman).

I was able to speak to a technical support person and get the problem solved.

(in a compound noun or noun phrase) A worker in a specified function or specialty.

1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE
THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Perſons of the firſt diſtinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ſeveral new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and diſtinguiſh it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.

“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.[…]”

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 85:

Each person is unique, both mentally and physically.

[…]when the young Ladies laughed at her for it, ſhe replied that it was not his perſon that ſhe did embrace and reverence, but the divine beauty of his Soule.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 1, member 2, subsection 3, page 347:

The Captain, inclining his military person, sat sideways to be closer and kinder[…].

1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter XVI, in What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC, page 188:

At first blush it seemed that what was striking about him rested on the fact that his dress was exotic, his person foreign.

1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), page 418

Meanwhile, the dazed Sullivan, dressed like a bum with no identification on his person, is arrested and put to work on a brutal Southern chain gang.

The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc.

At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.

(law) Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts.

[E]very Person wilfully, openly, lewdly, and obscenely exposing his Person in any Street, Road, or public Highway, or in the View thereof, or in any Place of public Resort, with Intent to insult any Female ... and being subsequently convicted of the Offence for which he or she shall have been so apprehended, shall be deemed a Rogue and Vagabond, within the true Intent and Meaning of this Act ...

1824, Vagrancy Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 83, United Kingdom), section 4

(law, euphemistic) The human genitalia; specifically, the penis.

(grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom they are speaking. See grammatical person.

True corms, composed of united personae […] usually arise by gemmation, […] yet in sponges and corals occasionally by fusion of several originally distinct persons.

1884, Patrick Geddes, “Morphology”, in Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 16:

(biology) A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals.

Nigerian Pidgin: pesin

чолові́к m (čolovík) (now only means male (man) or husband)

yura

specifically a human being — see also human, human being, man

أُقْنُوم

Christianity: any one of the three hypostases of the God

olento

science fiction: sentient or socially intelligent being

-ihminen

someone who likes or has an affinity for a specified thing

فَرْد

the physical body seen as distinct from the mind

անձ

any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts

yksilö

biology: shoot or bud of a plant; individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals

From Middle English persoun, personne et al., from Anglo-Norman parsone, persoun et al. (Old French persone (“human being”), French personne), and its source Latin persōna (“mask used by actor; role, part, character”), perhaps a loanword from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask”). In this sense, displaced native man, which came to mean primarily "adult male" in Middle English; see Old English mann. Doublet of parson and persona.

der

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class III § 372. Mankind

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 3. Substantiality


person

Or let us perſon him like ſome wretched itinerary Judge, […]

1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], “That Beza’s opinion of regulating sinne by a politick law, cannot be sound”, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book II, page 59:

(obsolete, transitive) To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate.

“Okay. Soon as Natalie heard, and while she was flailing around trying to turn up a Valium, she decided she had better call Scott Harrison and ask his opinion on what sort of advice, re legal moves, she ought to call back to Iréné, or Rama, or Wilkerson, or whoever’s personning the fort back there.” / “Whoever’s whatening the fort?” / “Please.[…]”

1981, John Nichols, “Sunday”, in The Nirvana Blues, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published 1983 May, page 89:

Thank you to the many who helped the festival succeed (and apologies to anyone omitted): […] Kevin and Mary Jannsen, for tireless work including the initial survey, soliciting raffle donations, selling tickets, personning the raffle booth during the festival, etc.

1996 fall/winter, Sharon Dezurick, “Glen Park Community Festival a Success”, in Kristin Nash, editor, Glen Park News, San Francisco, Calif.: Glen Park Association, →OCLC, columns 1–2:

And I sat at the counter and watched the cooker cat personning the griddle with one hand and the grill with the other.

2006 March 22–28, L.E. [Lady Exister] Leone [pseudonym; Dani Leone], “Ah, Sprrr-ing!”, in Tim Redmond, editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian, volume 40, number 25, San Francisco, Calif., →ISSN, page 61, column 1:

We had hit the iceberg, and it was time to person the lifeboats.

2007, Brian R. Brenner, Don't Throw This Away!: The Civil Engineering Life, page 40:

I was just mulling over the merits of working the fryer at McDonald’s versus personning the complaints desk at Wal-Mart when I took a right onto the dirt road leading to New Millennium Bible Camp.

2008, Jess Lourey, chapter 21, in August Moon: A Murder-By-Month Mystery, Woodbury, Minn.: Midnight Ink, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 207:

We went so far as to stop in a hotel on the way out of Speyer — to ask for directions — but the teenaged girl personing the desk there seemed to be such an idiot[…]

2008, William Guy, Something Sensational, page 337:

In fact, so inebriated were they that they could barely move, and, neither nest nor wheel being personned, the ship was as usual careening wildly across the main.

2018 September, Paul Bowers, “The Wrasse and the Flatfish”, in The Panda Chronicles: A Mythology, 2nd edition, [Morrisiville, N.C.]: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 74:

(transitive, gender-neutral) To man, to supply with staff or crew.

en-verb

person (third-person singular simple present persons, present participle personing or personning, simple past and past participle personed or personned)

persons (present singular third-person)
personing (participle present)
personning (participle present)
personed (participle past)
personed (past)
personned (participle past)
personned (past)