member

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an organization that is a member of another organization (especially a state that belongs to a group of nations)

   the library was a member of the interlibrary loan association

2. 2
   noun

   one of the persons who compose a social group (especially individuals who have joined and participate in a group organization)

   only members will be admitted

3. 3
   noun

   anything that belongs to a set or class

   snakes are members of the class Reptilia

4. 4
   noun

   One who belongs to a group.

   “Were it not for the fancy French and Latin in it, I'd have swore it was the sort of thing I do not print as a rule, but being as how the order was from one of the members upstairs...”

5. 5
   noun

   A part of a whole.

   The I-beams were to become structural members of a pedestrian bridge.

6. 6
   noun

   Part of an animal capable of performing a distinct office; an organ; a limb.

   For as we haue many members in one body, and all members haue not the same office:

7. 7
   noun

   The penis.

   If your wife is old and your member is exhausted, eat onions in plenty.

8. 8
   noun

   A file stored within an archive file.

   The zip file holding the source code of this application has 245 members.

Etymology

From Middle English membre, from Old French membre, from Latin membrum (“limb, body part”), from Proto-Italic *memzrom, from Proto-Indo-European *mḗms, *mēms-rom (“flesh”). Akin to Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌼𐌶 (mimz, “meat, flesh”), Crimean Gothic menus. Coexists with native limb, from Old English lim (“limb, joint, main branch”). Mostly displaced lith (“limb, joint, member”), from Old English liþ (“limb, member, join, tip”), which still survives in British dialect.