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Person (Latin, persona, a mask; personwtus, one who wears a mask, an actor)

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A “person” is one who impersonates a character. Shakespeare says, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” or persons. When we speak of the “person of the Deity” we mean the same thing, the character represented, as that of the Father, or that of the Son, or that of the Holy Ghost. There is no more notion of corporeality connected with the word than there is any assumption of the body of Hamlet when an actor impersonates that character.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Pernelle (Madame)
Perpendiculars
Perpetual Motion
Pers
Persecutions (The ten great)
Persepolis
Perseus
Persevere
Persian Alexander (The)
Persian Bucephalos (The)
Person (Latin, persona, a mask; personwtus, one who wears a mask, an actor)
Persona Grata (Latin)
Perth
Peru
Peruvian Bark
Peruke or Periwig
Pescecola
Pessimist
Petard
Petaud
Peter