See Also: old folk(dictionary)
folk(dictionary)
folk art(encyclopedia)
folk medicine(medicine)
folk music(dictionary)
folk hero(dictionary)
folk dance(dictionary)
folk 2, adjective(dictionary)
folk 1, noun(dictionary)
folk psychology(encyclopedia)

folk (iou)



folk noun. Pl. same, -s.
[Old English folc = Old Frisian folk, Old Saxon, Old High German folc (Dutch volk, German Volk), Old Norse folk people, army, detachment, from Germanic. Cf. VOLK.]
A people, a nation, a race; (of animals) a species, a kind. arch. OE.
In pl. (folk, folks) & sing. (A group of) people in relation to a superior, as the subjects of a king, the retainers or workpeople of a lord etc. arch. OE.
G. Pettie The maister of the house..ought..to shewe himself more seuere towards his owne folke, then towards others.
In pl. (folk(s)) & (now arch. & dial.) sing. People in general. Freq. with qualifying adjective designating people of a certain group or class. Now chiefly colloq. OE.
the wee folk: see WEE adjective.
S. Johnson Folks want me to go to Italy. J. B. Priestley The working folk of Lancashire have much in common, of course, with their Yorkshire neighbours. I. Shaw I don't have a rich father, like some folks I know.
In pl. (folk(s)). Relatives, members of one's family; dial. & US friends, neighbours. M17.
C. Brown My folks didn't come up too much. Dad would never come any place to see me.
ellipt. = folk music below. M20.
Attrib. & comb.: Esp. in the sense 'of the (common) mass of people, traditional, popular', as folk art, folk belief, folk culture, folk hero, folk legend, folk literature, folk myth, folk remedy, folk wisdom, etc. Special combs., as folk-blues the original blues of the black Americans of the southern US, as opp. to composed imitations; folk-club a club where folk music is performed; folk-dance a dance of popular or traditional origin; a piece of music for such a dance; folk epic: see EPIC noun; folk-etymologize verb trans. & intrans. alter by folk etymology; folk etymology the popular modifying of the form of a word to make it seem to be derived from familiar words, as sparrowgrass for asparagus; folkfest (chiefly N. Amer.) a festival of folk music or other elements of folk culture; folk guitar: see GUITAR noun; folkland Hist. land which was the property of the common people; folk medicine medicine of a traditional kind employing herbal remedies etc.; folk memory (a) recollection of the past persisting among a (group of) people; folkmoot, folkmote Hist. a general assembly of the people of a town, city, etc.; folk music music of popular or traditional origin; modern music composed in the style of this; folk psychology the psychology of races or peoples; folk rock folk music incorporating the stronger beat of rock music and usu. also electric stringed instruments; folksay US traditional speech, the speech, proverbs, etc., of an oral tradition; folk-singer a singer of folk-songs; folk-song a song of popular or traditional origin; a modern composition in this style; folk-tale a tale of popular or traditional origin; folk-way(s) the traditional behaviour of a (group or class of) people; folkweave a rough loosely woven fabric.
folkie noun (colloq.) a folk-singer; a devotee of folk music: M20.
folkish adjective characteristic of the (common) people or traditional culture etc.; unsophisticated: M20.
folknik noun [-NIK] a devotee of folk music M20.