Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Folk \Folk\ (f[=o]k), Folks \Folks\ (f[=o]ks), n. collect. & pl.
   [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel.
   f[=o]lk, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E.
   follow.]
   1. (Eng. Hist.) In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group
      of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [Obs.]

            The organization of each folk, as such, sprang
            mainly from war.                      --J. R. Green.

   2. People in general, or a separate class of people; --
      generally used in the plural form, and often with a
      qualifying adjective; as, the old folks; poor folks.
      [Colloq.]

            In winter's tedious nights, sit by the fire With
            good old folks, and let them tell thee tales.
                                                  --Shak.

   3. The persons of one's own family; as, our folks are all
      well. [Colloq. New Eng.] --Bartlett.

   {Folk song}, one of a class of songs long popular with the
      common people.

   {Folk speech}, the speech of the common people, as
      distinguished from that of the educated class.

Source : WordNet®

folk
     n 1: people in general; "they're just country folk"; "the common
          people determine the group character and preserve its
          customs from one generation to the next" [syn: {common
          people}]
     2: a social division of (usually preliterate) people [syn: {tribe}]
     3: people descended from a common ancestor; "his family has
        lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower" [syn: {family},
         {family line}, {kinfolk}, {kinsfolk}, {sept}, {phratry}]
     4: the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an
        expression of the life of people in a community [syn: {folk
        music}, {ethnic music}]