Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

People \Peo"ple\, n. [OE. peple, people, OF. pueple, F. peuple,
   fr. L. populus. Cf. {Populage}, {Public}, {Pueblo}.]
   1. The body of persons who compose a community, tribe,
      nation, or race; an aggregate of individuals forming a
      whole; a community; a nation.

            Unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
                                                  --Gen. xlix.
                                                  10.

            The ants are a people not strong.     --Prov. xxx.
                                                  25.

            Before many peoples, and nations, and tongues.
                                                  --Rev. x. 11.

            Earth's monarchs are her peoples.     --Whitter.

            A government of all the people, by all the people,
            for all the people.                   --T. Parker.

   Note: Peopleis a collective noun, generally construed with a
         plural verb, and only occasionally used in the plural
         form (peoples), in the sense of nations or races.

   2. Persons, generally; an indefinite number of men and women;
      folks; population, or part of population; as, country
      people; -- sometimes used as an indefinite subject or
      verb, like on in French, and man in German; as, people in
      adversity.

            People were tempted to lend by great premiums.
                                                  --Swift.

            People have lived twenty-four days upon nothing but
            water.                                --Arbuthnot.

   3. The mass of comunity as distinguished from a special
      class; the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the
      common crowd; as, nobles and people.

            And strive to gain his pardon from the people.
                                                  --Addison.

   4. With a possessive pronoun:
      (a) One's ancestors or family; kindred; relations; as, my
          people were English.
      (b) One's subjects; fellow citizens; companions;
          followers. ``You slew great number of his people.''
          --Shak.

   Syn: {People}, {Nation}.

   Usage: When speaking of a state, we use people for the mass
          of the community, as distinguished from their rulers,
          and nation for the entire political body, including
          the rulers. In another sense of the term, nation
          describes those who are descended from the same stock;
          and in this sense the Germans regard themselves as one
          nation, though politically subject to different forms
          of government.

People \Peo"ple\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Peopled} p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Peopling}.] [Cf. OF. popler, puepler, F. puepler. Cf.
   {Populate}.]
   To stock with people or inhabitants; to fill as with people;
   to populate. ``Peopled heaven with angels.'' --Dryden.

         As the gay motes that people the sunbeams. --Milton.

Source : WordNet®

people
     n 1: (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or
          children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at
          least 200 people in the audience"
     2: the body of citizens of a state or country; "the Spanish
        people" [syn: {citizenry}]
     3: the common people generally; "separate the warriors from the
        mass"; "power to the people" [syn: {multitude}, {masses},
        {mass}, {hoi polloi}]
     4: members of a family line; "his people have been farmers for
        generations"; "are your people still alive?"

people
     v 1: fill with people or supply with inhabitants; "people a
          room"; "The government wanted to populate the remote
          area of the country" [syn: {populate}]
     2: make one's home or live in; "She resides officially in
        Iceland"; "I live in a 200-year old house"; "These people
        inhabited all the islands that are now deserted"; "The
        plains are sparsely populated" [syn: {dwell}, {shack}, {reside},
         {live}, {inhabit}, {populate}, {domicile}, {domiciliate}]