Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Shizoku \Shi*zo"ku\, n. sing. & pl. [Jap. shi-zoku, fr. Chin.
   ch' (chi) branch, posterity + tsu kindered, class.]
   The Japanese warrior gentry or middle class, formerly called
   {samurai}; also, any member of this class.