Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Socialism \Socialism\, n.

   {Socialism of the chair} [G. katheder socialismus], a term
      applied about 1872, at first in ridicule, to a group of
      German political economists who advocated state aid for
      the betterment of the working classes. Sock \Sock\, v. t.
   [Perh. shortened fr. sockdolager.]
   To hurl, drive, or strike violently; -- often with it as an
   object. [Prov. or Vulgar] --Kipling.

Socialism \So"cial*ism\, n. [Cf. F. socialisme.]
   A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a
   complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and
   equitable distribution of property and labor. In popular
   usage, the term is often employed to indicate any lawless,
   revolutionary social scheme. See {Communism}, {Fourierism},
   {Saint-Simonianism}, forms of socialism.

         [Socialism] was first applied in England to Owen's
         theory of social reconstruction, and in France to those
         also of St. Simon and Fourier . . . The word, however,
         is used with a great variety of meaning, . . . even by
         economists and learned critics. The general tendency is
         to regard as socialistic any interference undertaken by
         society on behalf of the poor, . . . radical social
         reform which disturbs the present system of private
         property . . . The tendency of the present socialism is
         more and more to ally itself with the most advanced
         democracy.                               --Encyc. Brit.

         We certainly want a true history of socialism, meaning
         by that a history of every systematic attempt to
         provide a new social existence for the mass of the
         workers.                                 --F. Harrison.

Source : WordNet®

socialism
     n 1: a political theory advocating state ownership of industry
     2: an economic system based on state ownership of capital [syn:
         {socialist economy}] [ant: {capitalism}]