family

I. 

1. 

a. The servants of a house or establishment; the household. Obs. exc. in

family of servants

• ? A. 1400 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) I. 213 You are my desciples, and of my familie.
• 1641 Disc. Pr. Henry in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 522 His family..consisted of few less than five-hundred.
• 1707 Sloane Jamaica I. 46 The proprietor keeps a large family for its defence.
• 1722 De Foe Plague (1840) 10, I was a single man..but I had a family of servants.
• 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 39 Mr. Tyrrel..proposed..to take him into his family, and make him whipper-in to his hounds.

 

 

b. The retinue of a nobleman or grandee. Obs.

• 1548 Hall Chron. 171 b, The Kyng, the Quene with all their familie, shortly folowed.
• 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 45 Na Prelat, Erle, nor Barron..sal ryde with ane greater familie (number) of men and hors.

 

 

c. The staff of a high military officer or (in India) state official.

• 1808 Elphinstone Let. 5 Sept. in Colebrooke's Life I. 185 Mr. Seton..waived his right to nominate my family.
• 1809 Jas. Moore Camp. Spain 72 The Staff Officers of Sir John Moore's family.
• 1856 J. W. Cole Mem. Brit. Gen. Penin. War II. viii. 84 The officers of his family..fell in with the same humour.

 

 

d. Rom. Ant. A troop, school (of gladiators).

• 1863 Whyte Melville Gladiators I. 62 You look as if you belonged to the family yourself.

 

 

2. 

a. The body of persons who live in one house or under one head, including parents, children, servants, etc.

• 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. iv. 48/1, I Nebucadnezar, happye and prosperouse in my familie.
• 1631 Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 44 His family were himself and his wife and daughters, two mayds, and a man.
• A. 1729 S. Clarke Serm. (1730) II. iii. 51 Representing..all Orders of intelligent Beings, as the Family of God.
• 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho ii, I am going to prayers with my family.
• 1859 Jephson Brittany ii. 10 The difference between people who live in Society and people who live in the family.

 

 

b.

Happy Family

• 1844 in P. T. Barnum Sixty Years Recollections (1889) 120 [At Coventry] we visited an exhibition called the `Happy Family'.
• 1890 Evening News 4 Dec. 4/5 He was..on his way home with his `Happy Family'.

 

 

3. 

a. The group of persons consisting of the parents and their children, whether actually living together or not; in wider sense, the unity formed by those who are nearly connected by blood or affinity.

Holy Family

• 1667 Milton P.L. x. 216 As Father of his Familie he clad Thir nakedness.
• 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 589 We pass..through the love of our family..to love Mankind.
• 1829 Jas. Mill Hum. Mind (1869) II. xxii. 218 The group which consists of a Father, Mother and Children, is called a Family.
• 1875 Tyrwhitt in Dict. Chr. Antiq. I. 661 Family-The Holy. The subject which bears this title in modern art is generally a group consisting of the Virgin Mother, bearing the Sacred Infant, of St. Joseph, and frequently of the younger St. John Baptist and occasionally of St. Elizabeth.

 

 

b. A person's children regarded collectively.

• 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 382 Seldom at Church..But duly sent his family and wife.
• 1876 Miss Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. xxx. 280 `I'm a man with a long fambly.'


Mod. He has a large family.
 
 

4. 

a. Those descended or claiming descent from a common ancestor: a house, kindred, lineage.

• C. 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. iv. 304 Amang his Kyn and his Famyle.
• 1513 Douglas Æneis xi. viii. 136 The famell and kynrent of Volsca.
• 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 708 Plinie affirmeth also, that..ther was a Famuly that would go vpon a great fire, & not be touched therewith;
• 1593 Shaks. 3 Hen. VI, i. i. 65 Let vs assayle the Family of Yorke.
• 1599 Shaks. Hen. V. ii. ii. 129 Come they of Noble Family?
• 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 168 By strong hand his [Maccabeus'] family obtain'd..the crown.
• 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 213 Go! and pretend thy family is young.
• 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath (1839) 15/2 Every great merchant and money-dealer wishes to be the founder of what is called a family.
• 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 268 The abbey of Coventry..still kept in the family.

 

 

fig.
• 1775 Sheridan Duenna ii. iii, The beggars are a very ancient family in most kingdoms.

 

 

b. (Man, woman, etc.)

of family

• A. 1763 Shenstone Ess., External Figure Wks. 1764 II. 60 If dress be only allowable to persons of family, it may [etc.].
• 1762-71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 32 He..married a beautiful English-woman of family.
• 1777 W. Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port; lx, Three troops..each consisting of 200 men, who are all men of family.
• 1810 Bentham Packing (1821) 146 People of no `family'.

 

 

c. In wider sense: A race; a people or group of peoples assumed to be descended from a common stock.

• 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis i. (Arb.) 25 You to me ful promist..That Roman famely should spring from the auncetrye Troian.
• 1842 Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 468 The Tamanacs, who belong to the same family, live on the right bank of the Orinoco.
• 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. (ed. 5) I. i. 18 By the mixture of three branches of the great Teutonic family with each other.

 

 

5. transf. and fig. (with mixed notion of 3 and 4). A brotherhood or group of individuals or nations bound together by political or religious ties.

• 1611 Bible Eph. iii. 15 The Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heauen and earth is named.
• 1650-3 Dissert. de Pace in Phenix (1708) II. 348 Of all the Familys and Societys of Christians, they are most hated.
• A. 1865 E. Everett (W.), The States of Europe were by the prevailing maxims of its policy, closely united in one family.
• 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost ix. 253 They [the apostles] subdued the..Greeks..the..Romans, and our..forefathers into one family.

 

 

6. 

a. A group or assemblage of objects, connected together and distinguished from others by the possession of some common features or properties.

• A. 1626 Bacon Sylva Sect.354 There be two Great Families of Things;..Sulphureous and mercurial.
• 1731 Pope Ep. Burlington iv. 96 With all the mournful family of Yews.
• 1741 Chambers' Cycl. s.v. Curves, Family of Curves.
• 1762 J. Priestley Theory Lang. viii. 117 The Eastern tongues of that genus, or family as we may call it.
• 1796 Hutton Math. Dict. I. 353 Family of curves is an assemblage of several curves of different kinds, all defined by the same equation of an indeterminate degree.
• 1813 Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 457 The classification of simple minerals into families.
• 1875 Fortnum Majolica viii. 65 Persian, Damascus, Rhodian, and Lindus wares, composing a large family.
• 1875 Whitney Life Lang. xii. 228 We have called a certain body of languages a family, the Indo-European.
• 1950 F. Gaynor Encycl. Atomic Energy 157 A radioactive series, also called radioactive family, is a group of radioactive isotopes, each of which is the product of the radioactive decay of the preceding one.

 

 

b. In modern scientific classification: A group of allied genera. (Usually, a `family' is a subdivision of an `order'; but in the `natural system' of botanical classification the two words are, so far as cotyledonous plants are concerned, synonymous: English botanists chiefly using `order', while in French Jussieu's term famille is retained.) (In Botany `family' is now used, as in Zoology, for a division of an order, and has therefore superseded the term `natural order'; e.g. order Rosales, family Rosaceæ; Also spec. in Ecology.)

• 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The bream and the herring, though very different in genus, may yet be brought into the same Family.
• 1831 J. Davies Manual Mat. Med. 223 Rest-harrow, of the family Leguminosæ.
• 1858 Carpenter Veg. Phys. Sect.19 Several genera may, in like manner, be united into a family.
• 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. ix. Sect.1. 325 Family in botany is synonymous with order.
• 1881 Mivart in Nature No. 615. 337 The order Lacertilia is made up of a certain number of large groups, each of which is called a family, which family is again composed of genera.
• 1916 B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms (ed. 3) 143/2 Family..a group of genera, formerly styled Order.
• 1916 F. E. Clements Plant Succession vii. 139 A family is a group of individuals belonging to one species. It often springs from a single parent plant.
• 1951 G. H. M. Lawrence Taxon. Vascular Plants iv. 46 An order of plants is composed of one or more families... The family usually represents a more natural unit than any of the higher categories.
• 1960 N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xi. 334 The seral equivalent is the family, derived from the multiplication and gregarious growth of a single immigrant.

 

 

7. 

family of love

• 1579 J. Knewstub (title), A Computation of monstrous and horrible heresies..embraced of a number, who call themselves the Familie of Love.
• 1606 Sir G. Goosecappe ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. (1884) III. 38 You are either of the familie of Love, or of no religion at all.
• 1645-62 Pagitt Heresiogr. (ed. 6) 105 This sect of the family of love..are so called because..their love is so great that they may join any congregation.
• 1667 H. More Div. Dial. Schol. (1713) 568 Being lately informed by an Elder of the Family..that they of their Family that were regenerated..became Christs.

 

 

8. slang.

a. The thieving fraternity. See 11, family-man.

• 1749 Bamfylde Moore-Carew (Farmer), No member of the Family.
• 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v., Thieves, sharpers, and all others who get their living upon the cross, are comprehended under the title of `The Family'.
• 1838 Glascock Land Sharks II. 100 This house..was a favourite resort of the Family.

 

 

b. spec. (The members of) a local organizational unit of the Mafia. orig. and chiefly U.S.

• 1954 Feder & Joesten Luciano Story ii. 50 `There's trouble in the family,' he was informed by these delegates. To Mafiosi, it was never `the club' or `our mob' or anything but `the family'.
• 1967 N.Y. Times 9 May 38 A Mafia family is a group of individuals who are not necessarily blood relatives.
• 1970 J. Morris Candywine Devel. xiv. 166, I think Mr. Vestucci represents certain family interests in Candywine.
• 1984 Times 29 Oct. 5/2 His execution had been decided by the `Commission' composed of the local heads of Mafia families.

 

 

II. attrib. (adj.) and Comb.

9. Simple attrib., passing into an adj.

a. Of or pertaining to the family or household; domestic. Also, of unexceptionable nature, suitable for all the members of a family.

• 1602 Fulbecke Pandectes 47 Such familie-seruantes or retinue as to be agreeable..to his dignitie.
• 1641 Hinde J. Bruen 66 This Gentleman knew right well, that family exercises were the very goads and spurs unto godlinesse.
• 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. vi. 5 Publick Church Prayer, and Family-Prayer are as great duties as secret Prayer.
• 1694 F. Bragge Disc. Parables xiii. 438 These Family-devotions at the beginning and close of the day.
• A. 1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 23 Such was the crook made in David's lot, through his family-disorders.
• 1768 Woman of Honor II. 178 If this sordid..family-spirit does not soon meet with an effectual check.
• 1801 M. Edgeworth Belinda I. xii. 370 She was in hopes that these terrible family quarrels might be made up.
• 1807 R. Southey Lett. from Engl. vi. 47 To paint the family group is out of my power.
• 1807 (title) The Family Shakespeare.
• 1817 Blackw. Mag. I. 63/2 She..assented to his proposal of having the usual family-worship in her bedroom.
• 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 157 It was a family affair.
• 1845 Edin. Rev. LXXXII. 407 The development of domestic feelings and family life.
• 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Let. ? Feb. (1966) 223 About Ruth one of your London librarians..has had to withdraw it from circulation on account of `its being unfit for family reading'.
• 1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. Robert-Houdin's Memoirs I. viii. 154 The family tickets gave admission to four persons at half price.
• 1874 (title) Cassell's Family Magazine.
• 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 329 Tell us something about their family life.
• 1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat i. 6 If I was a co-operative stores and family hotel combined, I might be able to oblige you.
• 1902 H. James Wings of Dove i. 15 Show family feeling by seeing what I'm good for.
• 1926 A. Møller tr; Pedersen's Israel I. ii. 376 A dissolution of the family-unity.
• 1933 Discovery Dec. 381/2 The..trend of policies since the war has been to break these [sc. estates of eastern Europe] up into single family units.
• 1937 M. Borden Black Virgin x. 188 She was new to the house, if not to family rows.
• 1940 Illustr. Lond. News CXCVI. 608/3 `Family' cars that have been laid up indefinitely.
• 1960 J. B. Priestley Lit. & Western Man vii. 76 The School for Scandal might be described as a Restoration comedy.., without the impudent indecencies, and so entirely suitable for family entertainment.
• 1960 Guardian 22 July 4/6 Much of the output..[is] unsuitable for `family viewing'.

 

 

b. In tradesmen's signs, advertisements, and the like;

family butcher

grocer

druggist

family hotel

c. Of or pertaining to a certain family, lineage, or kindred.

• 1699 M. Lister Journey to Paris 101 He shewed me the Catalogue of Authors..alphabetically disposed by Family Names.
• A. 1715 Wycherley Ess. agst. Pride & Ambit;, As if nobility consisted alone in being entitled to..have the family plate graved with a coat of arms.
• 1769 Gray Let. Poems (1775) 365 Ridale-hall, the family-seat of Sir Michael Fleming.
• 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. III. 182, I was..engaged in a family partie.
• 1773 Melmoth Cato Remarks 171 Securing to the heir..a sufficient part of the family-estate to support his rank and station.
• 1775 G. White Let. 2 Oct. in Selborne (1789) 195 The name of their [gypsy] clan is Curleople..may not this family-name..be the very name they brought..from the Levant?
• 1780 Mirror 25 Apr. 401 The little family-history I am going to relate.
• 1795 tr. C.P. Moritz's Travels 116, I saw..sundry little family parties, walking arm in arm along the banks of the Thames.
• 1803 Beddoes Hygëia x. 59 A family disposition to insanity.
• 1813 Jane Austen Pride & Prejudice III. xviii. 314 The comfort and elegance of their family party at Pemberley.
• 1818 Art Preserv. Feet 200 Sometimes accidental causes, produce what has been termed a family toe, partly in consequence of its being hereditary.
• 1829 H. Foote Compan. to Theatres 36 Private boxes,..family --.
• 1846 C. Brontë Professor (1857) II. xxv. 242 He..would dwell on the past times of his house, on his family history.
• 1901 C. Morris Life on Stage xv. 203 A short time after that, she sat one evening in Mr. Ellster's family box.
• 1925 O. Jespersen Mankind, Nation & Individual ix. 172 The Araukans carefully conceal their personal-name from strangers: in their presence they are called by their family-name.
• 1967 N. Fitzgerald Affairs of Death i. 6 You have the family face at its best.
• 1969 M. Laski Jane Austen & her World 9 Sir Thomas Leigh..had sheltered Charles I at Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire, the family seat of the younger, ennobled branch of the family.

 

 

10. Phrases. 

a.

in a or the family way

in family

• 1709 Steele & Addison Tatler No. 136 P1 His Wife is the Daughter of an honest House, ever bred in a Family-Way.
• 1768 Woman of Honor I. 87 Dining together, in family.
• 1784 Lett. to Honoria & Marianne II. 64 She would..stay some time with them, quite in the family way.
• 1789 G. Keate Pelew Isl. 107 At the house of this Chief they were received quite in a family way.
• A. 1809 J. Palmer Like Master like Man (1811) I. 193 You'll find all in the family way.
• 1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xii. 214 We should have discussed our interests in a family way.
• 1859 Thackeray Virgin. II. x. 74 Why don't we ask him and his ladies to come over in a family way and dine with some other plain country gentlefolks?

 

 

b. (

to be in the family way

to put in the family way

• 1796 Mrs. E. Parsons Myst. Warn. I. 90 The Countess was again in the family way.
• 1840 Lady C. Bury Hist. of Flirt xxvi, Esther is in the family-way.
• 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 62 The wives..will have a fine easy time when they are in the family way.
• 1898 Sessions Paper Feb. 266, I did not put his wife in the family way.
• A. 1935 T. E. Lawrence Mint (1955) ii. ix, There's only one thing..that the Air Force can't do: put us in the family way.

 

 

11. Special Comb.:

family portrait

family-oriented

• 1924 E. F. Rathbone Disinherited Family v. 193 *Family allowances in an extremely rudimentary form were started in France in 1890 by the Railway Companies.
• 1928 Britain's Industr. Future (Lib. Ind. Inq.) iii. Argt. 139 The minimum wage should be fixed for each industry..; the introduction of Family Allowances may be found desirable by industries to which they are suited.
• 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 6 Jan. 5/2 A living wage laid down by the State, to pay which industry must be reorganised by State action, family allowances, [etc.].
• 1958 New Statesman 11 Jan. 29/1 The most vital and cherished social services-family allowances, school meals, welfare food and welfare milk.
• 1970 Times 4 May 9/6 It is for the Government to make an immediate increase in family allowances.




• 1955 D. O. W. Hall Portrait of N.Z. ix. 179 A *family benefit of 10/- weekly is paid the mother for every child below 16 years (up to 18 years if still at school) without any means test.




• 1740 Richardson Pamela II. 359 Good Books, such as a *Family-Bible, a Common-Prayer.
• 1781 Johnson Lett. Dr. Patten 25 Sept., This Lexicon..might become a concomitant to the Family Bible.
• 1908 Daily Chron. 20 June 3/1 A regimental record of the family-bible kind.




• 1822 J. Flint Lett. Amer. 73 The craft, called *family boats.
• 1883 W. C. Russell Sailors' Lang., Family boats, the name given to smacks worked by members of the same family.




• 1809 H. More Coelebs I. 347 Being agreeable..in one's own *family circle.




• 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4522/2 That Coach was preceded by his Majesty's *Family-Coaches.
• 1852 E. Warner Wide W. World 82 They played the Old Family Coach.




• 1761 Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. 52/2 The only reply was, that the King of Spain had thought proper to renew his *family compacts.
• 1828 Toronto Public Library MSS. B104 153 The measures to be adopted to relieve this province from the evils which a family compact have brought upon it.
• 1899 J. P. Taylor Cardinal Facts Canad. Hist. 119 About this time [1820] the `Family Compact' is said to have been formed in Upper Canada.
• 1965 Kingston (Ont.) Whig-Standard 9 Jan. 9/8 He wrested the leadership of the old Family Compact from the Anglican Tories of muddy York and made it into the Conservative party.




• 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford iii. 51 The state of the remainder wine was examined into in a *family council.
• 1902 Little Folks 251/1 Ted called a family council in his carpentering shed.
• 1965 Guardian 25 Aug. 5/1 The under-16s..will be dealt with by Family Councils- appointed by local authorities and composed of social workers, teachers, doctors, and others experienced in dealing with children.




• 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Family diseases, diseases proceeding from heredity.




• 1846 R. Ford Gatherings from Spain xvii. 228 Most Spaniards who can afford it have their *family or bolster doctor, the Medico de Cabecera.
• 1943 A. Christie Moving Finger viii. 92 He spoke in a comfortable family-doctor kind of way.
• 1952 C. Brand London Particular v. 56 Fat old Tedward, who had family doctored her since she was born.




• 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. v. (1841) I. 106 We must set up a *family-government entirely new.
• 1803 Syd. Smith Wks. 1859 I. 29/2 In politics, they appear to have scarcely advanced beyond family-government.




• 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Family-head, when the stem was surmounted with several full-length figures.




• 1766 Goldsm. Vicar I. i. 8 A *family likeness prevailed through all..they had but one character.
• 1824 Medwin Convers. Byron (1832) I. 94 In his women..there is little family-likeness.
• 1883 Clodd in Knowl. 24 Aug. 115/1 The family likeness of those Indian folk-tales to those [European ones] given above.




• 1798 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1833) II. vii. 144 It is a *family living.
• 1883 Reade Many a Slip in Harper's Mag. Dec. 132/2 Joe was ordained priest, took the family living.




• 1589 Nashe Martins Months Minde To Rdr. Wks. 1883 I. 165, I meddle not here with the Anabaptists, *Famely louists, Machiauellists, nor Atheists.




• 1788 G. A. Stevens Adv. Speculist I. 221 Gamesters, Gamblers or *Family-men.
• 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Ability Wks. (Bohn) II. 44 These private reserved mute family-men.
• 1846 Snowden Mag. Assistant 342 Thieves: Family-men.
• 1859 W. Collins Q. of Hearts (1875) 17 I'm a family man myself, with grown-up daughters of my own.




• 1856 Bouvier Law Dict. U.S. (ed. 6), *Family-meeting.




• 1949 M. Mead Male & Female 460 A multi-disciplinary approach to *family-oriented treatment of illness.
• 1965 M. Bradbury Stepping Westward v. 265, I thought England was a family-oriented society.




• 1762-71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 147 The *family-picture of the consul Mejer.




• 1712 Hughes Spect. No. 525 P8 One of the most agreeable *family-pieces of this kind I ever met with.
• 1762-71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 192 Mr. Willett..has a small family-piece of Dr. Hibbard, physician, his wife and five children.
• 1826 Scott Provinc. Antiq., Seton Chapel, It is a family-piece, comprehending the Lord Seton, his lady, and four children, painted..by Sir A. More.




• 1939 Family Planning Assoc., 9th Ann. Rep. 1 Objects... To advocate and promote the provision of facilities for scientific contraception so that married people may space or limit their families.
• 1945 Lancet 3 Mar. 294/1 Growing numbers of women attending `family planning' centres.
• 1957 Listener 26 Sept. 467/2 Family planning..will not spread in the villages until someone invents a contraceptive which is easy, very cheap, and does not require privacy.
• 1970 Times 30 Apr. 12/8 It was members of this committee [sc. Birth Control Investigation Committee] who persuaded Lady Denman to form what is now the Family Planning Association to coordinate the work.




• 1814 Jane Austen Mansf. Park i. ix. 174 Of pictures there were abundance, and some few good, but the large part were *family portraits.
• 1902 A. Conan Doyle Hound of Baskervilles xiii. 297 A study of family portraits is enough to convert a man to the doctrine of reincarnation.
• 1931 N. & Q; 20 June 447/2 Is not the fifteenth century too early for family portraits?




• 1846 Dickens Dombey i. 4 `Mr. Pilkins here, who from his position of medical adviser in this family-no one better qualified to fill that position, I am sure.' `Oh!' murmured the *family practitioner.




• 1858 Sat. Rev. 29 May 566/1 A peculiar and remarkable writer, whose style showed little or no *family resemblances with that of any living author.
• 1901 A. E. Taylor Probl. Conduct iii. 151 The family resemblance which all systems of judgments of approbation exhibit.
• 1953 G. E. M. Anscombe tr. Wittgenstein's Philos. Investigations Sect.67, I can think of no better expression to characterize these similarities than `family resemblances'.




• 1853 Harper's Mag. VI. 443 The first night of my arrival I was honored with a spare *family room.
• 1884 W. D. Howells S. Lapham xix. 356 Indicating the family-room, he added, `She's in there.'
• 1884 W. D. Howells S. Lapham xxv. 461 He heard talking in the family room.
• 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 11/5 (Advt.), Every home includes a log burning fireplace and a separate family room.




• 1850 Thackeray Pendennis II. xxi. 208 That ugly closet..in which, according to the proverb, the *family skeleton is locked up.
• 1881 Family skeleton [see skeleton sb. 1 b].
• 1936 C. Day Lewis Friendly Tree v. 74 Evelyn and Richard glanced at each other with embarrassment. There was some family skeleton peeping out here.
• 1961 Guardian 23 Mar. 9/2 Family skeletons are being brought out of the German cupboard.




• 1807 R. Southey Lett. from Engl. lx. 368 An English Esquire would as soon walk abroad in his grandfather's wedding suit, as suffer the *family Tree to be seen in his hall.
• 1864 Thackeray D. Duval i. (1869) 1, I once drew a fine family tree of my ancestors.
• 1933 Bloomfield Lang. xviii. 311 The comparative method thus shows us the ancestry of languages in the form of a family tree.
• 1933 Bloomfield Lang., xviii. 311 The earlier students of Indo-European did not realize that the family-tree diagram was merely a statement of their method.
• 1933 Bloomfield Lang. 318 The older family-tree theory of linguistic relationship.