claspered (klas perd)

[ It ordinarily holds a weekly se ion called a cla meeting, under the charge of one of the members called a cla -leader, whose duty it is to see every member of his cla at least once a week; to give religious instruction, reproof, or comfort, as needed; to receive for the stewards of the church the contributions of the cla for the support of the church; to report to the pastor any members needing especial attention, as the sick, backsliders, etc.; and to report on the condition of his cla to each Quarterly Conference. (c) Same as cla is, 2. (d) In several European states, one of the graded divisions of primary electors for members of the legislative body. In Pru ia the whole number of voters is divided into three cla es, so arranged that each cla pays one third of the direct tax levied. The first cla is of the few wealthy, who pay the highest taxes, to the amount of one third of the whole. Each cla chooses the same number of secondary electors, who elect the deputies. 4. A number of objects distinguished by common characters from all others, and regarded as a collective unit or group; a collection capable of a general definition; a kind. A natural cla is a set of objects po e ing important characters over and above those that are nece ary for distinguishing them from others; but the term is applied by naturalists to groups which want this character, and which have not generally retained very long, unchanged, a place in science. See cla ification. There is not a more singular character in the world than that of a thinking man. It is not merely having a succe ion of ideas which lightly skim over the mind that can with any propriety be styled by that denomination. It is observing them separately and distinctly, and ranging them under their respective cla es . Melmoth , Letters of Fit zos borne. Logicians divide propositions into certain cla es . Reid , Account of Aristotle, ii. § 1. Observing many individuals to agree in certain attributes, we refer them all to one cla , and give a name to the cla . Reid , Intellectual Powers, v. § 2. [This meaning came into use about the middle of the eighteenth century. The phrase 'to be included under a cla ' is older than to be included in a cla .'] 5. In nat. hist., a group of plants or animals next in rank above the order or superorder, and commonly formed by the union of several orders or superorders: but it may be represented by a single species. See cla ification. In zoology the cla was the highest division of the animal kingdom in the Linnean system, when the word first acquired its technical zoological meaning. Linnæus arranged animals in six cla es: Mammal i a, Aves, Amphibia, Pisces, Insect a, Vermes; the next groups below cla 1030 cla ific at or first division of one of the four "great divisions" of the animal kingdom, Vertebrata, Mollusca, Articulata, and Radiata; thus Cuvier's four cla es of Vertebrata were Mammal i a, Aves, Reptilia, and Pisces. There are now recognized seven or eight subkingdoms or phyla of animals, divided into about thirty-five cla es (see animal kingdom, under animal ); the cla being the division usu all recognized next belotrophytum or subkingdom, though some naturalists introduce a supercla , or between the phylum and the cla , as Ichthyopsid a for the cla es Pisces and Amphibia, or Sauropsida for the cla es Aves and Reptilia. The cla is always superior to the superorder, order, or suborder, and inferior kingdom, subkingdom, or phylum. In botany, likewise, the cla is the next principal grade of divisions above the order, and in the Linnean system was the highest grade. The subcla , division, and cohort or alliance are, however, often variously intercalated as subordinate groupings between the cla and the order. The phænogamic series or subkingdom of plants includes the three cla es of gym no sperms (often united with the next), dicotyledons, and monocotyledons. The cryptogamic series has been ordinarily divided into the two cla es of acrogens and thal logens; by recent authorities the number has been in creased by three or four or more. 6. In geom., the degree of a locus of planes; a division of algebraical loci bearing an ordinal number showing how many planes there are incident to the locus and pa ing through each line of space. In the case of a plane locus, this is the number of lines in the plane incident to the locus and pa ing through each point in the plane. The ordinal number of the cla of an algebraical surface is the number of tangent planes to the surface through each line of space. The cla of an algebraical curve of double curvature is the number of osculating planes through each point of space; also, the cla of a cone on which the curve lies. The cla of an algebraical plane curve is the number of tangents through each point of the plane. The cla of a congruence is the number of lines of the congruence pa ing through each point of space. The cla of a complex is the cla of the cone of lines of the complex pa ing through each point of space. The cla of a cone is the cla of a plane curve lying in it. - Cla cup, a silver cup presented by a college cla to the first boy born to a member of the cla after graduation. [U. S.] - Cla of a manifold. See manifold.