Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CLASS, n. [L. classis, a class, a fleet, a troop, that is, a collection; It. classe; Fr. classe; Sp. clase; Arm. claçz, and sclaçz; Dan. klasse, a class, and klase, a cluster, a bunch. This seems to be a branch of the root of L. claudo, clausus.]

1. An order or rank of persons; a number of persons in society, supposed to have some resemblance or equality, in rank, education, property, talents, and the like; as in the phrase, all classes of men in society. The readers of poetry may be distinguished into three classes, according to their capacity of judging. – Dryden.
2. A number of students in a college or school, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies. In colleges, the students entering or becoming members the same year, and pursuing the same studies. In academies and schools, the pupils who learn the same lesson, and recite together. In some cases, students of different standings, pursuing the same studies and reciting together, or attending the same professor, or the same course of lectures.
3. Scientific division or arrangement; a set of beings or things, having something in common, or ranged under a common denomination. Hence in zoology, animals are divided into classes; as, quadrupeds, fowls, fishes, &c. So in botany, plants are arranged in classes. Classes are natural or artificial; natural, when founded on natural relations, or resemblances; artificial, when formed arbitrarily, for want of a complete knowledge of natural relations. – Martyn.