\World\, n. [OE. world, werld, weorld, weoreld, AS.
weorold, worold; akin to OS. werold, D. wereld, OHG. weralt,
worolt, werolt, werlt, G. welt, Icel. ver["o]ld, Sw. verld,
Dan. verden; properly, the age of man, lifetime, humanity;
AS. wer a man + a word akin to E. old; cf. AS. yld lifetime,
age, ylde men, humanity. Cf. {Werewolf}, {Old}.]
1. The earth and the surrounding heavens; the creation; the
   system of created things; existent creation; the universe.
         The invisible things of him from the creation of the
         world are clearly seen.               --Rom. 1. 20.
         With desire to know, What nearer might concern him,
         how this world Of heaven and earth conspicuous first
         began.                                --Milton.
2. Any planet or heavenly body, especially when considered as
   inhabited, and as the scene of interests analogous with
   human interests; as, a plurality of worlds. ``Lord of the
   worlds above.'' --I. Watts.
         Amongst innumerable stars, that shone Star distant,
         but high-hand seemed other worlds.    --Milton.
         There may be other worlds, where the inhabitants
         have never violated their allegiance to their
         almighty Sovereign.                   --W. B.
                                               Sprague.
3. The earth and its inhabitants, with their concerns; the
   sum of human affairs and interests.
         That forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought
         death into the world, and all our woe. --Milton.
4. In a more restricted sense, that part of the earth and its
   concerns which is known to any one, or contemplated by any
   one; a division of the globe, or of its inhabitants; human
   affairs as seen from a certain position, or from a given
   point of view; also, state of existence; scene of life and
   action; as, the Old World; the New World; the religious
   world; the Catholic world; the upper world; the future
   world; the heathen world.
         One of the greatest in the Christian world Shall be
         my surety.                            --Shak.
         Murmuring that now they must be put to make war
         beyond the world's end -- for so they counted
         Britain.                              --Milton.
5. The customs, practices, and interests of men; general
   affairs of life; human society; public affairs and
   occupations; as, a knowledge of the world.
         Happy is she that from the world retires. --Waller.
         If knowledge of the world makes man perfidious, May
         Juba ever live in ignorance.          --Addison.
6. Individual experience of, or concern with, life; course of
   life; sum of the affairs which affect the individual; as,
   to begin the world with no property; to lose all, and
   begin the world anew.
7. The inhabitants of the earth; the human race; people in
   general; the public; mankind.
         Since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to
         any purpose that the world can say against it.
                                               --Shak.
         Tell me, wench, how will the world repute me For
         undertaking so unstaid a journey?     --Shak.
8. The earth and its affairs as distinguished from heaven;
   concerns of this life as distinguished from those of the
   life to come; the present existence and its interests;
   hence, secular affairs; engrossment or absorption in the
   affairs of this life; worldly corruption; the ungodly or
   wicked part of mankind.
         I pray not for the world, but for them which thou
         hast given me; for they are thine.    --John xvii.
                                               9.
         Love not the world, neither the things that are in
         the world. If any man love the world, the love of
         the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
         world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
         eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
         but is of the world.                  --1 John ii.
                                               15, 16.
9. As an emblem of immensity, a great multitude or quantity;
   a large number. ``A world of men.'' --Chapman. ``A world
   of blossoms for the bee.'' --Bryant.
         Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company. --Shak.
         A world of woes dispatched in little space.
                                               --Dryden.
{All . . . in the world}, all that exists; all that is
   possible; as, all the precaution in the world would not
   save him.
{A world to see}, a wonder to see; something admirable or
   surprising to see. [Obs.]
         O, you are novices; 't is a world to see How tame,
         when men and women are alone, A meacock wretch can
         make the curstest shrew.              --Shak.
{For all the world}.
   (a) Precisely; exactly.
   (b) For any consideration.
{Seven wonders of the world}. See in the Dictionary of Noted
   Names in Fiction.
{To go to the world}, to be married. [Obs.] ``Thus goes every
   one to the world but I . . .; I may sit in a corner and
   cry heighho for a husband!'' --Shak.
{World's end}, the end, or most distant part, of the world;
   the remotest regions.
{World without end}, eternally; forever; everlastingly; as if
   in a state of existence having no end.
         Throughout all ages, world without end. --Eph. iii.
                                               21.